On 20 October 2026 at 17:00 (CEST) / 12:00 (Santiago), the UNESCO Chair on Science, Technology and Innovation Policies for Sustainable Development in Latin America at UNU-MERIT and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) will host an online webinar featuring Ernesto Stein of Tecnológico de Monterrey on the theme of “Nearshoring en tiempos turbulentos”.
The relocation of production activities to countries that are geographically closer to final markets, or nearshoring, has gained prominence as firms seek to reduce supply chain risks, respond more quickly to changes in demand and navigate geopolitical uncertainty. These trends, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, have important consequences for developing economies as changes in global production and trade interact with national and place-based policies.
In this webinar, Ernesto Stein will discuss the changing geography of production and the opportunities and challenges that nearshoring presents for Latin America and the Caribbean. The discussion will consider how global trade tensions and shifts in international investment are shaping productive development, and what these changes mean for policymakers across the region.
The webinar forms part of the series Innovation and Productive Development: From Research to Policy, organised jointly by ECLAC and the UNU-MERIT UNESCO Chair on Science, Technology and Innovation Policies for Sustainable Development in Latin America.
About the speaker:
Dr. Ernesto Stein was the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) representative in Mexico, where he guided all the activities of the IDB Group (public and private side) in the country with a focus on reducing regional gaps and fostering economic development. With a career spanning almost 30 years at the IDB, Ernesto Stein held different roles, including principal economist at the Research Department and regional economic advisor for Central America, Mexico, Panama, and the Dominican Republic.
He has also been a Growth Fellow at Harvard University’s Center for International Development.
His research primarily focuses on areas critical to economic development and policy. These include international trade and integration, foreign direct investment, productive development policies, institutional economics, and political economy.
He has authored or edited over 12 books and contributed to more than 40 articles in edited volumes and refereed journals such as the Journal of International Economics, the Journal of Development Economics, Economic Policy, Economics and Politics, and the American Economic Review (papers and proceedings), among others.
Ernesto Stein joined Tecnológico de Monterrey as Distinguished University Professor in Public Policy for the School of Social Sciences and Government and the School of Government and Public Transformation.
