Argentina's national innovation system

International Journal of Technology Management

Volumn 15, Issue 6-7, 1998, Pages 721-760

  Correa, Carlos M ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSIDAD DE BUENOS AIRES   (Argentina)

^b FAO   (Argentina)

Author keywords

Flows of knowledge; Foreign direct investments; National innovation system; Patents; R D indicators; Science policy; Technology policy; Transfer of technology

Indexed keywords

ECONOMICS; PATENTS AND INVENTIONS; PUBLIC POLICY; TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER;

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS; INDUSTRIALIZATION; KNOWLEDGE FLOWS; NATIONAL INNOVATION SYSTEM; SCIENCE;

TECHNOLOGY;

EID: 0031681562     PISSN: 02675730     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1504/ijtm.1998.002627     Document Type: Article

References (66)

1. Lundvall, B.-A. (ed.) (1992) National Systems of Innovation, Pinter.
2. Bisang, R. (1994) Industrialización e incorporación del progreso técnico en la Argentina,Documento de Trabajo Nro. 54, CEPAL, Buenos Aires.
3. Vera-Cruz, A., Villa Soto, J. and Villegas de Gante, A. (1994) 'El susbsistema nacional de innovación en biotecnología: el papel de los centres de investigación en México', Comercio Exterior, Vol. 44, No. 8.
4. Nelson [60] defined a "national innovation system" as a set of "institutions whose interactions determine the innovative performance of national firms".
5. Such as firms, universities, public research laboratories and government.
6. Including institutions of education and training, regulatory structures, etc.
7. Edquist, C. (1995) Innovation Systems and European Integration (ISE), Linköping University.
8. Edquist [7] differentiates the studies on "national innovation systems" from those relating to "technological systems", which view technologies as integrated systems of components as well as supporting managerial and other social arrangements, and from the "industrial cluster" approach, which explores the performance of industrial sectors in terms of the integration of different kinds of firms and industries. (Porter's work on competitiveness, for instance, falls within this latter category.)
9. Chamarik, S. and Goonatilake, S. (1994) Technological Independence: The Asian Experience, United Nations University Press, Tokyo.
10. These two examples are based on Faulkner [56].
11. Senker, J. (1993) 'The contribution of tacit knowledge to innovation', AI and Society, Vol. 7.
12. Faulkner, W., Senker, J. and Velho, L. (1995) Knowledge Frontiers, Clarendon.
13. Kim, L. and Dahlman, K (1992) 'Technology policy for industrialization: an integrative framework and Korea's experience', Research Policy, No. 21.
14. Sagasti, F.R. (1981) Ciencia, tecnología y desarrollo latinoamericano, Lecturas Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE), Mexico D.F.
15. Sabato, J. and Mackenczie, M. (1982) La producción de tecnología: Autónoma o transnational, ILET/Nueva Imagen, México D.F.
16. Thus, Sabato's "triangle" described the interaction (or lack thereof) among government, industry and R&D laboratories. This model - strongly based on the Argentine experience in building up technological capabilities in the nuclear field - postulated the need to develop adequate relationships among the three agents, and assumed in fact a strong role for the government in promoting technological development (see Ciapuscio [61]).
17. Oteiza, E. (1992) 'El complejo científico y tecnológico argentine en la segunda mitad del Siglo XX: la transferencia de modelos institucionales', La Politico de Investigacion Científica y Tecnológica Argentina, Centro Editor, Buenos Aires.
18. Correa, C., Acevedo, C., Borgarello, M., Felman, M., Jeppesen, C. and Ponce, L. (CEA/UBA), (1994) La vinculación Universidad-Empresa en la Bibliografia Latinoamericana.
19. Studies on the matter are in course in the Maestría en Política y Gestion de la Ciencia y Tecnología, based on Prof. R. Garcfa's methodology on "complex systems".
20. Katz, J. and Bercovich, N. (1991) National Systems of Innovation Supporting Technical Change in Industry: The Case of Argentina, CONICET, mimeo, Buenos Aires.
