Innovation in Latin America Panel at the Woodrow Wilson Center
Innovation in Latin America Panel at the Woodrow Wilson Center
On November 30, The Woodrow Wilson Center hosted a panel around the book “Innovation in Emerging Markets,” by co-editors Ricardo Ernst, managing director of GBI, and Jerry Haar, business professor at Florida International University.
The panel, moderated by Cynthia J. Arnson, director of Woodrow Wilson Center’s Latin American Program, examined the region’s innovation opportunities and challenges, how innovation can address development problems, and public policies that promote innovation.
Ernst emphasized that he expects to see an increase in the global share of innovation coming from emerging markets in the next 10-15 years. Haar discussed how Latin American public institutions and large firms still remain significant innovators. Attending the panel was also, Susana García-Robles, advisor to the IDB’s Multilateral Investment Fund, who remarked that the Latin American region has had a reputation problem, as it has not been known for innovation until very recently. She added that globalization has made it possible for Latin American entrepreneurs to be in contact with their Silicon Valley peers, resulting in a new model for innovation.