The purpose of this study is to investigate the possibilities and opportunities of adopting AI in product development within small to medium enterprises. To fulfill the purpose, the first research question was formulated as “What challenges and opportunities do SMEs face in product development and how can AI facilitate these?”, and the second “What factors are significant for adopting AI in PD?” For this study, a combination of case study, literature review, and interviews was utilized to answer the research questions. The case study provided practical insights and empirical data and the literature review formed the foundation for the theoretical framework. Through this methodological approach, the study achieved its research objectives and contributed to a better understanding of the topic. The empirical data of this study shows that there are several challenges in both product development and in the adoption of AI. These challenges include limited resources, organizational barriers, and knowledge gaps. Through the analysis where the empirical data was compared to the theoretical framework, broadening of the results was enabled. This led to the understanding that limited time was related to the number of employees, issues in the information flow within the group management, and that the knowledge gap was the result of the absence of research into AIPD. Furthermore, it was found that significant factors for adopting AI in PD were to have an incentive to innovate and a competitive market situation. The case study is a single-case study which affects the general applicability as a multiple-case study is considered more beneficial because the results are easier to generalize. Additionally, the scope of the study is delimited to the first three stages in product development: ideation, definition, and prototyping, SMEs encounter resource constraints which hinder the adoption of AI in PD, mainly due to limited time, insufficient number of employees, and the absence of dedicated research departments. Despite these challenges, the potential benefits of AI streamlining and enhancing ideation and prototyping processes presents significant opportunities for innovation within SME’s. / Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka möjligheterna och fördelarna med att införa AI i produktutveckling inom små och medelstora företag. För att uppfylla syftet formulerades den första forskningsfrågan som ”Vilka utmaningar och möjligheter står små och medelstora företag inför i produktutveckling och hur kan AI underlätta dessa?” och den andra som ”Vilka faktorer är betydelsefulla för att införa AI i produktutveckling?”. För denna studie användes en kombination av fallstudie, litteraturgenomgång, och intervjuer för att besvara forskningsfrågorna. Fallstudien gav praktiska insikter och empiriska data medan litteraturgenomgången utgjorde grunden för det teoretiska ramverket. Genom detta metodologiska angreppssätt uppnådde studien sina forskningsmål och bidrog till en bättre förståelse av ämnet. Studiens empiriska data visar att det finns flera utmaningar både i produktutveckling och vid införandet av AI. Dessa utmaningar inkluderar begränsade resurser, organisatoriska hinder och kunskapsluckor. Genom analysen, där den empiriska datan jämfördes med det teoretiska ramverket, möjliggjordes en breddning av resultatet. Detta ledde till förståelsen att begränsad tid var relaterad till antalet anställda, problem i informationsflödet inom koncernledningen, och att kunskapsluckan var resultatet av avsaknaden av forskning inom AI i produktutveckling. Vidare visade det sig att betydande faktorer för att införa AI i produktutveckling var att ha incitament att innovera och en konkurrensutsatt marknadssituation. Fallstudien är en enskild fallstudie vilket påverkar den generella tillämpligheten då en flerfallstudie anses mer fördelaktig eftersom resultaten är lättare att generalisera. Dessutom är studiens omfattning avgränsad till de tre första stadierna i produktutveckling: idégenerering, definition och prototypframtagning. Små och medelstora företag stöter på resursbegränsningar som hindrar införandet av AI i produktutveckling, främst på grund av begränsad tid, otillräckligt antal anställda och avsaknaden av dedikerade forskningsavdelningar. Trots dessa utmaningar presenterar de potentiella fördelarna med AI, effektivisering och förbättring av idé- och prototypprocesser betydande möjligheter för innovation inom små och medelstora företag.

