Establishment of a research organization in Brazil

The establishment of an initial 25 institutes began in the summer of 2012. In this first phase of the collaboration between Fraunhofer IPK and SENAI, the focus was on creating business plans for each individual institute. The Fraunhofer IPK researchers chose a participatory approach in which the strategies were developed in series of workshops on site with the institute managers.

Fraunhofer IPK supported the individual institutes in developing their own business plans in each case, including the service portfolios and technology strategies. These allow the individual innovation institutes to expand their role as national centers for applied research in their specific technology area.

The technology and research areas were selected based on current and future needs for technological solutions. The focus was on increasing the competitiveness of Brazilian industry and its main sectors.

In the second phase of the project, the Fraunhofer IPK team supported the actual implementation of the 25 institutes by setting up appropriate management and support processes.

In the third phase, a management audit moderated by neutral experts ensured a productive exchange between managers, regional and national departments of SENAI. This allowed for a valid and coordinated assessment of performance gaps to be identified, the actual causes of these challenges to be determined, and the derivation of appropriate and feasible actions to be carried out.

Finally, in the fourth phase, specific implementation plans were developed for each innovation institute. The participatory approach proved to be well compatible with the Brazilian work culture and ensured a unified understanding of the business strategy.