Document details

This paper aims to analyse innovation within a set of economic activities combined in a territorialised agro- food supply chain, which characterizes the pattern of productive specialization of the Tagus Valley. This chain is economically sustained by a combination of entrepreneurial and institutional factors, territorially embedded and determining to some extent an endogenous capacity to innovate. Following a case study methodology, of an interpretative nature, the process of gathering evidence was based on the triangulation of data sources: direct observation; semi-structured interviews of individuals representing the various categories of agents involved and documentary research. These were complemented with an inquiry, subject to statistical analysis, into local business agents. In addition to the identification of a considerable set of deficits of an institutional nature inhibiting innovation, the study also led to the formulation of a number of proposals for better territorial governance which highlight the need to strengthen knowledge transfer to the micro and small companies engaged in agricultural activities. Another contribution lies in the categorisation of an analytical framework for a better understanding of innovation dynamics in any region according to its specificities, including the role of public institutions in this process.