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In Mexico, ranked as the 14th largest economy in the world, governmental institutions had established as a development goal, the increase in the added value of exported products by including innovation as a key tool for it. Science, Technology, and Innovation's (STI) relevance for nation's development has been recognized by several local and global institutions; therefore, multiple indicators have been created to identify more than a hundred countries' level of innovation. To fully identify the innovative environment, as the engine for economic growth and prosperity, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has developed a widely accepted indicator intended to measure innovation: Global Innovation Index The goal of this paper is to develop policy recommendations to increase Mexico's efficiency in investing in innovation policy instruments, strengthening framework conditions and improving coordination among the relevant actors of such policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mining is one of the most important strategic sectors at a global level, since it provides valuable raw materials to a great number of industries in productive activities. This is a sector with continuous technological changes that requires qualified personnel that has the competencies and knowledge of the technological innovations needed to work at any link in the value chain. Nevertheless, human resources in mining in Mexico, as in other developing countries, have not fully assimilated how new technologies work and, as a consequence, the industry lacks the human capital with the work capacities that are required for this change. In connection with the above, this investigation has the scope of identifying the technological trends, in order to establish the competencies that the human capital will require for the purpose of being incorporated into the productive activities of the mining sector's value chain in the area of influence of the Zacatecas Mining Cluster in the year 2025. This study is qualitative in nature and used interviews as its main research tool; to this end, an instrument --a questionnaire-- was designed, to be applied in depth among key sector agents; supplementing this work, specialized literature was reviewed and, among others, the Thomson Innovation and Espacenet platforms were used; the technological trends for the future in mining were identified, as well as the competencies that staff working in this sector in Zacatecas in the year 2025 will need. The presence of new technologies will have a positive impact on Mexico's mining sector, by offering solutions to specific safety, environmental and efficiency problems, by improving the processes through the training of personnel with the participation of institutions of higher learning, and by implementing specific policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]