Can Latin America Move Forward after a Lost Decade in Technical Change?...Looking at Opportunities for Knowledge-based Change in Times of Increasing Uncertainty
| Páginas | 1-19 |
| Fecha | 17 Noviembre 2014 |
| Fecha de publicación | 17 Noviembre 2014 |
| Autor | Manuel Heitor,Hugo Horta,Rosario Castañón,Roberto Sbragia,Alejandro Jiménez |
| Materia | Ciencias sociales |
ISSN: 0718-2724. (http://www.jotmi.org)
Journal of Technology Management & Innovation © Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Facultad de Economía y Negocios.
November 2014 Edition / Special Issue
Technical Change and Innovation Policy in Latin America: Lessons learned.
J. Technol. Manag. Innov. 2014, Volume 9, Issue 4
Can Latin America Move Forward after a Lost Decade in Technical Change?
…Looking at Opportunities for Knowledge-based Change in Times of
Increasing Uncertainty
Manuel Heitor1, Hugo Horta 1,2, Rosario Castañón3, Roberto Sbragia4, Alejandro Jiménez5
Abstract
In view of the current global context, which challenges are facing science- and technology-based developments and
cooperation in a way to contribute for policies that stimulate localized learning, innovation and endogenous development
in Latin America?
This broad question has motivated the work behind the Special Issue introduced by this paper, which considers the
development of case studies in selected Latin America regions. The analysis lead us to argue that value-based networks
have the potential to make both public policies and markets more effective, promoting learning trajectories for the
inclusive development of regions. But they require effective public investments to keep attracting and qualifying human
resources, together with long-term developments towards technical industries and export capacity for emerging markets
worldwide. Our analysis argues about the unique potential for further developing Latin America through strategic
international, knowledge-based ventures, exploring the emerging role the internationalization of universities and scientic
institutions may play at a global level. Above all, they require the systematic observation of science and technical change in
international comparison, as well as a relational infrastructure for collective action, at an international level, in a context
much inuenced by a dynamic of change and a necessar y balance between the creation and diffusion of knowledge towards
the endogenous development of all par ts involved. The role of Latin America Universities and science policies based on
international cooperation are considered to be particularly important in this process.
Keywords: technical change; innovation policy; Latin America; science policies; international cooperation; special issue
1 Center for Innovation,Technology and Policy Research, IN+, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal.
2 University of Hong Kong, SAR, China.
3 Centro de Ciencias Aplicadas y Desarrollo Tecnológico, UNAM, México.
4 Center for Technology Management and Policy, PGT; School of Economics and Management, FEA, University of São Paulo, USP, Brazil.
5 School of Economics and Business, Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile.
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ISSN: 0718-2724. (http://www.jotmi.org)
Journal of Technology Management & Innovation © Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Facultad de Economía y Negocios.
J. Technol. Mana g. Innov. 2014, Volume 9, Issue 4
Introduction: research framework and hypothesis
In this paper we forward ideas to contribute to the
development of modern systems of technical change
in Latin America, with particular attention to new
developments in emerging societies and developing regions.
The basic premise of this paper is that the central locus
of innovation has increasingly become distributed and
increasingly dependent upon linkages between many
different institutions and sources of knowledge worldwide.
First, the increasingly transnational business, technology and
science require evolving from nationalistic approaches to
new collaborative policy frameworks. Among these, large
international collaborative arrangements play an emerging
role. Second, the science and technology performance
sectors, namely government, industry and academia, remain
key players, but the connectivity, links and associations
with other institutional players and agencies are no less
important. In particular, the increasingly relevant role played
by new technology-based firms is identified which are also
becoming global. This requires strengthening science and
innovation policies, promoting investments in R&D, involving
multiple public and private agents and stimulating global
research networks towards socio-economic resilience and
active learning mechanisms worldwide.
These questions are gaining increasing relevance as much
of the political debate worldwide is centered on economic
competiveness in the long term, most of the times under a
rather “nationalistic” approach to innovation for growth (see,
for exemple, McKinsey Global Institute, 2012; Mazzucato,
2013). The question that does arises is if the acceleration
of knowledge investments in China and the impact of the
international context in the US and EU, with the notable
exception of Germany, should be countered by aggressive
“techno-nationalism” elsewhere?
Any new narrative on global research networks requires
the analyses of, at least, the last decades and the seminal
work of Sylvia Ostry and Dick Nelson (1995), who among
many others for the last twenty years, have called for our
attention on the relationship between the globalism of firms
and the nationalism of governments, as well as the related
interplay of cooperation and competition that characterizes
high technology and knowledge-based environments.
It should be noted that the Brookings Institution´s project
described by Ostry and Nelson (1995) of the early 90´s has
promoted this debate, although in a different international
context, and it has clearly shown that tensions about deeper
integration arise from three broad sources: cross-border
spillovers, diminished national autonomy, and challenges to
political sovereignty.As a result, the technoglobalism of the
80´s gave rise to national policies designed to help high-tech
industries become more innovative and, consequently, the
emergence of technonationalism.
It is under this context that the concept of “national
systems of innovation” emerged in academia, mainly
through economists and related schools of thought,
to explain and explore how and why the systems have
evolved differently in the major industrial nations, mainly
US, Japan, UK, Germany and France. It was clear by then
that the increasing international tensions and economic
instability (see, for example Galbraith, 2012; Easterly, 2013)
were largely a result of the attempt of governments to
impose implement? national technology and innovation
policies in a world in which business and technology
are increasingly transnational.
It is in this context that this paper and the remaining papers
in this Special Issue contribute to address challenges and
opportunities for modernizing technical change in Latin
America in coming years. It was written having in mind the
unique opportunities many regions worldwide are facing to
develop new and modern universities (Mazzucato, 2013).
The key role for policy makers and governments, in those
regions where new investments are being made, is to select
priority actions and make the correct decisions: where and
how to start the process?
For the purposes of this paper, we use international
comparisons but draw also from field ork conducted
over the last few years in Latin America, as well as our self-
experience as researchers and policymakers in the field of
technology management and innovation policy. The work
is also based on some papers presented during a major
event organized by some of the authors in Porto, Portugal,
in October 2013 bringing together over 800 experts in
science, technology and innovation policies in Latin America
(ALTEC 2013, http://www.altec2013.org/).
It should also be noted that this paper and the Special Issue
are not intended to provide any type of recipe. Rather, they
aim to launch a new agenda for research in technology
management and innovation, based on lessons learned.
We attempt to explore the dynamic relationship between
economy and knowledge production and consider the
social construction of technological systems, as seminally
described by Bijker et al. (1987). Following the message of
Conceição and Heitor (2002) and Nowotny et al (2003),
in that “science is contextualized”, we foster the idea that
knowledge diffusion processes, and therefore innovation,
are “context-sensitive” and should be pursued towards
“inclusive learning”. In other words, any region worldwide
has to learn its own way and build its own development
path. Certainly, it is also relevant to continuously adapting
and improving lessons learned from others.
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