21. Katz, J. (1983) Estrategias y ventajas comparativas dinámícas, Cuaderno Nro.l, Fundación Eugenio Blanco, Buenos Aires.
22. Kosacoff, B., Beccaria, L, Bezchinsky, G., Bisang, R., Chudnovsky, D., Gatto, F., Gutman, G., Katz. J. and Yoguel, G. (1994) El desafío de la competitividad: la industria argentina en transformatión, CEPAL-Alianza Editorial, Buenos Aires.
23. Despite the fact that imported technologies were mostly 'mature' and probably substituted in the countries of origin. This was possible because of the existence of "compensatory advantages" [62] to exploit outdated technologies in a protected market.
24. By 1974, industrial exports summed up $1.500 million, around 25% of total exports, while they were less than 10% of total exports in 1959 [20].
25. Azpiazu, D. (1985) La promoción industrial en la Argentina 1973-1983, CEPAL, Buenos Aires.
26. Azpiazu, D. and Notchteff, H. (1994) El Desarrollo Ausente. Restricciones al desarrollo, neoconservadorismo y elite económica en la Argentina. Ensayos de Economía Política, FLACSO, Buenos Aires.
27. Azpiazu, D. (1995) 'El Programa de privatizaciones. Desequilibrios macroeconómicos y concentración del poder económico', in Minsburg, N. and Valle, H.W. (coord.) (1995) Argentina hoy: crisis del modela, Ediciones Letra Buena, Mendoza.
28. This presentation oversimplifies facts in order to provide an overall vision. For a more precise and detailed analysis see Kosacoff et al. [22] and Ferrer [63].
29. For a recent and eloquent analysis of the industrial evolution in Argentina, see Schvarzer [64].
30. Alcorta, L. and Perez, W. (1995) Innovation Systems and Technological Specialization in Latin America and the Caribbean, UNU/INTECH, Maastricht.
31. UNESCO (1993) Statistical Yearbook, Paris.
32. Ferraro, R.A. (1995) Educados para competir. Los argentinos frente a mitos y realidades del seglo XXI, Editorial Sudamericana, Buenos Aires.
33. Mainly by shortening graduate curricula and emphasizing a strong basic formation in sciences. Moreover, it is intended to co-ordinate the graduate level with the postgraduate level so that together they add up to eight years of study. At present, the graduate level may take as much as six to ten years (this depends on the discipline). The Argentine system has followed since its origins the French model, which included professional careers and doctorate as postgraduate level within the university. Recently, postgraduate levels of the Anglo-Saxon type (like magister) have been introduced in different scientific and professional areas, thus creating several problems of coordination between the pre-graduate and the posgraduate level.
34. The aforementioned law requires that university professors have a postgraduate degree.
35. Secretaría de Ciencia y Técnica - Subsecretaría de Coordinación Operativa (1988) Relevamiento de recursos y actividades en ciencia y lecnología, Buenos Aires.
36. Chudnovsky, D. and López, A. (1995) Político tecnológica en la Argentina: Hay algo más que Laissez Faire?, CENIT, Buenos Aires.
37. OECD (1993) Technology and the Economy. The Key Relationship, Paris.
38. Bisang, R., Fuchs, M. and Kosacoff, B. (1992) Internacionalización y Desarrollo Industrial: inversiones externas directas de empresas argentinas, CEPAL, Dto. de Trabajo Nro.43, Buenos Aires.
39. This distribution of R&D outlays shows a strong contrast with the patterns prevailing in industrialized countries, where half or more of total R&D is devoted to 'experimental development'.
40. UNESCO (1991) Statistical Yearbook, Paris.
41. Argentina is the only Latin American country whose scientists have received Nobel Prizes in Science.
42. In addition, several sectors (such as energy, public services and communications), were not allowed for FDI.
43. Chudnovsky, D., López, A. and Porta, F. (1994) La Nueva Inversion Extranjera Directa en la Argentina. Privatizaciones, Mercado Interno e Integración Regional, CENIT, DT.15, Buenos Aires.
44. A specific and deeper study of the cases of purchase of local firms and of joint ventures may shed light on the factors explaining these findings.
