Guidelines and Selection Criteria

The competition closed June 20th. Winners will be announced on October 10, 2008.

Objective

The objective of the program is to foster the development and dissemination of innovations in products, processes and services and engender solutions with the potential of improving the quality of life of poor and/or excluded people in Latin America and the Caribbean. Up to six grants, ranging from USD 30,000 to 100,000, will be awarded to the selected innovations to develop, test, or pilot these in the region.

Eligibility

The call for project proposals is open to private companies, academic institutions, research teams, non-governmental organizations, and other entities. Individuals, governments, local governments, and government agencies are not eligible applicants for this initiative.

The call for proposals is open to entities from all IADB member countries. However, the development, piloting, and implementation to be financed by the grant must take place in the Latin American and Caribbean region.

All applicants must be legal entities in their countries, i.e. be legally registered as a business, institution, organization, or other entity. They must have the legal capacity to enter into an agreement with a multilateral institution like the IADB.

To be considered for the grants, applicants must be able to show financial statements from the last two years to prove that the company or organization is financially stable and will be able to successfully manage the grant money.

Applicants must have the professional capacity to execute the proposed project and must show proof of previous successful projects or business ventures.

Applicants whose members or close relatives are presently employed or in the process of becoming IDB employees are not eligible. This restriction applies to candidates within and including the 4th degree of consanguinity and the 2nd degree of affinity.

Each applicant can only submit one proposal.

Projects or innovations that are currently receiving any form of financing from the Inter-American Development Bank, the Multilateral Investment Fund of the IADB, or the Inter-American Investment Corporation are NOT eligible.

Companies and institutions are welcome to seek and use third-party financing (resources and technical support) for their innovations. These additional sources of support will have to be highlighted in the project proposal (as requested in the application form and annex tables.)

It is important the innovative solutions are designed to directly impact, in a positive way, the lives of the poor in the Latin America and the Caribbean.

Innovation will have to be an integral component of the applicant projects. The exploitation of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is particularly encouraged, as some of the grants will be awarded to project proposals leveraging these technologies.

Projects must not be harmful to the environment and must comply with the IADB Social and Environmental standards. Project winners must comply with IADB regulations in all aspects of the project.

Selection process

Launch: The initiative is officially launched on April 5, 2008, by the President of the IADB, Luis Alberto Moreno, during the IADB Annual Meeting in Miami, Florida. Applications will be accepted from this day on

Proposal submission: Eligible applicants must use the Application form, the Budget Table, and the Project Plan posted on the initiative’s website. The proposals must be submitted by Friday, June 20, 2008 (5pm EST) to the following email: innovation@iadb.org . Applications submitted after this deadline will not be considered.

Selection: All proposals will be evaluated carefully by the IADB project group, before a selection of proposals will be sent to the high level expert committee for judging. The committee members will review the proposals and decide what projects will receive financing. An estimated 4-5 projects will be selected for funding; however, the IADB reserves the right to award fewer grants. The winners will be notified in September, 2008.

After the selections have been made, the IADB will negotiate contracts with the winners. The winners are not considered official recipients of the grants until the contracts are signed by both the IADB and the grant recipient. The grants will be disbursed in 2 to 4 caches, depending on the size of the grant and the typology of the project.

Recipients will have up to 12 months to finalize their projects.

Evaluation and selection criteria

Proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

• Development impact and focus on the majority :projects and innovations should be conducive to positive economic or social development effects for the poor. Project proposals must provide evidence of the value added for the target population.
• Innovation: degree of innovativeness of the new solutions to reach or address the poorest members of a community. The innovative aspect might refer to the use of a new technology; to a new use or invention based on an existing technology; to the adaptation and/or application of an existing technology to the needs of the Latin American and Caribbean communities, as well as to the local environment and geographical situation; or to the identification of new business models for large scale use of innovative applications and tools accessible to the poorest.
• Responsiveness to need: The project or innovation must be based on the pre-identification of a need, actual demand, or potential demand of the poor.
• Scalability and replicability: projects should have the potential for being replicated or adapted for broader needs inside the country or beyond.
• Sustainability: projects must show that they are economically durable and that the innovations are financially viable beyond the period covered by the grant. To this end, an assessments of potential demand for the innovation, market size, revenues and, eventually, profitability need to be presented.
• Institutional and organizational capacity: the applicant must prove its capability to carry out the proposed work. Its experience and previous accomplishments will be evaluated.
• Local partnerships: degree of involvement and partnership with local organizations, companies, institutions and non-governmental organizations.
• Quality and feasibility of the proposal: Appropriateness of budget and project plan, feasibility of the innovation

Project execution

During the project execution phase, the company or organization must submit regular reports to the IADB project team on the progress of the project. These reports will follow a template and a schedule developed by the IADB team.