Urenio Watch Watch: Innovation Strategies

Innovation and Regional Specialisation in Latin America

The new report of JRC “Innovation and Regional Specialisation in Latin America”  analyses how smart specialisation is implemented in Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. The study also suggests collaboration  between smart specialisation initiatives in these countries, which together represent a population of over 460 million inhabitants, with EU regions.

The conducted research analyses current developments and practices regarding innovation ecosystems, policies, legislation and budget which are taking place in Latin American regions as they define their strategies of specialisation.  Some findings included in the report are:

  • Chile is progressing towards a decentralisation system of innovation policies. Designing strategic financing plans to assure implementation of regional programs is fundamental.
  • In Brazil, horizontal coordination between states could allow important synergies in the definition of specialisation strategies and support states which are lagging behind.
  • Colombia and Peru emphasised aspects related to the public resources designated to the innovation programs, the consolidation of governance systems and the definition of the regional specialisation priorities.
  • Mexico headed to increase efforts in the coordination between the national level of the policy definition and the local and state initiatives of specialisation.
  • Argentina focused on incorporating peripheral provinces within the central scope to identify innovation potentialities at sub-national scale.

You can read the report here.