The present paper deals with the relation between geographical conditions in a specific region and the occurrence of innovations. The objective is to analyze the reasons for the backwardness of Latin America in matters related to technology development. The article's approach is to observe the largest companies of the region, trying to understand why they almost never are part of the high technology industries. In order to get these explanations, the article mentions many authors that have dedicated themselves to this subject, paying more attention to those who had made comparisons with other regions in the world, specially Asia. The aim here was to characterize the geographic circumstances that were decisive to the occurrence of innovations. The results are deeply alarming not only because of the low number of Latin American companies that have reached worldwide recognition, but also because, almost always, these few companies came from where the technology content is very low.
Geography; Innovation; Latin America; Business environment; Technological delay
