Tecnologia como conhecimento: o público e o privado; o social e o econômico: um estudo prospectivo na indústria offshore de petróleo

Abstract

From the knowledge construction perspective and drawing upon the historical, economic and sociological approaches to the development of technology, the industrial innovation process is analysed. It is highlighted the key role played by the 'communities of practitioners' that continuously create knowledge through interaction blurring the firm's boundaries between internal (private) and external (public) knowledge. A case studies on the offshore oil and gas industry in the UK North Sea points to the importance of actors' informal exchanges of information, and the strategies and interests that shape the way in which knowledge and artifacts are weaved together.