Development profiles and accumulation of technological capabilities in Latin America

The study of technological capability accumulation processes (TCA) for developing countries is long-standing. The studies tend to adopt a narrow perspective to science, technology and innovation and their policies, which do not seem to be sufficient to understand TCA in countries that face the middle-income trap. This adds to the limited metrics we have to measure TCA. This paper argues that it is necessary to frame the TCA processes at national levels, including the techno-economic and the socio-political spheres (TES and SPS). It is argued that countries' evolutionary trajectory combines these spheres differently and results in different development profiles. This is expected to have an impact on their TCA. The objective is to identify and analyse development profiles of Latin American countries (in terms of TES and SPS), and discuss it relationship with the characteristics of TCA at the firm level. This research departures from descriptive statistics based on Innovation Surveys for the TCA analysis at the firm and country level, and combines different steps and tools to asses country development profiles: (i) a long-term analysis (1980–2010) to verify the existence of cointegration between TES and SPS; and (ii) the identification and estimation of long run paths that determine three different country profiles. Finally, we outline some policy recommendations.