A Comparative Analysis of Innovation Policy in Mexico, Spain, Chile and Korea

In the last decades, innovation has become a very significant strategy for the competitiveness. Some governments have implemented public policies oriented to science, technology and innovation to stimulate the technical development in industrial sectors and strengthen their national innovation systems. The main objective of analyzing the economic and industrial performance of Mexico, Spain, Chile and Korea in the cycle of 1980's middle to 2002 year is to find the best practices issued from the innovation policy and the relevant practices that split success or failure in economic and science and technology indicators. The comparative analysis between these countries is based on the technological and innovation strategies, tools and competencies identification. Our study has shown that Korea developed planned industrial consortiums in strategic sectors. Spain under the European Union policies definition has consolidated collaboration networks that involve industry, research centers and universities. The efforts of Chile are based in a conservative but effective innovation policy through the technology acquisition strategy. Perhaps the main difference is the resources availability and the promotion of an innovation culture. This paper presents the main results of this analysis as well as recommendations for the Mexican innovation policy makers. We strongly believe that timely and appropriate response will depend on the adoption of the recommendations provided.