Technical efficiency of research and development, science and technology and education and innovation in Latin American countries

In this work were analyzed 15 Latin American countries considering six (6) factors that reflect their progress in research and development, science and technology and education and innovation. These factors are studied as inputs and outputs in a technical efficiency analysis of their economies using Data Envelopment Analysis. For each country, the inputs are: the percentage contributions of PIB for education, research and development expenses and the number of universities. As exits there are exports in ICT and high technology services and the global innovation index. The data were collected from the World Bank, CEPAL, WIPO institutions and the University Web Ranking. It was obtained that Latin American countries have different performances considering the contribution of PIB for research and development expenses, being the main inputs that contributes to high-tech exports in the countries studied.