Abstract

A national system of innovation can be defined as "the elements and relationships, which interact in the diffusion, production and use of new and economically useful knowledge ... either located within or rooted inside the borders of a nation state." (Lundvall 1992). Earlier efforts to understand national innovation systems in developing countries have focused on the elements of the system (firms, universities, public research organizations, etc.), with little emphasis on the relationships and knowledge flows between them. These relationships are important as they may induce positive behaviour such as research cooperation or negative behaviour such as appropriation strategies. Most countries have put in place policies to support networking and modernize intellectual property management. However, an assessment of firm behaviour in these areas is lacking. This project will focus on two critical topics in the current innovation policy debate in Latin America: cooperative strategies and mechanisms to protect the results of successful innovation. Researchers will carry out a comparative analysis of these two aspects of innovation strategies with reference to micro data provided by innovation surveys in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay. The idea is to improve the quality of regional data collection on innovation indicators and make recommendations for improving the functioning of national innovation systems.

Recipient Institution(s)