Chile leads Global Innovation Index 2017

By Aguayo, Ecclefield & Martínez (AEM Law Firm)

Once again Chile is positioned as the most innovative country in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a report by the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO).

WIPO´s Global Innovation Index 2017 provides detailed metrics about the innovation performance of 127 countries and economies around the world. As last year, it ranks Chile as the most innovative country of Latin America and the Caribbean, positioned Nº46 worldwide with a score of 38.70. The score takes into account 81 indicators, including political environment, education, infrastructure and business sophistication. Switzerland (67.69), Sweden (63.82), Netherlands (63.36), the United States (61.40) and the United Kingdom (60.89) are the top 5 ranked countries.

The WIPO reports explains that in Latin America and the Caribbean more must be done to reach the region’s full innovation potential, although it highlights Chile, Mexico and Brazil as countries that are "undoubtedly important innovation actors". In the case of intellectual property management, it stated that Chile makes "use of instruments and negotiation capacity".  

The report also mentions an increase of the country´s expenditures on research and development (R&D). Chile´s gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) and business enterprise expenditure on R&D (BERD) had "above pre-crisis levels in 2015 (the latest year for which data are available), along with others traditionally high R&D spending economies such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands".