COVID-19 Hurt Science, Technology Investment in Latin America

While many global economies augmented public spending to further science and technology research and development during the COVID-19 pandemic, investment shrank in Latin America and the Caribbean, backsliding 6 percent in 2020 from the year prior, according to a report by the Ibero-American Network of Science and Technology Indicators (RICYT). By that account, if Mexico is to successfully position itself as a competitive technology innovation hub in the region, it must augment its public spending in these fields. 

“Science must occupy a relevant place in the formulation of the policies of our countries. The outbreak of the pandemic surprised us at a moment of weakness; now, after these difficult years, the social value of science has been demonstrated," said Mariano Jabonero, Secretary General, Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI). In essence, science and technology add value to societies and should be prioritized by developing economies in the region. 

Latin America and the Caribbean have worked steadily to augment their public spending on science and technology R&D, which grew 16 percent from 2011 to a total of US$89 million in 2020. Nevertheless, this figure is still only representative of 0.65 percent of the region’s total gross domestic product. Brazil, Mexico and Argentina account for 85 percent of the region's total investment. Ibero-America’s stark underinvestment is only put into perspective when compared to the rest of the world’s regions, contributing only 2.3 percent of the world’s total spending on science and technology R&D.

Breaking it down further, only 54 percent of funding was subsidized by governments, while the remaining 40 percent came from public and private companies, 4 percent from institutions of higher education and 3 percent from foreign investment. Meanwhile, coinciding with low R&D investment, the region also has a small pool of researchers, with Brazil leading the mantel with 179,898, Argentina with 55,902 and Mexico with 44,966. Altogether, this appears to have a direct correlation with the number of intellectual property applications in Latin American Countries and the Caribbean, with 79 percent of applications coming mainly from non-residents from foreign countries protecting products in markets in the region. 

Taking a closer look at Mexico, the country had a GDP of US$1.091 trillion in 2020 but only contributed 0.3 percent of its value towards funding science and technology R&D. This is about five times less than what Brazil contributed despite having an only slightly larger GDP that same year. Meanwhile, industrialized countries are contributing between 1.84 percent and 5.44 percent of their total GDP towards science and technology innovation. Consequently, to compete and establish itself as a science and technology innovation hub as it has proposed, Mexico will have to augment its public spending.