De produkter och tjänster som syns ute på marknaden är oftast resultatet av en lång berättelse i entreprenörskapets rum. I entreprenörskapsrummet sker ett samspel mellan människor vilket gör att varje inblandad person har en egen förståelse för vad som har hänt i denna utvecklingsprocess. Den här studien ämnar undersöka och öka förståelsenför de händelser som har utspelat sig innan ett erbjudande har blivit redo för marknaden, detta genom att de involverade personerna får återge sin egen berättelse. Studien undersöker ett nystartat fallföretag som håller på att utveckla sin affärsidé. I uppsatsen presenteras studien och dess utförande i form av en berättelse där Sherlock Holmes och dr Watson har huvudrollerna. Vi utgår från ett konstruktionistiskt synsätt och ett abduktivt angreppssätt har tillämpats. Vi ser att människor identifierar möjligheter utifrån deras unika bakgrund som även formar deras motiv. Motiven ger oss en inblick ivarför och hur samspelet mellan idé och människor sker. / The products and services available on the market are often the result of a long story in the entrepreneurship discourse. When practicing entrepreneurship people interact with each other, thus every person involved has its own understanding of what has occurredduring the development process. The aim of this study is to examine and deepen our understanding of the events before an offer is ready for the market; this by letting the involved persons tell their own story. The study examines a case of a startup company which is currently developing its business idea. In the thesis the study and its execution is presented in the form of a story starring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Constructionism and an abductive method are applied. Finally we can see that people identify opportunities based on their unique background which also forms their motive. The motives give us an insight in why and how the interaction between idea and people is played out.

Organizações têm de lidar com um ambiente dinâmico em que a inovação é essencial para o sucesso dos negócios. Além disso, a capacidade de inovar em produto de qualquer organização está diretamente relacionada a um fluxo contínuo de novas ideias capazes de atender às oportunidades de novos produtos e tecnologias. Apesar do seu papel importante no início do processo de inovação, ao contrário de tentar gerenciar o surgimento de novas ideias, a abordagem mais comumente preconizada pelas empresas é de incentivar a geração de um grande número de ideias. No entanto, o sucesso do desenvolvimento de novos produtos requer mais do que gerar ideias, outras características do processo devem ser consideradas. Para ajudar na compreensão dessas características, essa pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar como o processo de gestão de ideias de produtos é realizado nas empresas. Para atingir esse objetivo, primeiramente, é proposto um modelo conceitual síntese da gestão de ideias baseado nas características identificadas literatura. Em seguida, para compreender o comportamento dessas características na prática, é realizado um estudo de casos múltiplos em 15 empresas reconhecidas como inovadoras e de diversos setores da indústria. Por fim, baseado nos dados levantados nas empresas, as características do processo de gestão de ideias são analisadas e confrontadas com as informações obtidas na revisão da literatura. A partir do estudo é identificado que a condução do processo de gestão de ideias pode seguir diferentes lógicas conforme as características das empresas. Certos fatores, tais como: definições estratégicas, formas de condução do processo e fatores organizacionais devem ser levados em conta na definição da melhor forma de gerenciar o processo. Considerando, que os estudos identificados na literatura concentram-se em analisar características específicas do processo, tornando difícil obter uma visão completa do processo, esta pesquisa apresenta uma importante contribuição para a teoria acadêmica por meio da análise das principais características que compõem o processo. Este trabalho apresenta ainda uma contribuição para empresas, pois pode ser utilizado como referência de como o processo vem sendo desenvolvido e fornece uma visão prática de como pode ser estruturada a gestão de ideias. / Organizations have to deal with a dynamic environment in which innovation is essential for success of businesses. Additionally, the product innovation capability of any organization is directly related to a continuous flow of ideas capable of raising opportunities for new products and technologies. Despite the primary role of ideas, instead of managing the ideation process, the most common approach is the generation of a large number of ideas. However, launching new products requires more than just generating ideas, many other characteristics of the process need to be addressed. Thus, to explore these characteristics, this research has as main objective analyze how the product ideation process is carried out in companies. To achieve this goal, firstly, is proposed an ideation conceptual model, based on the synthesis of the characteristics identified in literature. Then, to understand the