Harmonized Latin American innovation Surveys Database (LAIS): Firm-level microdata for the study of innovation

This paper provides the methods through which the first version of the
Harmonized Latin American Innovation Surveys database (LAIS) was built.
LAIS, which is made freely available through the Inter-American
Development Bank, contains nearly 690 variables and 119,900 observations
at the firm level from 30 national innovation surveys conducted between
2007 and 2017 in 10 Latin American countries, increasing the number of
countries of the region with publicly available microdata. This paper
describes how, starting from significantly different survey methods and
questionnaires between countries, criteria were applied to identify and
select variables from different surveys measuring the same underlying
concept. It also discusses and guides how differences in survey
methodologies may affect comparisons even after the harmonization of
variables. LAIS includes data on innovation activities expenditures,
sources of information and collaborations for innovation, innovation
obstacles, outputs and effects, protection of innovation results, and
general firm characteristics. Since LAIS significantly decreases the
cost of making data comparisons between countries, it will allow more
scholars to research innovation in Latin American firms and to tackle
long-standing unanswered questions about the importance of framework
conditions in LAC for innovation decisions in firms. The dataset and
supporting documentation are available at:
http://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0004040