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.