Abstract
This paper proposes a configuration and characterisation of the economic sectors in Chile applying Malerba’s sectoral innovation systems approach. Its objective is to examine the existence of sectoral systems of innovation in Chile and their characteristics. Using data from the Chilean Tenth Innovation Survey of Firms, a three-step statistical analysis was performed. In the first step, 15 variables were chosen and converted by factor analysis into four components reflecting the configuration of the sectoral system. In the second step, a cluster analysis was carried out to determine the characterisation of the sectors. In the final step, a simple econometric model was developed to estimate a proxy for the propensity to patent of the economic sectors. It is possible to discover the existence of three groups of sectoral innovation systems. One is characterised by a low propensity to patent. Another one uses market information and some effort in R&D to innovate. A third one is characterised by a strong use of market sources, high effort in R&D, strong networking and collaboration, and a close interaction with the industrial property system. This paper shows the usefulness of composite variables in identifying those sectors with higher propensity to patent. In particular, the factor networks and collaboration is the most important. This last is important to highlight in terms of policies in science and technology that aim to establish formal mechanisms to share common knowledge strengthening the relationships among the different players of the innovation process
Highlights
This paper proposes and discusses a configuration and characterisation of the economic sectors in Chile through Malerba’s sectoral innovation systems approach using data from the Chilean Tenth Innovation Survey of Firms 2015 – 2016
It poses the following research question: how can economic sectors in Chile be categorised and characterised from an innovation perspective? Our argument is that the economic sectors in Chile can be grouped according to correlated variables that together present qualities from which it is possible to draw conclusions in terms of the similarities shared by the sectors that make up the different groups
Nelson defines a national innovation system as “a set of institutions whose interactions determine the innovative performance ... of national firms” and Lundvall (1992) defines an innovation system as “the elements and relationships which interact in the production, diffusion and use of new, and economically useful, knowledge ... and are either located within or rooted inside the borders of a nation state”
Summary
This paper proposes and discusses a configuration and characterisation of the economic sectors in Chile through Malerba’s sectoral innovation systems approach using data from the Chilean Tenth Innovation Survey of Firms 2015 – 2016. The national system is a high level of analysis and aggregation and there is a weakness in its limits to explain the performance of sectors within the same country. For this reason, a more appropriate approach to examine the determinants of innovation and performance of the economic sectors is Malerba’s approach on sectoral innovation systems
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