Catching Up in the 21st Century: Globalization, Knowledge and Capabilities in Latin America, a Case for Natural Resource Based Activities

Abstract

The nature of the catching-up process has changed substantially at both the global and local levels over the last decade. The catching up process can no longer be disentangled from the rapid internationalization of science and technology and the globalization of innovation, in which the developing countries have an increasingly important role to play. In the first section, we focus on setting the global scene within which the catching up process operates today. In a second section we study the increasing complexity in the knowledge creation process caused by this dynamic interaction between the global and local levels. We then introduce the relevant types of capacities and explain why different capabilities are required in specific situations, times and locations. In section four, we place these theoretical discussions in a Latin American context to understand catching up opportunities from a regional perspective, focusing on activities based on natural resources.