OREANDA-NEWS. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a $10 million loan to finance a project that will contribute to improving economic productivity in Paraguay. It will increase investments in applied research and innovation, specially in priority productive and social sectors, and improve the quality and quantity of the human capital available for innovation.

The project will stimulate investments in the generation of knowledge and innovation, and strengthen the links between the different sectors within the country's National Innovation System.

To achieve all this, it will finance individual innovation and technology development projects that can generate innovations in the products and processes of companies, as well as associated projects that generate technological innovations that impact priority productive chains or centers.

It will also finance projects to assist the creation and launch of technology-based companies and to strengthen technology and incubation services. And it will promote an increase in the availability of human resources for applied research and innovation, by financing the creation or strengthening of post-graduate programs in the country's universities and public or private institutions of higher education.

Additionally, the program will support the involvement of agents of innovation in companies, and will finance delegations to visit companies and technological centers abroad in order to promote the transfer of knowledge and technology, reach agreements on collaborative innovation projects between companies and institutions of Paraguay's Investigations for Development institutions, and the promotion of technological cooperation agreements between companies in Paraguay and the countries visited.

The IDB's $10 million loan is for 25 years, with a grace period of 6.2 years and an interest rate based on LIBOR.clients throughout the region.