Comparison of patterns in knowledge diffusion from the US to South East Asia (Korea and Taiwan) and Latin America (Brazil and Mexico), 1976-2002

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to compare the patterns in diffusion of knowledge from the US to South East Asia (Korea and Taiwan) and Latin America (Brazil and Mexico) and to explore the nature of technological flows between these two regions during the 1976-2002 period. The patterns of knowledge diffusion from the US to Brazil and Mexico, and Korea and Taiwan during the 1976-2002 period are quite different. We found that the South East Asian countries had a higher number of patents granted in USPTO than their Latin American counterparts. Furthermore, the technologies registered in Korea and Taiwan were of high technology (Information and Communications, Electric and Electronics, etc.) meanwhile in Latin America (Brazil and Mexico) the technologies registered were of traditional tech fields (mechanical, chemical, etc.). Besides, the citations received (forward) by Korea and Taiwan outnumbers the citations received by Mexico and Brazil. That means that the value of knowledge in Asian countries is more important than it is in Latin American countries. This is very relevant because in the beginning of the analyzed period Latin American countries had the same technological distribution as these Asian countries.