Canning Paper | Private Equity and Innovation

Private Equity and Innovation in Latin America and The Caribbean: Canning Papers

24th Nov 2016

According to Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC):
“Latin America must move towards an investment pattern that favours innovation and structural change, while also allowing for economic growth.”

Given the potential for innovation to promote inclusive economic growth, this paper argues that Private Equity (PE) funds should be at the forefront of investment in innovation in Latin America and The Caribbean.

Venture Capital (VC) and private equity fund managers seek to boost financial returns by imposing better management and efficiency on those companies that they invest in. The objective is to deliver higher revenues and/or lower costs and/or new business models. Often, technological innovation can deliver these outcomes. While innovation is now a focus of certain VC funds, private equity in Latin America has tended to concentrate on traditional sectors. However, the variety and scale of opportunities available suggests that a change of focus by the PE funds is well overdue.

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