KIBS associated to natural resource based industries: seeds innovation and regional providers of the technology services embodied in seeds in Argentina and Brazil, 2000-2014

ANABEL MARIN; LILIA STUBRIN; J. DA SILVA

Montevideo

Conferencia; REDLAS 2015: ?Servicios, Recursos Naturales y Patrón Comercial en América Latina?; 2015

dECON, FCS, Universidad de la República y Universidad ORT, CEPAL, BID, UNCTAD y REDLAS

Argentina and Brazil are world leaders in agriculture; they have expanded production massively recently and have pioneered the adoption of agricultural technology intensive inputs. An important development question is thus: are these countries taking advantage of their position as agricultural leaders, to develop linkages with knowledge intensive providers. This paper explores this question based on the case of seeds innovation in Argentina and Brazil. We focus mainly on the domestic firms that have been successful. We are interested in understanding the R&D strategy of these firms, how do they differ of those implemented by the large MNCs in the sector, the type of innovations they develop, with which kind of capabilities do they develop these innovations, and which are the main challenges they face. The research suggests that there are important opportunities for the development of local innovation and capabilities and the creation of different trajectories of innovation, but also suggests that as firms become more advanced, the policy and business challenges become more significant.