At ECLAC, Authorities and Specialists Analyze How to Harness Intellectual Property to Foster Productive Transformation in Latin America and the Caribbean

Intellectual property (IP) can contribute more significantly to the development of Latin America and the Caribbean to the extent that it is integrated into comprehensive productive development policies and into innovation ecosystems in the region's countries, government representatives and officials from international organizations explained on Tuesday, May 19, 2026 at the inauguration of the High-level Regional Conference: Innovation and Intellectual Property for Productive Development and Sustainable Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean, held at ECLAC's headquarters in Santiago, Chile.

The meeting - organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the European Patent Office (EPO), and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) - brings together authorities from national intellectual and industrial property offices in 17 countries, executives from national innovation agencies, government representatives, international specialists, academics and stakeholders involved in innovation and technology transfer.

The opening session featured remarks by José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, ECLAC's Executive Secretary (via video message); António Campinos, President of the EPO; Fernando Cuenin, IDB's Chief of Operations and Representative in Chile; and Esteban Figueroa Nagel, National Director of Chile's National Institute of Industrial Property (INAPI).

"Latin America and the Caribbean needs a more mature conversation about intellectual property that is connected to the rest of its productive development policies; one that is less focused on the tool in isolation and more attentive to the ecosystem in which that tool operates. Intellectual property can contribute to development, but it will work better as part of comprehensive productive development policies aimed at closing technological gaps, strengthening domestic capabilities, and improving the region's position in activities with higher value added," stated José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, ECLAC's Executive Secretary.

At ECLAC, he said, we see most countries in the region caught in three development traps: one of low capacity for growth; another of high inequality, low social mobility and weak social cohesion; and a third of low institutional capacity and ineffective governance. "Escaping the first of these traps requires fostering a major productive transformation, which will, in turn, require scaling up and improving productive development policies in our countries and their territories, based on a new vision of these policies. In that context, intellectual property plays a key role," he stated.

"Industrial property can support development, but its economic impact depends on the broader innovation ecosystem and the policy frameworks that support it," said EPO President, António Campinos. "The region already has significant talent and scientific expertise, but commercialisation skills, technology transfer capabilities and stronger university-industry links, together with effective public policies and greater regional cooperation, are essential to turn innovation into sustainable value."

Fernando Cuenin, of the IDB, also stressed the need to innovate to generate higher rates of sustainable and sustained growth in Latin America and the Caribbean, in order to close development gaps and improve the quality of life in the region. To be able to innovate, he concurred that it is necessary to increase investment in research and development (R&D) and encourage private sector participation, for example, through intellectual property. But a patenting system must be guided by a comprehensive vision that stimulates innovation, protects consumers and has concrete effects on growth, he noted.

Esteban Figueroa, from INAPI Chile, emphasized that "innovation generally does not occur spontaneously; it arises when the right institutional conditions exist." He added: "Creating that conducive environment is probably the most relevant public policy challenge we face today in Latin America, and within that system, industrial property, patents, trademarks and designs play a central role - not as an end in itself, but as the engine that mobilizes the resources needed to make the innovation process sustainable."

Intellectual Property and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean

During the event, ECLAC and the EPO presented the joint study Harnessing intellectual property for development: Opportunities and challenges for Latin America and the Caribbean, which offers new evidence on the relationship between the protection of intellectual property and economic activity in nine of the region's countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay.

The publication focuses on the manufacturing industry, as it accounts for almost all patenting activity in Latin America and the Caribbean and offers comparable data across countries on employment, value added, wages and trade.

According to the report, intellectual property-intensive manufacturing industries generate 12.4% of formal manufacturing employment and 13.0% of the sector's value added. They also pay wages that are 32.1% higher. However, according to the study, Latin America and the Caribbean's structural challenges limit the region's ability to capture the benefits of innovation. As a result, more than 85% of patent applications in Latin America and the Caribbean originate from outside the region, and intellectual property-intensive industries account for just 9% of exports and 19% of imports.

Investment in research and development (R&D) remains comparatively low in Latin America and the Caribbean and is financed primarily by the public sector and executed in the academic sphere, the document states.

"The central message of the joint study is that intellectual property (IP) policy cannot operate in isolation. To unlock its full economic benefit, and to minimize frictions, IP must be integrated into broader productive development policies. The strategic advantages of intellectual property are most fully realized when supported by strong research capabilities, effective technology transfer mechanisms, access to scale-up finance, deep university-industry linkages, and broader policies aimed at production transformation," the text concludes.