Through an investigation of data available from the Brazilian Innovation Survey (Pesquisa de Inovação) of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística) and from a national survey on university–firm interactions (the BR Survey), the authors show that Brazilian industrial firms lack qualified individuals for two key activities: the promotion of innovation and the establishment of a dialogue between universities and firms. Brazilian firms’ weaknesses and the inadequacy of the workforce supply generate scarce (or inadequate) ‘know-why’. Furthermore, a restricted perspective in Brazilian universities, focused on creating a more educated society rather than augmenting the stock of technological knowledge, constrains the generation of ‘know-what’ and ‘know-who’.
