Description

How are a country's achievements in innovation defined and measured, and how do they relate
to economic performance? What are the major features, strengths and weaknesses of a nation's
innovation system? How can government foster innovation?

The OECD Reviews of Innovation Policy offer a comprehensive assessment of the innovation system
of individual OECD member and non-member countries, focusing on the role of government. They
provide concrete recommendations on how to improve policies that affect innovation performance,
including R&D policies. Each review identifies good practice from which other countries can learn.

Over the past decade, Mexico has made significant progress towards macroeconomic stability and
has undertaken important structural reforms to further open the economy to trade and investment,
and improve the functioning of markets for goods and services. However, potential gross domestic
product (GDP) growth remains much too low to reduce widespread poverty and bridge the wide
gap in living standards with wealthier OECD countries. One important reason for this is that public
and private decision makers in Mexico have been slower than those in many competing newly
industrialising economies to realise the importance of investment in innovation as a driver of
growth and competitiveness. In recent years, a number of policy initiatives have been developed to
accelerate the transition toward an innovation-fuelled growth path, but their impact has so far been
too limited.