Journal of the National Research University Higher School of Economics

This research aims at addressing the factors that constrain the flow of knowledge between universities and industry when these players are embedded in peripheral contexts. A multiple-case study was carried out in order to describe and understand the limitations of universities as agents of innovation in peripheral ecosystems. Twenty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted with the coordinators of five Technological Innovation Centers (entities equivalent to TTO) of all Federal Institutes (five) located in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The findings show that there are constraining elements associated with the socioeconomic environment (the lack of economic dynamism and low absorptive capacity at firms), with universities (a lack of infrastructure, resources, and available researchers) and intermediary agents (the lack of staff and institutional legitimacy). The observed conditions lead to challenges in fostering dense knowledge flows, thus perpetuating regional economic asymmetries and hindering the institutional evolution of academic institutions toward the notion of entrepreneurial universities. Our research contributes to literature by addressing in detail the limitations of universities in spurring dense innovation networks in laggard ecosystems. Instead, more complex co-evolutionary processes seem to be at play – and “silver bullet” policies are likely to offer disappointing results.