THE EFFICIENCY OF INNOVATION IN POSTGRADUATE PROGRAMS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BRASÍLIA: AN APPROACH USING DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS.
Innovation. Efficiency. Data Envelopment Analysis. Postgraduate studies.
In the contemporary economic and social context, where innovation plays an essential role in advancing science and developing solutions for current challenges, the University of Brasília (UnB) recognizes the critical importance of promoting an innovative culture as part of its institutional mission. Given the relevance of innovation for the progress of federal higher education institutions, this study aims to assess the innovative capacity of UnB's grade 7 graduate programs, using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology. This methodology will be employed to conduct a comparative analysis to determine the efficiency with which these programs utilize their resources in generating innovative outcomes, such as patents, registered software, and institutional brands. To this end, various inputs will be considered, including the number of faculty members, doctoral students, research budget, among others, providing a comprehensive understanding of each program's ability to convert these resources into meaningful innovation outputs. The analysis will not only identify the most efficient programs in terms of innovation but also provide insights into successful practices that could be replicated in other academic contexts to foster innovation. It is expected that the results of this study will contribute to the formulation of strategies to enhance the innovative capacity of graduate programs, thereby strengthening the research and development ecosystem at UnB and elucidating the dynamics between the resources employed and the results obtained in the innovation process through the DEA methodology.