The participation of medical device companies in the Global Value Chains in Costa Rica

Abstract

This work aims to evaluate the impact that the medical device sector in Costa Rica has in the participation of the Global Value Chain of this industry to determine if there is an opportunity for exportable force and influence a greater level of complexity. The subject of analysis are companies related to the life sciences area, particularly medical devices producers. It is based in secondary information and databases from the Harvard University Global Complexity Atlas. It is found that this sector provides one of the greatest contributions to the growth of exports from high and moderate complexity products. In addition, that the average imported consumption corresponds to 52.2%. Furthermore, it visualizes that the possibilities of generating a diversification in the supplier structure and establishing greater possibilities for the development of local chains is feasible for the sector. It is concluded that a greater role of the National Innovation System and particularly of Costa Rican public universities can have a positive impact on the diversification of knowledge structures.