The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently published its evaluation of innovation in Chile. Although Chile has one of the most successful economies in Latin America, R&D spending totaled only 0.68% of GDP in 2004. R&D in Chile is typically funded by the government and conducted at universities. The business sector plays a very small role in the financing and execution of R&D, accounting for only 0.31% of GDP in 2004. Subsidiaries of multinational companies only accounted for 3.6% of business R&D in 2002. More than 80% of spending on innovation in 2002 was for new equipment. While the mining industry, which accounted for 11% of GDP in 2003, does not have an innovation network, the food and beverage industry has innovation networks that can serve as models for future networks. The evaluation also cites the innovation-based success of fishing and wine industries as examples of the country’s native knowledge base for innovation.

Source: OECD