behavior of these characteristics in practice, is conducted a multiple case study in 15 companies recognized as innovative and from different sectors of industry. Finally, based on data collected, the characteristics of the ideation process are analyzed and compared with the information obtained from the literature review. Based on the results of the study is identified that the conduct of the ideation process may follow different logics according to the characteristics of companies. Certain factors, such as: strategies, ways of conducting the process and organizational factors should be taken into account in defining the best way to manage the process. Considering that the studies identified in the literature focus on analyzing specific characteristics of the process, making it difficult to get a complete overview of the process, this research presents an important contribution to academic theory by analyzing the main characteristics that impact the process. This work also presents a contribution to companies, as it can be used as a reference of how the process is being developed and provides a practical overview of how it can be structured.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2015-06-26T13:21:31Z No. of bitstreams: 1 LucieneMachado.pdf: 6153860 bytes, checksum: 5a1406c717f371fcd2bbb426cb8779ed (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-06-26T13:21:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 LucieneMachado.pdf: 6153860 bytes, checksum: 5a1406c717f371fcd2bbb426cb8779ed (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-24 / Nenhuma / Esta pesquisa propôs uma associação entre a moulage e a metodologia do Design Estratégico por meio da etapa metaprojetual Dentre as modalidades de representação na Moda (uma das subáreas do Design), a moulage é uma técnica de modelagem tridimensional, a qual consiste em modelar o tecido diretamente sobre o corpo ou manequim, aplicada geralmente no final do processo de Moda, na etapa de Modelagem. O Design Estratégico, uma das vertentes do Design, é composto por uma etapa anterior à de projeto, denominada metaprojetual, a qual consiste na pesquisa e interpretação de dados do problema de design para direcionar a geração de propostas conceituais de projeto, denominadas concepts. Tanto o Design Estratégico quanto a Moda são áreas de caráter projetual e criativo que utilizam técnicas de representação como forma de tangibilizar e visualizar o conceito do projeto. O objetivo da presente pesquisa de caráter exploratório e qualitativo foi analisar o deslocamento da técnica de moulage para a etapa metaprojetual a fim de construir concepts. Para tal, elaborou-se um Exercício Projetual através da metodologia do Design Estratégico que consistiu em solucionar um briefing de Design de Moda, utilizando a moulage durante o processo de construção do concept. O exercício foi aplicado a oito duplas de voluntários, compostos por um designer de moda e um designer. Através de vídeos gravados durante a execução do exercício e de entrevistas abertas realizadas após o mesmo, analisou-se como as duplas utilizaram a moulage para gerar e representar suas ideias na elaboração dos concepts. Os resultados apontaram que a moulage, sendo utilizada de modo experimental durante a etapa metaprojetual, contribuiu como um estímulo para potencializar a geração e a representação das ideias dos participantes, bem como, auxiliou a construir, a visualizar e a materializar o concept. / This research proposed an association between draping technique and Strategic Design. Draping, a type of representation in Fashion Design, is a threedimensional modeling technique which consists in directly modeling a piece of fabric on the body or mannequin. It is usually done in the modeling phase, in the end of the design fashion process. The Strategic Design, one type of design, encompasses an earlier design stage, called metaprojetual phase, which consists of research and interpretation of the design problem data that drives to the generation of conceptual proposals, called design concepts. Both Strategic Design and Fashion Design have creative and project character that uses techniques of representation as a way to materialize and visualize their project concepts. The objective of this research was to analyze the effects of the displacement of draping technique to the metaprojetual phase to build design concepts. Through a literature review and with a qualitative exploratory study, it was proposed a Design Exercise developed with the Strategic Design methodology. The exercise consisted of solving a fashion design briefing using the draping technique during the concept building process. It was applied with eight groups, which one consisting of a fashion designer and a designer. Through videos and interviews it was analyzed how they used the draping technique to generate and represent their ideas in the concept building process. The results showed that the draping technique, being used experimentally during the metaprojetual phase, contributed as a stimulus to potentiate the generation and the representation of the designers' ideas as well as it contributed to build, visualize and materialize the design concept.

