José Carlos Rodríguez

Innovation Trends in NAFTA Countries: an Econometric Analysis of Patent Applications

This paper analyzes innovation trends in North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) countries by means of the number of patent applications during the period 1965 to 2008. Making use of patent data released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Network for Science and Technology Indicators (Red Iberoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnologia, RICYT), we search for presence of multiple structural changes in the patent applications series in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Such changes may suggest that firms’ innovative activity has been modified in these countries (Mansfield, 1986). Accordingly, it would be expected that the new regulations implemented in these countries in the 1980s and 1990s have influenced their intellectual property regimes through the NAFTA and the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement. Consequently, the question conducting this research is how the new dispositions affecting intellectual regimes in NAFTA countries have affected innovation activities in these countries. The results achieved in this research confirm the existence of multiple structural changes in the series of patent applications resulting from the new legislation implemented in these countries.

Anchor tenants, technology transfer and regional innovation systems in emerging economies: a system dynamics approach

System dynamics models have become an important tool to develop new theories in social sciences. This approach allows analysing science and technology policy within the structure where this process is carried out. The model developed in this research aims to evaluate the inclusion of an anchor tenant in a regional innovation system as a mechanism to boost absorptive and academic innovation projects in a region. The main role played by an anchor tenant in a regional innovation system is thus to generate technological spillovers that could be internalised by firms. However, the analysis of science and technology policy from the perspective of regional innovation systems provides an adequate framework to integrate in the same analysis key institutions in charge of generating and using new knowledge. In this paper, we analyse the case of Ciudad del Conociminto-Morelia (CCM) in the province of Michoacan in Mexico.

Science, technology and innovation policy to sustain agricultural biotechnology in emerging economies: evidence from Mexico

This paper analyses agricultural biotechnology in emerging economies. Particularly, the case of Mexico is studied as an example of how agricultural biotechnology has evolved in these countries. A system dynamics (SD) model is developed to evaluate alternative science, technology and innovation (STI) policy scenarios of biotechnology activity in Mexico. From this analysis, it seems that cooperative and mission STI policies are more suitable for supporting and developing agricultural biotechnology. This analysis supports the idea that the presence of venture capital markets, a positive attitude among consumers for consuming genetically modified organisms (GMOs), an entrepreneurial attitude among scientist, and the development of management capabilities are core variables to advance biotechnology innovation systems (BISs) in emerging economies.

Foreign direct investment and technology spillovers in Mexico: 20 years of NAFTA

This article analyses the development of technology capabilities in the manufacturing sector of Mexico during the last two decades. It has been argued that the inclusion of Mexico in the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994 would be enough to catch up with Canada and the United States. In this regard, trade liberalisation and foreign direct investment (FDI) would have been two strategic tools to close the technology gap between Mexico and its commercial partners in North America. Yet, after twenty years of NAFTA, it has been demonstrated that many indigenous firms in Mexico must develop an absorptive capacity to benefit from FDI. This paper suggests that the debate on the Asian miracle in the 1990s could be an adequate theoretical framework to discuss technology development and industrialisation in the case of emerging economies. In fact, this debate reveals two alternative approaches to explain the development of technology capabilities: (i) the accumulation view of growth, and (ii) the assimilation view of growth. Therefore, the Asian miracle exemplifies how entrepreneurship, learning and a supporting innovation policy could be an adequate strategy to benefit from FDI and technology spillovers in the case of emerging economies.

University spin-off creation in Canada, Spain and Portugal: a comparative analysis from the perspective of the national systems of entrepreneurship

This paper analyses university-industry technology transfer (UITT) and academic spin-off creation in Canada, and Spain and Portugal. The national systems of entrepreneurship approach are adopted in this analysis. It is argued that the possibility of finding entrepreneurial capabilities amongst scientists contributes to successfully transferring technology from universities to industry. The process of UITT and spin-off creation is characterised by following a non-linear trajectory. This paper stresses the importance of a supportive incentives policy at universities to successfully advance the process of technology transfer. A system dynamics (SD) model of UITT and academic spin-off creation from the perspective of the systems of entrepreneurship are developed in this paper. The SD approach allows including in the same analysis feedback effects, time delays and other non-linear effects characterising the process of UITT and university spin-off creation.