The country was fourth at the regional level, in a context in which high interest rates are affecting the risk capital available for the sector.
Uruguay was in fourth place among the most innovative countries in Latin America and in 63rd place overall in the latest edition of the Global Innovation Index prepared by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)in a context where investment in this area is falling worryingly.
Uruguay is the fourth most innovative country in the region, only behind Brazil, Chile and Mexico, according to the study carried out by the company that is part of the United Nations (UN). They are followed in the ranking Colombia, Argentina, Costa Rica, Peru, Jamaica and Panama, to complete the top 10 on this list that analyzes innovation performance and which, worldwide, is led by Swiss for the thirteenth consecutive time.
However, this year’s evaluation was marked by a warning from WIPO regarding concrete progress in innovation. In this sense, the UN institution pointed out that global uncertainty, as well as the high interest rates to which most governments have had to resort to control their inflation rates have caused a drag effect on the innovation financing.
In this sense, the “end of cheap money” has direct negative consequences on the available risk capitalwhich is increasingly smaller and, of this total, little is allocated to innovation projects and emerging companies (start-up). In fact, according to WIPO, the global amount of risk capital that finances this sector fell 40% in 2022 and continues to decline, driven by a general contractionary environment for investments due to rising interest rates. Only during the first half of 2023, the decrease was 47% compared to the same period of the previous year.
In contrast to this worrying panorama, the WIPO highlighted that in 2022 there was a significant increase in research and development (R&D) expenses of companies, which reached a record of 1.1 trillion dollars. The number of transactions also increased, especially as a result of the race for artificial intelligence (AI).
Uruguay, one of the most innovative in the region
Regarding the ranking, specifically, the study measured other variables that made up the final evaluation on innovation, related to infrastructure, performance in knowledge and technology, creative production and business sophistication, among others. About, Uruguay It is among the ten best countries in the world in terms of policies for doing business, operational stability for business and both import and export of security services. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
Likewise, it leads at the Latin American level in the indicator of institutions —31st place globally—; and is 44th among high-income countries. In this way, and being 63rd in the world ranking of innovation, Uruguay improved its position compared to previous measurements.
Source: Ambito
