This review was a collaborative effort between the OECD’s Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE) led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director, and the Competitiveness, Technology and Innovation Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) led by Gonzalo Rivas. It was also undertaken in partnership with Banco Santander.
Maria Sobron Bernal, Policy Analyst, and Raffaele Trapasso, Head of the Entrepreneurship Education and Skills unit in CFE, prepared the report under the supervision of Céline Kauffmann, Head of the Entrepreneurship, SME and Tourism Division, CFE and Lucia Cusmano, Deputy Head of Division. Anne Rimmer and Ashley Noriega, CFE, provided substantive assistance. Juan Carlos Navarro, Senior Advisor, Gabriela Alvarez Borbon, Consultant, and Isabel Vicentini, former Consultant, all of them from the Competitiveness, Technology and Innovation Division at the IADB, provided guidance, detailed comments and inputs to the report. Marcelo Tedesco, Research Affiliate from MIT-D Lab and Edwin Goñi Pacchioni, Economist from IADB also provided input evidence about innovation ecosystems in some of the case-study ecosystems. Professor Pedro Saraiva of the Nova Information Management School of Nova University of Lisbon and Professor Yancy Vaillant of the Toulouse Business School of Barcelona also actively contributed to this report.
The OECD and the IADB also wish to thank Banco Santander for its support. In particular, the team thanks Javier López Martínez, Execution Management Project Director at Banco Santander, Sonia Pérez Aparicio, Global Communications Manager of Santander Universities, Tomás Jiménez García, Responsible of MetaRed by Universia and Adriana Tortajada Narvaez, CEO and Managing Partner at 1200.VC, who actively contributed to the delivery and the completion of the review.
The COVID-19 pandemic required that this report be conducted entirely through virtual meetings. The review team extends its gratitude to the co-ordinators, staff of the selected Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) who provided fundamental input and support for the review. In particular, the team thanks Laura Rosso and Julian Schofer from the University Siglo 21, Argentina, Marcos Martins and Luiz Henrique Catalani from the University of São Paulo, Brazil Rafael Aroca and Fernanda Parolo de Mattos Nogueira from the University of São Carlos, Brazil. Carlos Felipe Jerez Hanckes from the Adolfo Ibáñez University of Chile and Alex Parnas Haussmann from the Pontifical University of Chile are thanked. The OECD also extends its gratitude to Fanny Almario Mayor and Diana Diaz Alvarado from the Pontifical Javerian University, Colombia to Enrique Ramírez and his team from ICESI University Colombia, and Andres Marino Alvarez from the National University of Colombia (Manizales). It also thanks José Manuel Aguirre Guillén from the Tecnológico de Monterrey of Mexico and Elianne Elbaum from the Technological University of Uruguay.
The review team also extends its gratitude to the university representatives that assisted to an event in Paris in July 2019 organised by the OECD, the IADB and Santander Bank, which paved the way to this review process. In particular, the team thanks Moisés Carbajal Marron from the Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico), José Millet Roig from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain), Patricio Conejero from the University of Buenos Aires and Gonzalo Marqués from the National University of la Plata (both from Argentina) for their active contributions to the event. Appreciation is also extended to Mariana Zanatta Ingléz from the State University of Campinas, Brazil, Alvaro Peña from the Technological University of Uruguay, José Armando Tavares from the Technological Institute of the Americas, Ignacio Montero from the Technological University of Peru, Felipe Estrada from the University of Los Andes, Colombia who were also present on that occasion.