Colombia - Lessons from the Competitive Allocation of Research Funding in the Agricultural Sector
Since 2004, Colombia's ministry of agriculture and rural development has implemented a strategy of competitive funding or public call for proposals for the allocation of public funds for Research, Technological Development and Innovation (RTDI...
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| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/12/12050657/colombia-lessons-competitive-allocation-research-funding-agricultural-sector http://hdl.handle.net/10986/10290 |
| Summary: | Since 2004, Colombia's ministry of
agriculture and rural development has implemented a strategy
of competitive funding or public call for proposals for the
allocation of public funds for Research, Technological
Development and Innovation (RTDI) programs and projects
targeting the agricultural sector. This strategy considers
science and technology as core elements of agricultural
sector policy, and the allocation of funds is governed by
principles of cost-effectiveness and transparency. The fact
that Latin American (LAC) countries, especially Colombia,
are commonly endowed with a high concentrations of
biodiversity (habitats and species) compared to other
regions of the world, generates significant opportunities
for RTDI. These projects offer a systematic way of making
use of biodiversity in life sciences aimed at solving
problems (e.g. a new disease-resistant variety of a
traditional crop) or generating commercial returns (e.g. a
native fruit that can be domesticated, harvested and
industrialized). Moreover, proposals were typically
submitted by research entities (universities and research
centers) that were often disconnected from the needs of the
productive sector and which often generated results scarcely
relevant to producers. |
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