NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, January 9, 2014

From Venezuela’s oil, to copper from Chile, Argentinean soybeans, bananas from Ecuador, Mexican silver, and timber from Brazil – the vast region is blessed with a fabulous array of commodities the world wants and needs.

But Latin America has been less good at exporting ideas. When it comes to entrepreneurship and innovation, the region has a poor record.

While the countries of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) spend an average of 2.4% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on research and development, in Chile and Mexico – the only two Latin American members of the club – the figure is 0.4%. In other countries of the region it’s even less.