Organizações têm de lidar com um ambiente dinâmico em que a inovação é essencial para o sucesso dos negócios. Além disso, a capacidade de inovar em produto de qualquer organização está diretamente relacionada a um fluxo contínuo de novas ideias capazes de atender às oportunidades de novos produtos e tecnologias. Apesar do seu papel importante no início do processo de inovação, ao contrário de tentar gerenciar o surgimento de novas ideias, a abordagem mais comumente preconizada pelas empresas é de incentivar a geração de um grande número de ideias. No entanto, o sucesso do desenvolvimento de novos produtos requer mais do que gerar ideias, outras características do processo devem ser consideradas. Para ajudar na compreensão dessas características, essa pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar como o processo de gestão de ideias de produtos é realizado nas empresas. Para atingir esse objetivo, primeiramente, é proposto um modelo conceitual síntese da gestão de ideias baseado nas características identificadas literatura. Em seguida, para compreender o comportamento dessas características na prática, é realizado um estudo de casos múltiplos em 15 empresas reconhecidas como inovadoras e de diversos setores da indústria. Por fim, baseado nos dados levantados nas empresas, as características do processo de gestão de ideias são analisadas e confrontadas com as informações obtidas na revisão da literatura. A partir do estudo é identificado que a condução do processo de gestão de ideias pode seguir diferentes lógicas conforme as características das empresas. Certos fatores, tais como: definições estratégicas, formas de condução do processo e fatores organizacionais devem ser levados em conta na definição da melhor forma de gerenciar o processo. Considerando, que os estudos identificados na literatura concentram-se em analisar características específicas do processo, tornando difícil obter uma visão completa do processo, esta pesquisa apresenta uma importante contribuição para a teoria acadêmica por meio da análise das principais características que compõem o processo. Este trabalho apresenta ainda uma contribuição para empresas, pois pode ser utilizado como referência de como o processo vem sendo desenvolvido e fornece uma visão prática de como pode ser estruturada a gestão de ideias. / Organizations have to deal with a dynamic environment in which innovation is essential for success of businesses. Additionally, the product innovation capability of any organization is directly related to a continuous flow of ideas capable of raising opportunities for new products and technologies. Despite the primary role of ideas, instead of managing the ideation process, the most common approach is the generation of a large number of ideas. However, launching new products requires more than just generating ideas, many other characteristics of the process need to be addressed. Thus, to explore these characteristics, this research has as main objective analyze how the product ideation process is carried out in companies. To achieve this goal, firstly, is proposed an ideation conceptual model, based on the synthesis of the characteristics identified in literature. Then, to understand the behavior of these characteristics in practice, is conducted a multiple case study in 15 companies recognized as innovative and from different sectors of industry. Finally, based on data collected, the characteristics of the ideation process are analyzed and compared with the information obtained from the literature review. Based on the results of the study is identified that the conduct of the ideation process may follow different logics according to the characteristics of companies. Certain factors, such as: strategies, ways of conducting the process and organizational factors should be taken into account in defining the best way to manage the process. Considering that the studies identified in the literature focus on analyzing specific characteristics of the process, making it difficult to get a complete overview of the process, this research presents an important contribution to academic theory by analyzing the main characteristics that impact the process. This work also presents a contribution to companies, as it can be used as a reference of how the process is being developed and provides a practical overview of how it can be structured.

