Against all odds: reconciling the national systems of innovation in the South

The paper highlights crucial features of recent transformations in the national systems of innovation in the South, notably in Latin America . The systems, which were build during the past import-substitution state directed development period, appear to disintegrate under pressure from current structural adjustment policies and geo-political institutional changes. An alarming outcome is an inexpedient learning divide and a frustrating institutional divide that sustain internal national technological divides. A fundamental problem is that existing endogenous innovative capabilities in the rapidly expanding informal segments of the economies become isolated and encapsulated, thus weakening their potential contribution to social sustenance.