Resumo. This study aims to analyze the interaction of research institutes and companies in their institutional and innovative aspects, from the study on the National Service for Industrial Training (SENAI) Innovation Institutes in Santa Catarina and companies. The neo-Schumpeterian perspective and its analytical framework of the innovation system and processes of knowledge generation, learning, and routines were adopted as theoretical basis. This is a descriptive research with a qualitative approach, developed from data obtained through an integrative, documentary research and carrying out a case study. The data sample consisted of industrial companies in Santa Catarina that completed innovation projects throughout 2017 and the first half of 2018 with more than 100 hours of services provided by the SENAI Innovation Institutes. The main conclusions of this research fall on the sharing of knowledge transferred from the institutes to the companies through meetings, technical reports, videos, and documents; occurrence of different forms de learning, as well as routine procedures, changes in processes, and development of physical systems in the projects carried out. Innovations resulting from the established institutional interactions appear as incremental.