The main issues, which arise in that research project, are connected with health dimensions. There are emphasised points, which contribute to the employees’ health and well-being, solutions, which organisations implement to prevent workers from diseases and illnesses, to track their current condition of body and mind and generally to improve their overall health situation. From the very beginning the main stress was supposed to lie on physical activity promotion being an integral part of health promotion at the workplace but the obtained information from the conducted interviews verified that idea. The research also touches other variables contributing to the employees’ health and cons tituting the idea of health promotion at the workplace, namely health profiles and Corporate Social Responsibility. It is argued who may benefit from workplace physical activities and to which extent such programs may succeed. Interviews showed double points of views according to the necessity to encourage employees to train within the organization. Basis for the discussion of the topic were interviews gained from the interaction with the staff of the organization Xylem located in Sweden in Emmaboda, a world leader in water solutions. The chosen methodology based on the case study appeared to be the most relevant to explore health issues thanks to the clear empirical example. The company was distinguished because of the sport and rehabilitation centre, which it had in its possession and which seemed to make Xylem be different from the competitors and gave advantages for the employees in the form of additional benefits causing going in for sport at the company’s expense. The results of the research indicate that health promotion at the workplace may be viewed as a part of Corporate Social Responsibility. The evidences for IV that perspective are presented with a proper motivation mostly in the conclusion part. The research intended to show to the readers to what extent health promotion at the workplace incorporating physical activities, health profiles and CSR is important, how it is regarded and how much attention, time and efforts is and should be devoted to deal with that dimension in a proper way.

Background: Entrepreneurship plays an indispensable role in today’s society. Especially, the creation of new ventures promotes economic growth and new opportunities. Hereof, Sweden is viewed as a role-model, since it is one of the most innovative and entrepreneurial active countries in the world. Almost 6% of Sweden’s inhabitants are currently characterized as nascent entrepreneurs and thus, are engaged in early entrepreneurial activities without having started an official venture yet. Considering the fact that nascent entrepreneurs have no prior entrepreneurial experience while facing uncertain environments, they have to evaluate the attractiveness of new venture ideas and decide whether they are worth to pursue or to drop them. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the evaluation approach of nascent entrepreneurs in the light of new venture ideas. More precisely, we want to investigate what kind of approaches they make use of when evaluating the attractiveness of those ideas and their motives behind the approaches. Method: This thesis is of qualitative nature while following an inductive approach and conducting a multiple case study with ten cases of different nascent entrepreneurs. The data is collected through semi-structured interviews, which were conducted in personal face-to-face meetings. For analysing the empirical findings, we engaged in within-case and cross-case analyses, where we identified and analysed common patterns and differences across the cases. Conclusion: All of the research respondents apply a variety of evaluation approaches, where they make use of their cognition as a means of judging and assessing the attractiveness of new venture ideas. Besides utilizing their social network, existing knowledge and future estimations, all nascent entrepreneurs are using heuristic rules-of-thumb for evaluating the idea attractiveness. Thereby, we identified Passion, Monetary Incentives, Resources and Market Potential as the most outstanding rules-of-thumb in the clear majority of the cases.

The thesis aims to interpret the philosophy of negative Platonism, which Jan Patočka developed during the 1950s. In the first part, negative Platonism, whose preliminary notion is derived from the interpretation of the eponymous programme essay, is studied in the context of contemporary philosophical discussion and Patočka's subjectivist humanistic conception he developed in the latter half of the 1940s as well as his lectures on classical philosophy. The second part contains author's own systematic interpretation of negative Platonism, including the reconstruction of the textual corpus of Patočka's programme. Finally, the third part, which considers first the inspirational sources of the observed project, reviews negative Platonism and outlines a concept, with which Patočka replaced negative Platonism in the late 1950s. The thesis aims to outline the philosophy of negative Platonism as an important stage in Patočka's philosophical development as well as a significant part of the modern history of European thinking.

