Changes in technology, labour markets, the climate, demography, and, more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, are having a transformational impact on our societies and ways of life. Because they have a critical role to play in the development of transversal skills and applied knowledge, and can drive, innovation and entrepreneurship, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Latin American countries also have a critical role to play in adjusting to these, and indeed future, transitions.

This publication investigates how Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Latin America support entrepreneurship and innovation in their ecosystems. It assess strategies and practices of eleven HEIs across six countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay. It highlights good practices put forward by Latin-American HEIs to support entrepreneurship development through incubation and acceleration activities, and entrepreneurship education. It also underlines strategies fostering innovation through collaboration with government and business, including in multi-campus institutions.

Entrepreneurial Latin American higher education institutions (HEIs) have become important local stakeholders, promoting leadership, innovation and sustainability in their own communities. This evolution, shared by all case study HEIs involved in this report, reflects a broader trend in Latin America. More widely, opportunity-driven entrepreneurship has gained traction in the region over the last decade, changing the innovation landscape by bringing new products and services to markets. Technology-driven start-ups in the region have tripled since 2017 and have multiplied their estimated value from USD 7 billion to USD 221 billion over the last decade, according to the IADB. In 2021, the region had twenty-seven unicorns (privately held start-ups valued at more than USD 1 billion). Entrepreneurship has gained importance within national and subnational policy agendas, with several countries establishing public accelerators, or support programmes to help young start-ups and innovative SMEs scale-up their ventures. In some cases, universities in the region have actively connected to these programmes or established their own initiatives. The aim of the review is to identify good practices of entrepreneurship education and knowledge exchange efforts, which can help HEIs, generate economic and societal value for their ecosystems.