INNOVATION IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR: A STUDY OF THE CHIEF SCIENTIST PROGRAM

Innovation is a practice that has become prevalent on the global stage, within the most diverse corporate, professional and interpersonal environments. In this context, it is essential to focus on how Public Administration manages to achieve innovative practices despite its less flexible legal nature and its different guidelines for action. This work aims to analyze how the public sector seeks to position itself in the universe of innovation, from the perspective of the Chief Scientist program, carried out within the scope of the Fundação Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (Ceara's Scientific Support and Technological Development Foundation) - Funcap, within which researchers develop activities aimed at innovation within the secretariats and agencies of the state government of Ceará. Within the scope of this research, we sought to detail the antecedents that led to the creation of the Cientista Chefe program, analyzing, in a descriptive way, the objectives of the metaprojetos (metaprojects) and their actions, and, finally, carrying out an analysis of the profile of the researchers called Cientista Chefe through the Lattes curriculum. The descriptive character of the present work was based on qualitative and quantitative research methods, based on, in addition to the bibliographical review, documental analyzes on the website of the Cientista Chefe program, on websites of the State administration, on the legislation and on official communication channels. Based on the data collected, it was possible to conclude that the researchers appointed by the State Administration for the position of Cientista Chefe are all doctors with more than ten years of training, mostly men, institutionally linked to the Federal University of Ceará, and that metaprojects, in general, have played an important role for the state government, with the development of proprietary solutions, such as the Cerebrum platform, used in the Public Security Secretariat, actions that allow accelerating the digital transformation of the Government of Ceará through the technology, in addition to actions that promote positive results in priority areas of the Government, such as health and education.