This project was focused in a fundamental question: how is it possible for certain personalities to be often associated with invention landmarks, regardless the obstacles that are inherent to this process? From the conception to the prototypes, patents and commercialization, there is little information regarding the unsuccessful inventions. As we know, social representations of the inventors do not promote the image of the inventor himself/herself, in both economical and social terms. In this sense, in order to fully understand the independent inventors in Portugal, a sample of inventions were analysed, according to the Portuguese Association for Creativity, as well as the Portuguese Business Association, the two partners of this project.
The team involved in the project was Maria Carolina Valente de Pinho Leite (Principal Investigator), researchers Maria Gabriela Martins de Nóbrega Moita, Mário João de Sá e Melo de Castro Marques, Silvana Ferreira da Silva Mota Ribeiro, Stéphane Laurent, Fátima Morais and Augusto Maria da Conceição Joaquim (research assistant).
Funding: FCT – reference 39097/SOC/2001
Duration period: 2001 – 2003
©Universidade do Minho. Todos os direitos reservados. Com apoio do FCT.
