Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Alcorta, Ludovico
Author-Workplace-Name: United Nations University, Institute for New Technologies
Author-Name: Peres, Wilson
Author-Workplace-Name: Economic Commission for Latin America
Title: Innovation Systems and Technological Specialization in Latin America and the Caribbean
Abstract: Although most Latin American and Caribbean countries have greatly increased their
	 exports during the early 1990s, the goal of moving towards higher value added
	 products in their export structure is proving as elusive as during the import
	 substitution industrialisation period. This paper brings together ideas about and
	 indicators of the region's capacity to compete in advanced industries or introduce
	 products in the international marketplace, particularly in comparison with the
	 performance of the most developed countries (the Group of Seven), the Asian tigers
	 (Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan), the potential Asian tigers (China,
	 Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand) and the newly industrialised European countries
	 (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Turkey). It presents an index of the
	 technological specialisation in the region's exports to the most sophisticated
	 markets (i.e., the OECD countries) and accounts for variations in specialisation
	 based on the performance of national systems of innovation attributes such as
	 public policy, technological infrastructure, human capital formation, and the
	 internal articulation of the system, as well as on the dynamics of investment in
	 innovation, including aggregate expenditure on research and development (R & D) and
	 its structure, and investment of human resources and enterprise. The paper
	 addresses policy issues that impact on the region's performance with respect to
	 investment. Specifically, it puts forward ideas regarding ways to tackle problems
	 related to the lack of Schumpeterian entrepreneurs, asymmetrical information and
	 the incentive system in the region's national systems of innovation.
Keywords: Industrial innovation, Latin America, Caribbean
Series: Discussion Paper
Creation-Date: 1995
Number: 1995-09
File-URL: https://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/discussion-papers/9509.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 865 Kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unuint:199509