Profile of academic entrepreneurs in Latin American countries

Entrepreneurship is an activity that is gaining more strength every day as a strategy to generate economic growth and combat scourges such as unemployment. Governments in recent times are constantly formulating public policies to strengthen it at the national level. Private funds have joined their efforts by supporting initiatives they consider important at the business and social levels. University institutions are giving it increasing importance and are formulating strategies within them to generate an entrepreneurial culture and strengthen the entrepreneurial profile of their students. The circumstances linked to entrepreneurship and the strategies and situations vary from one country to another.

The following chapter aims to define the profile of academic entrepreneurs from Latin American countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), specifically the cases of Mexico, Costa Rica and Chile, in order to understand the profile of their entrepreneurs, the strengths and weaknesses of their entrepreneurship models, and how institutions support university entrepreneurship. Colombia, the other Latin American member, will be analyzed in the following chapters of this book. Methodologically, a systematic review was conducted, considering references and previous studies that precede and guide the theoretical understanding of the analysis categories related to the profile of academic entrepreneurs from Latin American OECD member countries. Among the results found, some traits of the entrepreneurial profile of each of the countries studied were identified, some policies for the promotion of entrepreneurs were revealed, and weaknesses found in the entrepreneurial model of each country were highlighted.