Innovation and Productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean: Opportunities and Challenges


Matteo Grazzi, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

Matteo will speak about the results and highlights from a recent IDB publication, Firm Innovation and Productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Engine of Economic Development; projects he is involved in at the IDB; and, more generally, about the on-going work at the IDB's competitiveness and innovation division. This is an informal seminar, so there will be plenty of time for discussion and questions.

“The book Firm Innovation and Productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Engine of Economic Development compiles several empirical works that, through different lenses, aim to reveal which variables may have a systematic effect on the productivity evolution observed at a firm and sectorial level in LAC countries. The book emphasizes knowledge generation, diffusion, and implementation mainly through innovation, while exploring the roles of human capital, financial resources, and linkages that also shape firm inspiration.”

About the speaker
Matteo Grazzi is a Specialist in the Competitiveness and Innovation Division in the Inter-American Development Bank. He joined the IDB in 2009, working as a Research Fellow in the Andean Countries Department. Before joining the IDB, Matteo worked as a consultant economist in the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC, Santiago, Chile) and as a researcher at the Centre for Research on Latin American and Transition Economies Studies (ISLA) of the Bocconi University in Milan. He holds a Ph.D. in International Law and Economics from Bocconi University and an MA in Development Economics at the University of Sussex (Brighton, UK). His main research interests focus on International and Development Economics, Economics of Innovation, ICT for Development.

Venue: Rooms 1.24 & 1.23

Date: 07 November 2016

Time: 11:00 - 12:00  CEST


UNU-MERIT