Innovación, equidad y desarrollo LatinoAmericano

Abstract

Innovation is nowadays at the forefront of the policy agenda in Latin America to foster economic development and social equality. In this paper, it is stated that the process of incorporating innovation policies into the public agenda could be described as a mimetic translation of concepts and instruments generated abroad, without a complete diagnosis of the local conditions, opportunities and constraints. Innovation policy in Latin America is characterized as process of adapting instruments designed for dynamic economies with a strong demand for new practical knowledge, to the context of economies with a lack of entrepreneurs and a lot of people under the line of poverty. As a consequence, innovation policies have been assumed as a new name for the old science and technology policies and by these means paradoxically reinforcing instead of replacing the so-called linear model of science policy. This paper also contends that innovation could facilitate the path to fairer societies, but for that to be possible innovation policy requires new theoretical frames and concepts.