摘要：The purpose of this study was to identify how participation from external sources in the open innovation process in small and medium enterprises (SME's) based technology occurs. The study was empirical, qualitative and outlined through multiple case study. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, document analysis and observation. The results indicate that SME's have very close relationship with the university that plays an essential role for the companies analyzed. It identified a concern of the Brazilian government to bring university researchers with companies to generate innovations and intellectual property increases the complexity of the adoption of the open innovation model. This study can be used as basis for further investigations on the effects of external sources in the innovation process open to SME's and relevance of the innovation model for these companies. This study is a pioneer in identifying and describing as it does the search for external sources in the innovation process open to SME's in Brazil.
