Low awareness of the link between science and innovation affects public policies in developing countries:: The Chilean case

Developing countries share disbelief about the benefits of the endogenous production of science as a tool for economical growth. Hence, public policies to strengthen science and technology and promote the culture of innovation are, in general, weak and sometimes incoherent. Patenting has become not only an icon to protect discoveries which can yield profits and enable socio-economical growth but also a potent informetric tool to assess innovation and certainly, since the seminal work of Narin, to understand the multidimensional interactions between science, technology and innovation. In this article we examine the impact of Chilean research articles on world technology as viewed by the link between articles produced in Chile and US patents. Our results show that from 1987 to 2003, 509 US patents had 562 citations to 273 articles produced at least, by one author working in a Chilean institution. US, not Chilean companies are the holders of patents citing Chilean produced articles. The research articles covered many disciplines but a clear concentration occurred in the biomedical field. Additionally, chemistry was also well cited. Our results confirm that in Chile a non-patenting culture which involves researchers and institutions still prevails. Hence, public policies need to be designed and implemented to foster scientific production and innovation in order to advance progress in the current knowledge-economy-driven society which sustains competitiveness in the globalized world.