Enhancing Cooperation between Mercosur and China for Innovation

Since the implementation of the “Made in China 2025” and Internet Plus Initiatives, China’s Central government has focused on transforming the economy into an innovation-driven. Their relative success impacted the country’s recent position in the Global Innovation Index, climbing 26 positions from 2015 to 2022. This paper discusses the importance of China’s foreign affairs approach to diminish the reliance on trade and infrastructure building and increase cooperation on science and technology particularly in Latin America in the Mercosur context, where the highest innovation rating is in the 50th position with Chile. Finally, this paper aims to propose enhanced cooperation between China and Latin American countries through an agreement with Mercosur that focuses on the Digital Economy and through joint efforts for investments and exchanges in technology and sciences-related topics in selected industries.