45. Since 1981, the automobile industry has been protected by quotas imposed on finished cars originated outside MERCOSUR. Local firms and subsidiaries are able, within this program, to import finished automobiles on a reduced tariff basis. Firms are required to compensate imports through increased exports, and to reduce the mix of production in local plants as a way to reach economies of scale. Moreover, Protocol 21 of the Integration Agreement between Argentina and Brazil regulates automobile trade between these two countries and establishes a quota system for automobile parts and finished cars, with total tariff exemption.
46. Correa, C.M. (1989) Tecnología y desarrollo de la informática en el contexto Norte-Sur, EUDEBA, Buenos Aires.
47. INTI (Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial) (1990) Registro de Transferencia de Tecnología. Informe 1989, Buenos Aires.
48. Katz, J.M. (1986) Importación de tecnología, aprendizaje e industrialización dependiente, Fondo de Cultura Económica, México D.F.
49. The usefulness of patents as a technological indicator is subject to many constraints. Thus, many inventions are never patented, while many innovations do not meet the requirements to receive a patent. The number of patents, on the other hand, hides a very heterogeneous technical and economic value of individual patents [65]. These limitations are even more serious in developing countries [66].
50. Bercovich, N. and Katz, J. (1988) 'Innovacion genética, esfuerzo público de I&D y la frontera tecnológica internacional. Nuevos híbridos en el INTA', Desarrollo Económíco, Buenos Aires.
51. Correa, C. (1995) Produción y comercio de biotecnología en América Latina, CEA, Buenos Aires (forthcoming)
52. Vainstok, O. (1994) Las empresas químicas argentinas en el nuevo escenario competitivo, CEA -UBA, Buenos Aires.
53. Total public universities' budget for 1995 was around $1.500 million. However, the last Higher Education Law (passed during 1995) enables each institution to seek other sources of financing (such as development of technology, services and consultancies).
54. This clasification and the analysis that follows is based on the "market mechanism perspective" on technology policy presented by Kim and Dahlman [13].
55. Correa, M. (1994) 'Trends in technology transfer implications for developing countries', Science and Public Policy, Vol. 21, No. 6, December.
56. Faulkner, W. (1995) 'Getting behind industry-public sector research linkages', Science and Public Policy, October.
57. Only one of the privatized telecommunications companies undertakes some R&D activities in Argentina to cope with operative problems. Such activities are not directly related to R&D made by the parent company [43].
58. A trend towards technological protectionism has emerged, in fact, in industrialized countries in the 1980s, as a result of a combination of factors that include the ease of copying R&D results, particularly in the area of new technologies, the augmentation in R&D costs, the success of NICs in international markets and the relative loss of technological leadership by the USA in certain areas.
59. Skolnikoff, E. (1993) 'New international trends affecting science and technology'. Science and Public Policy, Vol. 20, No. 2.
60. Nelson, R. (ed.) (1993) National Innovation Systems, Oxford University Press.
61. Ciapuscio, H. (comp.) (1994) Repensando la Político Tecnológica. Homenaje a Jorge A. Sabato, Nueva Vision, Buenos Aires.
62. Cooper, C. (1994) 'Relevance of innovation studies to developing countries', In: Cooper, C. (ed.) Technology and Innovation in the International Economy, University Press, Cambridge.
63. Ferrer, A. (1995) La economía Argentina, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Buenos Aires.
64. Schvarzer, J. (1996) La industria que supimos conseguir. Una historia político-social de la industria argentina, Editorial Planeta, Buenos Aires.
65. Archibugi, D. (1992) 'Patenting as an indicator of technological innovation: a review', Science and Public Policy, Surrey.
66. UNCTAD (1991) Los indicadores tecnológicos y los poíses en desarrollo, Geneva.