Fundação de Apoio a Pesquisa e à Inovação Tecnológica do Estado de Sergipe - FAPITEC/SE / Family Family farming plays a role of great economic relevance, social and environmental development for the country. Intercedidos by the inclusion of technological packages stimulated by the Green Revolution, the agricultural sector has undergone major changes to meet the demands of the market, along with the inordinate increase in urban population and proposed economic growth. This has resulted in numerous socio-economic and environmental conflicts that undermine the society relationships and environment. In this sense, the objective of the research was to evaluate the sustainability of family corn farmers farming systems in the municipality of Simão Dias-SE, using as an object of study to characterize the family farm system with monoculture of corn. The methodology is guided in literature and field research, with purpose to achieve systemically data that contextualize the production systems of the studied region and observing their physical aspects, potentialities and limits. For sustainability assessment was carried out the selection of indicators based on the methodology of the Farm Sustainability Indicators - IDEA (VILAIN, 2000) in order to establish and meet the factors that act on the environment. The properties presented in good condition and with higher levels of socio-territorial context revealing improvements in the quality of life of farmers as well as the socio-economic context. However contexts use of natural and agricultural resources management had low levels of sustainability expressing the limitations regarding the conservation of natural resources and soil management. The research also contributes to the characterization of the territory showing that the socio-economic and agro-environmental sustainability needs of conservation practices that cause less impact on natural resources and at the same time ensure productivity generating income for farmers. Through evaluation and through the windows it was possible to provide support for creation of public policies and guidelines to decision makers, especially at the local level, in order to achieve the best levels of agricultural sustainability. / A agricultura familiar exerce um papel de grande relevância econômica, social e ambiental para o país. Intercedidos pela inclusão de pacotes tecnológicos estimulados pela Revolução Verde, o setor agrícola sofreu profundas transformações para atender as exigências do mercado, junto com o aumento desordenado da população urbana e proposta de crescimento econômico. Isso resultou em inúmeros conflitos socioeconômicos e ambientais que comprometem as relações sociedade e meio ambiente. Neste sentido o objetivo da pesquisa foi avaliar a sustentabilidade dos sistemas agrícolas familiares produtores de milho no município de Simão Dias-SE, utilizando-se como objeto de estudo a caracterização do sistema agrícola familiar com monocultura do milho. A metodologia está pautada em pesquisa bibliográfica e pesquisa de campo, com propósito de alcançar de forma sistêmica dados que contextualizem os sistemas de produção da região estudada, observando assim seus aspectos físicos, potencialidades e limites. Para avaliação da sustentabilidade, foi realizada a seleção de indicadores com base na metodologia de Indicadores de Sustentabilidade das Explorações Agrícolas - IDEA (VILAIN, 2000) de maneira a estabelecer e reunir os fatores que agem sobre o meio ambiente. As propriedades apresentaram-se em boas condições e com níveis mais elevados no contexto socioterritorial revelando as melhorias na qualidade de vida dos agricultores assim como no contexto socioeconômico. No entanto os contextos uso dos recursos naturais e gestão agrícola apresentaram baixos níveis de sustentabilidade expressando as limitações no tocante à preservação dos recursos naturais e manejo do solo. A pesquisa contribui também com a caracterização do território revelando que a sustentabilidade socioeconômica e agroambiental precisa de práticas conservacionistas que causem menos impacto aos recursos naturais e ao mesmo tempo garantam produtividade gerando renda para os agricultores. Através da avaliação e por meio dos indicadores foi possível fornecer subsídios para criação de políticas públicas e diretrizes aos tomadores de decisão, especificamente em âmbito local, com o propósito de alcançar a melhores níveis de sustentabilidade agrícola.

