Post of duty: Washington DC
The IDB Group is a community of diverse, versatile, and passionate people who come together on a journey to improve lives in Latin America and the Caribbean. Our people find purpose and do what they love in an inclusive, collaborative, agile, and rewarding environment.
About this position
The Competitiveness and Innovation Division (CTI) at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has launched a series of Research & Dissemination (R&D) Technical Cooperation (TC) and Economic Sectorial Work (ESW) projects that will constitute key inputs for the operational and research working agenda for the upcoming years.
Productivity growth in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region has stagnated over the last couple of decades and relative to developed and emerging economies, the region as a whole is underperforming.
Getting firms interested in investing in innovation has traditionally been approached as a matter of establishing mechanisms that compensate for well-known market failures in the financing of innovation activities. In addition, an implicit requirement of a firm's engagement with innovation has been the need to ensure that they operate in a reasonable business climate, one that frees them from excessive government regulation and provides an adequate legal and competitive environment in terms of trade and investment. Firms, from this perspective are embedded in a system of innovation that determines the incentives they face, the way they develop, and how competitive and productive they become.
Years of work on both fronts, namely developing public policies that aim at facilitating financing for private sector innovation and institutional and legal reforms aimed at improving the business climate, have no doubt achieved results. They have, however, failed to produce a single example of a LAC economy that has visibly and clearly transitioned into a knowledge economy, one in which the main driver of growth is the production, adaptation and dissemination of knowledge, as applied to the productive process and/or the solution of social problems.
Many firms in the region now innovate thanks to public innovation funds and policy instruments, and even more firms work today in a better business environment thanks to explicit public policies that have managed to align economic incentives for the benefit of competitiveness across certain economies in the region. Yet, despite the progress that has been made, the fact remains that it has not triggered ignition in terms of the aforementioned transition of any of the LAC economies into an innovation-driven economy –whereby a significant share of a country's firms or economic activity is driven primarily by innovation.
The project agenda covered by the CTI Division includes a wide range of topics that constitute a key input when designing strategies to support the development of well-functioning innovation systems. For example: (i) the generation of a wide range of indicators related to innovation and productivity that allow monitoring country performance through time and conducting good benchmarking exercises; (ii) good practices in demand-side policies, like innovation-friendly public procurement among others.
Internally the division will need to contract a consultant, in agreement with these Terms of Reference, to support technically the research agenda and and the projects related to the Latin American Network of Innovation Agencies (RELAI), the Climate Change Cluster, Gender in and Digital Transformation studies, the Amazonia initiative, among others. In particular, the consultant will be involved in supporting the implementation of projects conducted in-house, and will also help to coordinate the execution of research projects outsourced, as well as to support on interpretation of data, deliverables and make proper recommendations.
We are looking for an external technical consultant who would support the CTI Division in the preparation, conduction, and dissemination of projects in the field of innovation, technology adoption and productivity, as well as to support the research agenda. The CTI team is responsible of providing funding, technical assistance, and knowledge products to support governments in key action areas such as firm-level innovation, entrepreneurship ecosystems, green innovation and industrial decarbonization, digital transformation, creative economy, social innovation, and productive development. IDB programs in these areas incorporate common themes, such as training in science, technology, and innovation for advanced human capital; strengthening scientific and technological infrastructure; designing public policies to promote innovation; strengthening the institutional capacity of the agencies and ministries that are responsible for implementing these policies.
What you'll do :
Provide support to the coordination of the Latin American Network of Innovation Agencies (RELAI). The consultant will be required to assist in the development and implementation of the technical cooperation with the agencies, as well as in the organization of RELAI's events. The consultant will be required to help implement the work plan and agenda among RELAI'S 12 participating countries, aligning the demands of the innovation agencies with the activities promoted by the IBD team. Participate in the technical review and support of knowledge products on climate change, industrial decarbonization, innovation policies and financial instruments, to ensure the technical accuracy needed by coordinating with counterparts and the CTI technical team. Provide and assist technically within the following TCs/initiatives "Strengthening Innovation Agencies to accelerate climate action in Latin America", "Collaborative Platform to address Climate Change and Sustainable Growth through innovation in LAC", "Building Capabilities to Enable Green Industrial Policies in LAC", "Supporting the Development of Blue Carbon Markets in the Caribbean", "Strategy of the IFD to support client countries in the development and strengthening for their Measurement, Reporting and Verification systems for mitigation, adaptation and biodiversity actions", "Decarbonization Strategies for carbon-intensive Industrial Sectors and their Value Chains in LAC". Provide technical inputs to prepare proposals for accessing climate funds, including but not limited to the Global Environment Facility (GEF), International Climate Initiative (IKI), Mitigation Action Facility (MAF) focused on firm-level innovation, entrepreneurship, technology development and deployment, among others. Prepare the technical terms of reference related to the activities described in i, iii and iv. under the Climate Change (for example, please name other needs among this task or indicate what would be needed) projects that will support the implementation of …. As needed prepare reports to support the advancement of the implementation of projects related to innovation policies, industrial decarbonization, gender, regional integration, sustainable development, considering and coordinating with the existing body of knowledge and the result of the hired consultancies. Deliverables and Payments Timeline
The consultant will submit monthly his/her invoice specifying the number of days he/she worked
What you'll need
Education: Bachelor's in Economics, Sciences, Innovation, Public Policy or any other discipline that is relevant or similar to these areas. Experience: At least 3 years of experience working in areas related to private sector development, green innovation, technology adoption, science and innovation. Experience with design and execution of IDB programs, knowing their procedures and policies (or any other multilateral organizations) is preferred. Languages: Full proficiency of English and Spanish are required. Key skills
Learn continuously. Collaborate and share knowledge. Focus on clients. Communicate and influence. Innovate and try new things. Requirements
Citizenship: You are a citizen of one of our 48-member countries. Consanguinity : You have no family members (up to the fourth degree of consanguinity and second degree of affinity, including spouse) working at the IDB, IDB Invest, or IDB Lab. Type of contract and duration
Type of contract: Products and External Services consultant (PEC) Retainer Length of contract: 72 days in 6 months Work Location: Remote. What we offer
The IDB group provides benefits that respond to the different needs and moments of an employee's life. These benefits include:
A competitive compensation package. A flexible way of working. You will be evaluated by deliverable. Our culture
At the IDB Group we work so everyone brings their best and authentic selves to work, willing to try new approaches without fear, and where they are accountable and rewarded for their actions.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) are at the center of our organization. We celebrate all dimensions of diversity and encourage women, LGBTQ+ people, persons with disabilities, Afro-descendants, and Indigenous people to apply.
We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job interview process. If you are a qualified candidate with a disability, please e-mail us at to request reasonable accommodation to complete this application.
Our Human Resources Team reviews carefully every application.
About the IDB Group
The IDB Group, composed of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), IDB Invest, and the IDB Lab offers flexible financing solutions to its member countries to finance economic and social development through lending and grants to public and private entities in Latin America and the Caribbean.
About IDB
We work to improve lives in Latin America and the Caribbean. Through financial and technical support for countries working to reduce poverty and inequality, we help improve health and education and advance infrastructure. Our aim is to achieve development in a sustainable, climate-friendly way. With a history dating back to 1959, today we are the leading source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean. We provide loans, grants, and technical assistance; and we conduct extensive research. We maintain a strong commitment to achieving measurable results and the highest standards of integrity, transparency, and accountability.
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