This project aims to analyze collaboration networks derived from invention activities in Latin America, with a special focus in the case of Uruguay. A mixed research design is proposed, with two types of data: patents and qualitative information gathered from expert interviews. Regarding patent registrations, two databases will be used: the records from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, with data from 1976 to the present, and the records from the National Industrial Property Office of Uruguay, with data from 1995 to the present. The latter database will allow to analyze in more detail the Uruguayan case. As a complement to the patent data, qualitative information obtained from consultations and in-depth interviews with intellectual property experts and / or key actors of the national invention system will be analyzed. Based on this information, a characterization of the most relevant actors in the region (inventors, companies, research centers, etc.) will be carried out, analyzing their territorial distribution, their sectoral specializations and their temporal evolution. Subsequently, collaboration networks will be traced and analyzed, emphasizing three aspects. First, the role played by different types of actors and the interaction between them: public sector versus private companies, academic institutions versus those of the productive sector, and national agents versus foreigners. Second, collaboration links will be studied within countries, between the different countries of the region and those abroad. Third, the determinants and effects of collaboration networks on the results of innovation will be estimated.