The First Latin America Conference on Research and Innovation for Health sought practical answers in order to confront a shared challenge in the region: how to ensure that research deals with the countries’ health priorities and contributes to equitable development in Latin America (LA). To that end, emphasis was put on the creation, development and strengthening of National Health Research Systems (NHRS) as well as the use of regional cooperation as a means of taking advantage of existing resources and reducing asymmetries.