Absorptive capacities and external openness in underdeveloped innovation systems: a patent network analysis for Latin American countries 1970–2017
利用美国专利商标局数据库中拉丁美洲发明者的数据，构建合作网络，分析1970-2017年间该地区创新体系的吸收能力和外部开放性，发现网络吸收能力低但外部开放度高，并识别了不同国家的创新轨迹。
Abstract This paper contributes to the literature on innovation and development by analysing the absorptive and connectivity capacities of Latin American innovation systems between 1970 and 2017. Applying network analysis to a USPTO database containing Latin American inventors, we build and analyse collaboration networks in the process of invention and knowledge appropriation. The structural properties and the evolution of such networks allow us to measure critical attributes of the Latin American innovation systems. Specifically, the networks exhibit low absorptive capacity and high external openness, which are critical linkages with external nodes in the network growth process. We identify different trajectories of innovation systems within the region, analysing specific paths of capability (de)accumulation and network maturity against the backdrop of national development trajectories.