利用知识产权促进发展：拉丁美洲和加勒比的机遇和挑战。执行摘要（英）

May 2026Executive Summary Foreword This partnership bridges the EPO’s expertise in patentdata analytics with ECLAC’s production data and work onproductive development. It also builds on the successfulcollaboration initiated by the EPO and five Latin AmericanIP offices (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru) at theoccasion of a study on digital agriculture published inSeptember 2025. Innovation plays a central role in structuraltransformation, productivity growth, and long-termeconomic development. A well-functioning and balancedintellectual property (IP) system can incentivise creativity,facilitate knowledge diffusion, and help firms andinstitutions appropriate returns from innovative activity. Over the past decade, studies have demonstrated thatindustries that are using patents and other IP rightsintensively form the backbone of European economies,driving a disproportionate share of GDP, high-qualityemployment, and external trade. Further researchhas underscored the transformative power of IP atthe microeconomic level: for universities, researchinstitutions, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs),and dynamic start-ups, patents and trademarks serve asvital instruments for securing risk finance, acceleratinggrowth, and navigating competitive markets. The joint study offers new evidence on the relationshipbetween patent and trade mark protection and economicactivity in nine countries of Latin America and theCaribbean. By linking IP rights and economic data at ahighly disaggregated level, it provides an up-close viewof how patents and trademarks connect to economicperformance, particularly within the manufacturingsector. The study also helps distinguish between localinnovation activity and foreign technological presence. The central message of the joint study is that IP policycannot operate in isolation. To unlock its full economicbenefit, and to minimize frictions, IP must be integratedinto broader productive development policies. Thestrategic advantages of IP are most fully realised whensupported by strong research capabilities, effectivetechnology transfer mechanisms, access to scale-upfinance, deep university-industry linkages and broaderpolicies aimed at production transformation. For Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), harnessingthis dynamic is more complex and context dependent.The region faces persistent productivity gaps and limitedproductive diversification. To address these challenges, itneeds to translate knowledge and research capabilitiesinto broad-based economic upgrading. In this setting,patent systems are instrumental to strike the right balancebetween incentives for innovation and technology diffusionin order to support production transformation. Achievingthis will require aligning IP frameworks with widerproductive development policies, as well as strengtheningthe capabilities needed to make them effective. This study is designed to serve as a resource for decision-makers, business leaders, and researchers alike. It is ourshared hope that the insights provided herein will elevateIP awareness, foster stronger regional cooperation, andinspire evidence-based policies that empower LatinAmerica and the Caribbean countries to harness thepower of innovation for productive and sustainabledevelopment. Recognising the imperative to equip policymakerswith robust, region-specific evidence, the EPO andthe Economic Commission for Latin America and theCaribbean (ECLAC) have collaborated with a simple goalof bringing the policy discussion on IPR closer. António CampinosPresident,European Patent Office (EPO) José Manuel Salazar-XirinachsExecutive Secretary, Economic Commission for LatinAmerica and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Executive summary The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)face complex development challenges, characterised by alow capacity for growth and structural productivity gaps(ECLAC, 2024a; ECLAC, 2025). Addressing this productivityimperative through productive development policyaimed at diversification, technological sophisticationand positive structural change is central to the region’seconomic agenda and critical for tapping regionalpotential for innovation, sustainable and productivedevelopment. The manufacturing sector occupiesa central place in this process due to its historicallydemonstrated role as a locus for dynamic increasingreturns, capability-building, technological diffusion anddense intersectoral linkages. Although the region hasexperienced shifts in its productive structure over thepast half century – notably a decline in manufacturingvalue added as a share of gross domestic product (GDP)– manufacturing remains a critical engine for sustainedeconomic catch-up and the development of industriescapable of competing in international value chains. By examining how patents and trade marks are distributedacross manufacturing industries, this study connects IPutilisation directly with core economic outcomes, includingemployment, value added, wages and trade