Decision-Making Process; Triple Helix; Regional Innovation System; Minas Gerais

The cooperation between Science and Technology Institutions (STIs), companies and Government, the Triple Helix (TH), is admittedly promising in innovation systems and has shown good results in several countries. But the interactions among the HT agents represent a complex type of cooperation, about which very little is known about its decision-making process. Previous research analyzes the decision-making process centered on one of the agents or on one of the aspects of decision making. This research aimed at analyzing the decision-making process concerning the cooperation among the agents of the Triple Helix in the Regional Innovation System of Minas Gerais (RIS-MG). The choice of RIS-MG also fills a gap, in that little is known about this type of cooperation in the state. Theoretical lenses and concepts of Decision-Making Processes, Innovation and Triple Helix were discussed. Data was collected by means of document analysis and semi-structured interviews. All the public calls of the state funding agencies that involved the three TH agents were analyzed. From this documental analysis, 12 agents from RIS-MG were selected, who participated or participate in TH projects, being five innovation managers from companies, five researchers from STIs and two representatives from state funding agencies. Content analysis revealed 16 codes were derived in three categories. A survey of the Triple Helix projects in the last thirteen years in SRI-MG (2007-2020) is presented; the analysis of the structure of the interactions and their progress throughout the studied period, identifying changes that may have interference in the decision-making process of the agents; and the analysis of the decision-making process for HT cooperation. The main theoretical contribution of this research was the articulation of the Decision-Making Processes theory with the Triple Helix theory, made in order to analyze the decision-making process for the HT cooperation as a whole, from the factors that influence the decision to cooperate, the consensus process among the agents, and the decisions during the cooperation. The results of this study may be used, in a practical way, as a decision-making tool by the agents of SRI-MG by better understanding the dynamics of cooperation, including motivations and obstacles to cooperation, strategies to reach consensus, the integration of interests to define the scope of the project and the mechanisms used to improve decisions during the project, as well as good practices in the governance mechanisms of this type of cooperation.