The Competitiveness and Innovation Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), together with IDRC and the Center for Economic Research (CINVE), has launched a call for proposals for research projects to better understand innovation and productivity in the service sector in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).

The call for proposals has two components:
Quantitative analysis on service-sector innovation and productivity, based on innovation surveys or similar datasets. Financed by the IDB, this component will produce four country papers on the determinants of productivity and innovation in services.
Case studies analyses of service-sector innovation and impact. Financed by CINVE and IDRC, this component will include
four case studies on service-sector innovation
four case studies evaluating the impact of public or private interventions aiming to enhance productivity in services

Teams can choose to present a proposal for one or more component and subcomponent. A panel of experts will select the proposals for funding according to the following eligibility criteria:
project scope
the proposal’s quality
research team capabilities
novelty of the case studies and impact evaluations
feasibility to affect public policy
Indeed, the project aims to generate research findings that will have policy impact and help to advise policymakers on the design of successful innovation policies. The goal is to improve the service sector’s performance in the Latin American and Caribbean region. Proposals that have government support, or a clear link with institutions that support innovation, will therefore be preferred. For example, applicants could include officers from innovation agencies, business organizations, or research councils in their research team.

Submit your proposals before May 14, 2012 (6 p.m. Eastern Time USA) to the following e-mail addresses: innoserv@iadb.org and innoserv@cinve.org.uy.

Read more detailed information on the call for proposals here

http://www.idrc.ca/EN/Misc/Pages/NewsDetails.aspx?NewsID=422