Will Colombia become one of the three most innovative countries in Latin America?

Countries such as Ireland, Israel, Korea, and China show that to achieve accelerated and sustained economic growth processes it is necessary to have strong investments in technology and innovation with a strong impact resulting in a significant growth of the productivity of companies. 

The OECD considers that Colombia's Sistema de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (Science, Technology, and Innovation System) is still small compared with regional models: Expenditures in R+D reaches only 0.2 percent of GDP, while Brazil, for example, reaches 1.2 percent and the OECD reaches 2.4 percent. 

Taking into consideration that it is of vital importance for companies to increase their participation in financing R+D+i, the Plan Nacional de Desarrollo Todos por un Nuevo País (National Development Plan All for a New Country), developed by the Colombian government, defined a vision for 2025 where Colombia becomes one of the three most innovative countries in Latin America, allocating 1 percent of GDP to R+D+i, of which the private sector will finance 50 percent. In a collaborative space offered by CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, in support of the Consejo Privado de Competitividad (Private Competitiveness Council) and the leaders of innovation in Colombian R+D+i pioneer companies, 90 initiatives were generated, defined in five strategic axis: Financing, Human Capital, Intellectual Property, Coordination of Actors, and Quality and Pertinence.  

These proposals were sent to the Departamento Nacional de Planeación (National Planning Department) as input for the CONPES, which defines the 2015-2025 National Policy on Science, Technology, and Innovation, and is in the process of reviewing and approval.

This experience strengthened the collaboration, alignment, and coordination of the participants of the private sector, agents of knowledge, and government representatives, by starting a dialogue and generating consensus regarding the working priorities for coming years regarding the main subjects and facilitators to promote private investment in R+D+i. Among the generated proposals, several stand out: structuring of new financing instruments for R+D+i; alignment of incentives to develop R+D+i among companies and agents of knowledge; design of return indicators for investments in R+D+i to generate incentives for workers, among others.