Colombia faces significant political, social, and economic hurdles in building its digital economy, yet its progress toward developing a robust strategy deserves recognition. It has an opportunity to be a trailblazer and regional role model.

Latin America
Colombian citizens and businesses use government websites every day to find important information and access public services, and so it is important for those websites to meet basic standards for security, speed, mobile friendliness, or accessibility. According to a new report[RC1] released jointly today by two leading think tanks, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and TicTac, Colombian government agencies have opportunities to modernize their sites by further investing in cybersecurity, mobile-friendly web design, and cloud-based hosting.
Citizens and businesses rely on government websites to access important information and services. Unfortunately, many Colombian government websites fail to meet basic website standards for security, speed, mobile friendliness, and accessibility.
Europe is trying to get other nations, including in Latin America, to adopt its regulatory regime in order to reduce its own competitive disadvantage.
Brazilian economic growth has been faltering steadily for years, from an average growth rate of 4.5% from 2006 to 2010, to 2.1% from 2011, to just 1.1% in 2017 and 2018. To say that Brazil’s economy needs a short in the arm is an understatement.
Nigel Cory gave a presentation at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Digital Trade Policy Dialogue in Puetro Varas, Chile.
A survey of allied think tanks summarizes what 23 nations and the EU are doing best when it comes to innovation policy, and where there are the greatest opportunities to improve. In many cases, the successes can serve as model policies for other countries to adopt.
In a column for Latin Trade Magazine, Rob Atkinson writes that the China-U.S. trade war can be an opportunity for Latin America.
Stephen Ezell presented about opportunities and challenges in Chile’s transition to a knowledge- and innovation-based economy at an event hosted by Chile’s Centro de Estudios Publicos on April 16, 2019.
Seven case studies showcase how IP rights are enabling innovators in Latin America to help solve some of the greatest global health challenges.
The Information Technology Agreement lowers tariffs on ICT products, which lowers their cost and spurs uptake and adoption among businesses and consumers. For Brazil, that could boost GDP nearly a full percentage point in 10 years.
In a column for Latin Trade Magazine, Rob Atkinson explains why Latin America needs a digital single market and how Pacific Alliance partners could advance it.
The next wave of digital innovation is coming. Countries can welcome it, prepare for it, and ride it to new heights of innovation and prosperity, or they can ignore the changing tide and miss the wave.
Without a single, integrated market for digital goods and services, Latin American businesses will have difficulty gaining the scale to succeed in the digital economy. Policymakers should embrace openness, innovation, and competition throughout the region.
A contagion of poor public policy is sweeping across Latin America in the form of the spreading use of compulsory licenses on novel pharmaceutical drugs, and it threatens to undermine the very ecosystem supporting the development of medicines designed to treat deadly diseases in the first place.
Val Giddings gave a presentation at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez on 29 June 2018. The relationship between GMOs and gene editing was discussed and their role in agricultural innovation and sustainability explored.
From 2008 to 2013, the average Mexican manufacturing firm's productivity rose 17 percent each time the share of workers using computers increased by 10 percent, writes John Wu in Innovation Files.
Brazil, China, Indonesia, Russia, and Vietnam fielded some of the year’s worst innovation mercantilist policies. Their targets included Internet-based services, electric vehicles, biopharmaceuticals, computers and electronics.
The notion at the heart of a Central Bank proposal—that data must be stored domestically to ensure that it remains secure and private—is false. The focus should be on ensuring that financial firms use best-in-class data storage cybersecurity measures regardless of where data is stored.
As Brazil embarks on an important effort to craft a strategy for digital transformation, it would be a mistake to adopt an approach based on the EU’s privacy system. Policy makers must take care to adopt a privacy regime that not only protects privacy but enables digital innovation.
Speaking in São Paulo, Brazil, to an audience of Senate, Chamber of Deputies, and Court technical staff, Rob Atkinson outlined the keys to digital trade success and explained that a growing number of companies in various industries are relying on cross border data flows.
In a presentation hosted by the FHC Foundation in São Paulo, Brazil, Rob Atkinson provided an overview of the history of technological disruption and the effects of technology-driven change in a variety of occupations.
Across 13 Latin American countries that had protectionist policies in place in 2005, these policies had no effect on innovation, writes John Wu in Innovation Files.
For Latin American firms, the higher their Internet activity intensity, the greater their productivity gains, writes John Wu in Innovation Files.
In a presentation at the Pacific Alliance Forum in Cali, Colombia, Rob Atkinson provides a detailed set of recommendations for Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru to successfully forge a digital market alliance for their region.