Generically, the idea of territory refers to the geographical portion appropriated by a group of humans or animals, or by an individual, seeking to secure their reproduction and the satisfaction of their vital necessities. There are several meanings for the word territory. All conserve the idea of a personal or collective dominium in different contexts and levels: the house, the office, the neighborhood, city, region, nation, and planet. Each territory is, therefore, shaped through the combination of internal and external conditions and forces and should be understood as part of a spatial totality. The territory cannot be reduced to its material or concrete dimension, presenting various dimensions such as (a) Physical – concerning its natural characteristics and resources (such as climate, soil, relief, vegetation and subsoil), as well as those resulting from the use and from the territorial practices of social groups; (b) Economic – through the physical organization of the economic production processes – what is produced, how it is produced and who produces; (c) Social and political – representing a mean through which social integration occurs and domination and power relations are established – how and who dominates or influences it; (d) Symbolic – including the affective and cultural bonds of identity of the individual or of a social group with its geographic space; (e) Cognitive – referring to the conditions for the generation, use and diffusion of knowledge.
Published in Chapter:
Innovation in the Health System: Evidences from Brazilian Local Production and Innovation Systems
Marcelo Pessoa de Matos (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Maria Clara Couto Soares (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), José Eduardo Cassiolato (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), and Julia Queiroz (Fundo Brasileiro para a Biodiversidade, Brazil)
Copyright: © 2016
|Pages: 27
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-0135-0.ch020
Abstract
This chapter discusses the main findings of five empirical studies focusing on local health innovation systems in Brazil. It focuses on the articulation of service and manufacturing segments within the Health complex and the other organizations that constitute a Local Innovation and Production System (LIPS) and discusses the learning, capacity building and innovation processes and their effective and potential impact on the local territory. The findings suggest that the types and intensity of interactions are closely related to the characteristics of what can be called a local cognitive territory. The directions of capacity building and scientific and technological evolution are directly influenced by conflicts among individuals and groups. The influence of these power relations, which are often associated with diverging private and public (collective) interests, highlights the importance of the institutional and policy dimensions for mediation and for promoting an evolution of the system that favors social inclusion and efficiency.