Closing the Gap

This technical study discusses the support of the Inter-American Development Bank for higher education and science and technology in Latin America and the Caribbean region. Since the 1960s, the IDB has approved many loans and technical cooperation operations in those fields and for agricultural research and extension activities, middle-level technical education, and job training. This study seeks to explain how the IDB has envisioned and performed its work in science and technology and to offer a conceptual basis for a new strategy, needed to assist the region in tackling the challenges of the twenty-first century with respect to knowledge.