In 2012, President Enrique Peña Nieto set the very ambitious goal of increasing Mexico’s investment in Science and Technology from the current 0.4 percent to 1 percent of GDP by the end of his mandate in 2018. This commitment has generated a strong debate on what policies should be adopted to support such an extraordinary effort. In this framework, the question on … [Read more...] about Can Mexico make the leap in Innovation?
innovation
Innovation policy spillover effects: the unaccounted benefits
Recently the development community has talked a lot about knowledge and innovation as a key priority for the years to come, maybe induced by the lesser relevance that financial support has for many emerging countries. Multilateral and bilateral agencies have suddenly become knowledge banks, global practices, ideas’ generators, developers of innovation ventures, etc. In the … [Read more...] about Innovation policy spillover effects: the unaccounted benefits
Technological Innovation Program Boosts Competitiveness in Paraguay
By Pablo Javier Angelelli Up until recently, Paraguay had one of the lowest investment rates in scientific research and technological innovation of any Latin America and Caribbean country reaching to less that 0.1% of GDP. The country also lacked trained professionals to develop research activities and innovation projects. That is rapidly changing, however, as innovation … [Read more...] about Technological Innovation Program Boosts Competitiveness in Paraguay
Is innovation a threat to employment in Latin America?
Joint blog post with Gustavo Crespi The relationship between innovation and employment has never been an easy one. For a long time innovation was seen as a potential threat to employment and economists got to the point of defining technological unemployment as a disease. The argument was that technological change could create unemployment through the substitution of … [Read more...] about Is innovation a threat to employment in Latin America?
Are supplier development programs effective at improving firm performance?
In a recent paper that I wrote with Irani Arraiz and Francisca Henriquez we find that the Chilean Supplier Development Program benefited both small and medium-sized suppliers and large firms buying their production. This paper is –to the best of our knowledge—the first to present results of an impact evaluation of a supplier development program in Latin America and the … [Read more...] about Are supplier development programs effective at improving firm performance?