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This paper aims at discussing the dimensions, conditions, and challenges of dialogue processes between different communities in order to contribute to STI policy-making within innovation systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. The evidence is based on fifteen cases. An analytical framework is proposed to analyse these dialogue processes, based on three dimensions: object, space, and temporality; each dimension is made up of various attributes. We outline three major policy recommendations: (i) it is crucial to understand the object of the dialogue and who are the communities and actors participating in it; (ii) it is important to clearly identify the three dimensions of the dialogue process and the specific attributes of each one; and (iii) it is advisable to identify differences in the conditions of each dialogue: capabilities between the participating communities and any asymmetries of power, in order to take corrective action and encourage the generation of agreements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to discuss the tensions that are created between Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) communities during the dialogue process. The main argument revolves around the idea that public participation in STI is a complex process where communities with different expectations, logics, language codes, and dynamics of power relations participate. As a result, diverse tensions emerge during the dialogue process. To deal with these tensions, it is necessary to identify them, and appropriate and contextualize the methods of public participation in a flexible way to have instruments that allow overcoming such tensions and reaching better results. This article draws on and expands current empirical efforts to discuss public participation methods. It is based on a case study of a public dialogue experience between knowledge-based entrepreneurs with policymakers to identify the most important challenges that they face and the implications for STI policy in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore new perspectives for analysing knowledge networks, arguing that knowledge networks can no longer be referred to as egalitarian, non-hierarchical, and neutral forms of social organization. Instead, networks reproduce tensions, asymmetries, and hierarchies linked to science, technology, and innovation policy incentives and incorporate dynamic and multi-situated nodes of power. This paper draws on evidence gathered from a case study on transnational and translocal knowledge networks in nanotechnology, which have central nodes at a public research center located in Chihuahua (Chihuahua) and its auxiliary branch in Monterrey (Nuevo Leon) in Northern Mexico. We propose that, in order to understand the production of asymmetries in knowledge networks, an incentive policy element must be added to the equation. The latter refer to monetary, symbolic, and material incentives stemming from all arenas where networks interact. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Innovation intermediary organizations ( IIOs) may build bridges between the demand and supply of knowledge. The understanding concerning the scope and functions of these intermediaries in the case of the agricultural sector is scarce, particularly for developing countries. The aim of this article is to discuss the functions played by IIOs operating in the segment of small farmers in the agricultural sector in the context of a developing country. The analysis allows extracting policy implications having in mind small farmers with different economic conditions and levels of innovativeness. This article uses a case study methodology. The main sources of information are interviews with members of the board and staff of the Produce Foundation, responsible for managing public resources to promote innovation processes in the agriculture sector in a specific state, Chiapas, as well as with farmers, technological suppliers, and researchers in this state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the drivers and modes of university-industry interaction in latecomer firms. Based on a survey conducted in 2008 and using a sample of Mexican manufacturing firms, technological and innovative effort (TIE) related factors and structural characteristics have been introduced in a set of logistic models. The results confirm that there is a positive relationship between the TIE, measured as the intensity of in-house R&D and the innovative profile of the firm, and the firm's propensity to establish linkages with higher education institutes and public research centers. TIE was also found to be significant in determining the likelihood of specific channels of university-industry linkages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the results of four country studies (Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica and Mexico) on the relative effectiveness of channels of interactions between public research organisations (PROs) and industry in driving specific types of benefits for researchers and firms. All studies used micro-datasets developed by a joint project using common questionnaires. Channels of interactions were classified into four groups (traditional, services, bi-directional and commercial) while benefits were classified into two groups for firms (short-term production and long-term innovation) and for researchers (economic and intellectual). It is found that the bi-directional (knowledge flows in both directions) and the services (knowledge flows mainly from PROs to firms) channels drive intellectual benefits for researchers. Firms tend to value the traditional channel (i.e. graduates, publications, conferences) more than any other channel. However, it is the bi-directional channel that drives the best benefits, especially those related to contributions to innovation activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of knowledge transfer between public research organisations and industry occurs through multiple channels of interaction, however, there are differences in terms of the benefits that the agents perceive. Based on micro-data, this paper explores which channels are the most effective for triggering different benefits perceived by researchers and firms involved in such interactions in Mexico. The results suggest that researchers obtain intellectual benefits from the bi-directional and the traditional channels. Firms obtain benefits related to production activities and innovation strategies from the bidirectional and the services channels, while the traditional channel only provides production-related benefits. These results raise different policy issues. First, fostering the bi-directional channel could contribute to building virtuous circles. Secondly, it is necessary to align the incentives to foster other channels of interaction. Thirdly, a change in the researchers' incentives is required to induce new benefits from interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competitive funds (CF) have become a preferred mechanism to allocate research funding, particularly in developing countries, to the point that they are the most important (and often unique) source of funds. Most analysis of CF assumes that they are an efficient instrument to allocate research funds, without realizing that other allocation mechanisms are available. The funding agency only has limited knowledge about the effectiveness of CF. This paper reviews the experience of the Mexican Produce Foundations with CF in the agriculture sector and discusses some benefits and limits of using CF as the main mechanism to fund research in a country with a relatively weak national innovation system, a relatively small research system, and some very innovative actors in the agricultural system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition process from building a minimum knowledge base to deploying the first strategic capabilities is a neglected issue in the literature on technological accumulation in Latin American firms. This paper analyses three organisational processes that may affect this stage and discusses the role of an unstable firm's technology strategy in influencing such processes. Based on a detailed case study of Vitro S.A., one of the largest and most successful Mexican industrial groups, this paper argues that a context characterised by macroeconomic instability and distortions, and the lack of vision of the firm's top management about the role of technology in competitiveness, contribute to explaining the instability of the firm's technology strategy. This, in turn, is a major factor that negatively influences the conversion of individual into organisational learning, the coordination of different learning strategies, and the steadiness of the knowledge-creation process. The weaknesses in these processes make the deployment of strategic capabilities and the completion of the transition process more difficult. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue discusses the relative effectiveness of different channels of interaction between public research organisations (PROs) and industry in driving specific types of benefits for researchers and firms in Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica and Mexico). The empirical evidence comes from original micro-data collected through similar questionnaires sent to the managers of firms and PRO researchers in each country. The richness of this special issue results from its origin: it emerges as a joint motivation to understand a key aspect of PRO--industry interactions through the relationship between channels and benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]