**2. Technology transfer institutions in Latin America**

For some years now, several countries in Latin America have begun to generate the necessary institutions to carry out technology transfer, understanding that these technologies have the potential to impact the quality of life of society. In this sense, LTOs have been the institutions with the greatest development in recent years in Latin America, mainly housed in universities and research centers. In some countries, such as Colombia, Regional Research Results Transfer Offices (OTRI in spanish) have been created, covering various regional demands of the country through five offices -Connect Bogota, Tennova UEE, OTRI Estratégica de Oriente, CienTech and Reddi- [11].

Along with the development of the LTOs and/or technology transfer units, other institutions have also emerged to support and complement the work of these offices or their similes. In this regard, Ecuador through the Secretary of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (SENESCYT) has generated the Innovation and Technology Transfer HUB (HUB iTT) project in 2018, to "promote the development of innovation, entrepreneurship and technology transfer activities carried out in the country's higher education institutions". Thus, six HUBs iTT have been created throughout Ecuador, grouped to meet regional needs (North, Quito, Central, Cuenca, Guayaquil and Manabí) [12, 13]. Another country that has created a similar institutional framework is Chile, through the technology transfer HUBs, whose history and results are discussed in more detail in this chapter. It should be noted that this new institutional framework is still incipient in the region, so as success stories are generated with HUBS in Ecuador and Chile, it is highly probable that more countries will generate public policies that support the creation of these institutions.