In the last decades agricultural production has shown a significant increase, primarily in the production of grains. This increase occurred mainly due to technological innovations in the field, provided greater food supply, however, this advancement of agricultural areas brings a lot of criticism when it comes to sustainability. The practice of monoculture plantations contributes disproportionately to the simplification of ecosystems. It damages the environment causing water, air and soil pollution due to intensive use of pesticides and fertilizers and it contributes to the loss of biodiversity. In the city of Simão Dias - SE, the monoculture of corn is the strongest kind of farming among the local farmers. The advancement of areas cultivated with maize occurred together with the insertion of technology in the field, as the example of genetically modified seeds and the use of machinery what has made the city the second largest corn producer in the state. The monoculture of corn represents the main source of income for farmers from the town; this monoculture has a high dependence of inputs such as pesticides, chemical fertilizers and machinery, in addition to the dependence on bank credit along with a reduced labor supply. In this context this research addressed the levels of sustainability in the agroecosystems of maize in Simão Dias. The aim of the research was guided in the analysis of the levels of territorial sustainability, economic and present environment in agroecosystems of corn. The methodology is based on bibliographic references, field survey and semi-structured interviews, analysis of soil and in the selection of indicators based on the method of Indicateurs de Durabilité de Exploitations Agricoles – IDEA. 20 families owning properties with similar cultivation characteristics were selected among them there were ten properties that have embraced the technology of transgenic seeds and ten properties that uses the conventional hybrid seed. As a result, the levels of sustainability of the agroecosystem of transgenic corn had better results in the productivity. The analysis of the levels of sustainability per sectors has demonstrated that the social territorial sector showed the best results for all the involved properties, the analysis of the economic axis has shown that money investments have increased productivity for farmers who planted transgenic corn, allowing these properties better levels of economical sustainability. When it came to the agricultural environment the levels of sustainability were unsatisfactory in terms of diversification, management of soils, use of pesticides and fertilizers in all properties. The properties that have used the conventional hybrid seed presented a critical point: a low or non-existent biodiversity preservation and lack of technical assistance. Their agricultural practices harm the sustainability of agroecosystems, especially in regard to environmental sustainability. evaluation of indicators of sustainability of agricultural holdings of agroecosystems of maize in the city of simão dias/se / Nas últimas décadas a produção agrícola mundial tem apresentado um aumento expressivo, principalmente na produção de grãos. Esse aumento, ocorrido principalmente devido às inovações tecnológicas no campo, proporcionou maior oferta de alimentos, no entanto, esse avanço das áreas agrícolas traz muitas críticas, principalmente no campo da sustentabilidade. A prática da monocultura contribui exageradamente para a simplificação dos agroecossistemas e por consequência danos ao meio ambiente como: poluição da água, do ar e do solo devido ao intenso uso de agrotóxicos e fertilizantes além da perda da biodiversidade. No município de Simão Dias – SE, a monocultura do milho possui grande destaque nas práticas agrícolas dos agricultores locais. O avanço das áreas cultivadas com o milho ocorreu acompanhado da inserção da tecnologia no campo, a exemplo das sementes transgênicas e do uso do maquinário, tornando o município o segundo maior produtor de milho do estado. A monocultura do milho constitui principal fonte de renda dos agricultores do município, apresenta práticas com elevada dependência de insumos como agrotóxicos, fertilizantes químicos e maquinários, além da dependência de crédito bancário e reduzida oferta de trabalho. Nesse contexto realizou-se a pesquisa que abordou os níveis de sustentabilidade em agroecossistemas do milho em Simão Dias Se. O objetivo da pesquisa pautou-se na análise dos níveis de sustentabilidade socioterritorial, econômica e agroambiental nos agroecossistemas de milho. A metodologia está pautada em referências bibliográficas, pesquisa de campo e entrevistas semi-estruturadas, análise de solo e na seleção de indicadores com base no método Indicateurs de Durabilité de Exploitations Agricoles – IDEA. Foram selecionadas vinte propriedades familiares com características de cultivo semelhantes, dez propriedades que adotaram a tecnologia das sementes transgênicas e dez propriedades que utiliza a semente hibrida convencional. Como resultado, os níveis de sustentabilidade do agroecossistema do milho transgênico apresentou melhores resultados devido a maior produtividade. A análise dos níveis de sustentabilidade por eixo demonstrou que o eixo socioterritórial apresentou os melhores resultados para todas as propriedades, a análise do eixo econômico demonstrou que os investimentos econômicos permitiram maior produtividade para os agricultores que cultivaram milho transgênico, permitindo a essas propriedades melhores níveis de sustentabilidade no eixo econômico. No eixo agroambiental os níveis de sustentabilidade apresentaram-se insatisfatórios no tocante à diversificação, manejo dos solos, uso de agrotóxicos e fertilizantes em todas as propriedades analisadas. As propriedades que utilizaram a semente híbrida convencional apresentaram um ponto crítico ainda maior: a pouca ou inexistente preservação da biodiversidade e ausência de assistência técnica. As práticas agrícolas no município comprometem a sustentabilidade dos agroecossistemas, principalmente no tocante a sustentabilidade ambiental.