World Bank Approves $25.26 Million For Science And Technology In Chile

WASHINGTON, May 22, 2003 — The World Bank today approved a $25.26 million loan to strengthen development of science and technology in Chile, to spread innovation and increase competitiveness and economic growth.

The Science for the Knowledge Economy Project will fund research in science and technology, while supporting the Government of Chile in its efforts to establish an integrated approach to scientific learning and technological innovation.  This loan builds on the success of the Millennium Science Initiative (MSI) undertaken in 1999 by Chile’s Ministry of Planning and Cooperation with a five-million-dollar learning and innovation loan from the World Bank.

“Knowledge and technical innovation are increasingly crucial to Chile’s economic progress and long-term prosperity,” said Axel van Trotsenburg, the World Bank Country Director for Chile. “This investment in the knowledge-based economy aims to improve national expertise in science and technology and enhance Chile’s competitiveness in a way that will benefit all Chileans.” 

Chile’s position as one of Latin America’s leaders in science and technology has prepared the country to achieve a decisive transition to a knowledge-based economy.  The Millennium Science Initiative enabled Chile to create 13 centers of excellence, where topnotch specialists performed frontier scientific research with support from a fund administered by an international committee of scientists.  By fostering Chile’s development of a National Innovation System, the MSI has helped Chile diversify its economic base and provide a new foundation for sustainable, long-term growth.

The new project financed by this loan, which will run for three-and-a-half years through 2007, is the first of two phases of a Program to Improve the Innovation System.  It includes initiatives to increase research and development (R&D) spending by Chilean companies and the public sector, enhance the teaching of science and technology in Chilean schools, improve the quality of scientific research, enable Chilean researchers to participate more fully in international networks of innovators and scientists, as well as strengthen research links between government and the private sector. 

The second phase of the Program, between 2007 and 2010, will continue these efforts, in particular by generating additional sources of funding for research and innovation and enhancing R&D in the private sector.

“By strengthening Chile’s own scientific research network, and enabling Chilean scientists to interact with their peers in Europe and North America, these projects boost Chile’s leap forward to develop an innovative capacity matching that of many developed countries,” said Lauritz Holm-Nielsen, Lead Science and Technology Specialist at the World Bank, who led the Bank team that prepared the MSI and this follow-up loan.  “They also help the Government implement a policy framework and coordinated strategy to stimulate and sustain scientific innovation.”

This single-currency, fixed-spread adaptable program loan is repayable over four years from 2009-2012, following disbursements for the two phases from 2003-2009.

For more information on the World Bank’s work in the Latin America and Caribbean region, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org/lac