Autor/es
Descripción
ver mas
Colaborador
Finquelievich, Susana
Dughera, Lucila
Spatial Coverage
Temporal Coverage
2003-2018
Idioma
spa
Extent
456 p.
Derechos
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 2.0 Genérica (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Formato
application/pdf
Identificador
Cobertura
1020083
Tandil (inhabited place)
1019188
Bahía Blanca (inhabited place)
2003-2018
Abstract
This thesis analyses the processes of socio-technological innovation in the software and IT services (SITS) sector in intermediate cities in Argentina. The research focuses on two cases: the cities of Tandil and Bahía Blanca, during the period 2003-2018. The thesis is focused on the factors that allow to understand the development of the SITS sector in these cities; the social actors that determine the trajectories of the analyzed processes; the dynamics and characteristics of their interactions; and the differences and similarities in both cases.
The hypothesis which guides the research suggests that intermediate cities in countries located in the capitalist economic periphery, such as Argentina, are incorporated into the dynamics of information capitalism; in some cases such cities constitute permeable environments for the development of socio-technological innovation processes in strategic sectors of the new techno-economic paradigm, such as software and IT services, under some conditions: to host relevant social actors (universities and research institutes with outstanding backgrounds, global, cutting-edge national and local companies of diverse sizes, local governments which advocate public policies for innovation, clusters and technology hubs, business chambers and IT workers' associations), and considerable levels of interaction and synergy between the social actors. If these requisites are fulfilled, innovation processes will tend to be strengthened. On the contrary, in the event of weak networks between the social actors, and of obstacles to generate agreements to strengthen interactions, innovation processes will tend to stagnate, or more likely they will tend to focus on the satisfaction of interests of given sectoral actors. Public policies at different government levels would be relevant in guiding interactions towards socio-economic development in intermediate.
The selection for the period 2003-2018 obeys to the fact that the regulatory framework for the promotion of the software sector was established in 2003, while diverse initiatives from the different levels of government strongly affected that emerging sector. Moreover, both in Tandil and Bahía Blanca local governments, Universities and entrepreneurs developed decisive actions for the progress of productive innovation, such as the creation of the Technological Science Park in Tandil (2003) and the Bahía Blanca Technological Pole (2004).
The methodological strategy is qualitative; it is based on the comparative analysis of the two cases. It has a comparative phase, based on the method of contrasting the most similar systems (Przeworski and Tenue, 1970) to explain the differences shown by the processes in both cases, starting from a relatively common floor: both cities are intermediate, they are located in the same province, have universities and research institutes with outstanding trajectory, host innovative enterprises, and have local governments that, to a greater or lesser extent, drove the development of the analyzed processes.
The theoretical proposal addresses the processes of socio-technological innovation from a systemic, localized and interactive approach; puts the focus on the ways in which SSI-linked actors interact in the cities studied, in the current stage of information capitalism. It draws on different perspectives: economic studies on local innovation systems, social studies of science and technology, especially those that analyze knowledge networks, and studies on public policy analysis in general and particular policy networks.
Finally, some of the questions that guide the research are: What social, political and economic factors condition the development of the processes analyzed in intermediate cities on the capitalist periphery such as Tandil and Bahía Blanca? How are the actors linked to the SSI sector present in these cities characterized? What features do their interactions show and what are the objectives that guide their actions? How do they influence on the future of the processes analyzed? What is the role of the State and the public policies implemented by the different levels of government and what transformations they underwent during the period analyzed? Which are the differences and similarities between the two cases and what factors do they owe? Thesis work, based on intensive fieldwork, offers answers to these questions.
The hypothesis which guides the research suggests that intermediate cities in countries located in the capitalist economic periphery, such as Argentina, are incorporated into the dynamics of information capitalism; in some cases such cities constitute permeable environments for the development of socio-technological innovation processes in strategic sectors of the new techno-economic paradigm, such as software and IT services, under some conditions: to host relevant social actors (universities and research institutes with outstanding backgrounds, global, cutting-edge national and local companies of diverse sizes, local governments which advocate public policies for innovation, clusters and technology hubs, business chambers and IT workers' associations), and considerable levels of interaction and synergy between the social actors. If these requisites are fulfilled, innovation processes will tend to be strengthened. On the contrary, in the event of weak networks between the social actors, and of obstacles to generate agreements to strengthen interactions, innovation processes will tend to stagnate, or more likely they will tend to focus on the satisfaction of interests of given sectoral actors. Public policies at different government levels would be relevant in guiding interactions towards socio-economic development in intermediate.
The selection for the period 2003-2018 obeys to the fact that the regulatory framework for the promotion of the software sector was established in 2003, while diverse initiatives from the different levels of government strongly affected that emerging sector. Moreover, both in Tandil and Bahía Blanca local governments, Universities and entrepreneurs developed decisive actions for the progress of productive innovation, such as the creation of the Technological Science Park in Tandil (2003) and the Bahía Blanca Technological Pole (2004).
The methodological strategy is qualitative; it is based on the comparative analysis of the two cases. It has a comparative phase, based on the method of contrasting the most similar systems (Przeworski and Tenue, 1970) to explain the differences shown by the processes in both cases, starting from a relatively common floor: both cities are intermediate, they are located in the same province, have universities and research institutes with outstanding trajectory, host innovative enterprises, and have local governments that, to a greater or lesser extent, drove the development of the analyzed processes.
The theoretical proposal addresses the processes of socio-technological innovation from a systemic, localized and interactive approach; puts the focus on the ways in which SSI-linked actors interact in the cities studied, in the current stage of information capitalism. It draws on different perspectives: economic studies on local innovation systems, social studies of science and technology, especially those that analyze knowledge networks, and studies on public policy analysis in general and particular policy networks.
Finally, some of the questions that guide the research are: What social, political and economic factors condition the development of the processes analyzed in intermediate cities on the capitalist periphery such as Tandil and Bahía Blanca? How are the actors linked to the SSI sector present in these cities characterized? What features do their interactions show and what are the objectives that guide their actions? How do they influence on the future of the processes analyzed? What is the role of the State and the public policies implemented by the different levels of government and what transformations they underwent during the period analyzed? Which are the differences and similarities between the two cases and what factors do they owe? Thesis work, based on intensive fieldwork, offers answers to these questions.
Título obtenido
Doctor de la Universidad de Buenos Aires en Ciencias Sociales
Institución otorgante
Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales