Although most CTI policy frameworks in LAC recognize the presence of different market failures that might hinder innovation, surprisingly little progress has been made to analyze the impacts of these failures and address them in practice. The objective of this project is to move one step forward in this direction by trying to understand whether specific innovation obstacles are important drivers of the low levels of innovation propensity and intensity in LAC firms.
Most CTI policies that are currently being implemented in the region focus on financial instruments and matching grants (which address a specific type of market failure). Available evaluations suggest that innovation policies in LAC have had positive impacts in terms of the intensity of innovation activities and outputs.
However, in spite of these impacts, it is the case that the region as a whole still has a very weak performance in terms of the number of companies that achieve positions of technological and market leadership on a regional and/or global scale. This points out to the existence of other failures that might be present, or that interact with financial failures, and that are not being properly internalized into the policy mix. Case studies to be commissioned under this project will aim at identifying these failures and suggesting changes in the CTI policy framework in order to address them
The findings of this project are expected to provide valuable insights to feedback innovation policy action in LAC.
Period: February 01, 2017 to December 31, 2017