region. E. Results achieved The Bank has not yet performed a systematic evaluation of the impact of the S&T programs it has financed, although the Evaluation Office (EVO) has initiated work on a “policy/program evaluation� and the Social Programs and Sustainable Development Department (SDS) is preparing a study of sucessful cases of technological innovation in the region. The following information is, therefore, partial. It is based on a rev proposals, progress reports by borrowers, and missions conducted by Bank staff and consultants (see references under Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo). The availab train some 20,000 Latin American researchers. IDB assistance has also contributed to the strengthening of at least 100 universities and science and technology institutions, including those that probably are now the most advanced in the region. The list includes the University of Sao Paulo, the Autonomous University of Mexico, the Simon Bolivar University in Venezuela, the University of Chile, the University of Costa Rica, the University of the Republic of Uruguay, and the University of the West Indies. National science and tech bia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay, and Venezuela benefited from IDB support, as did technology development funds in Argentina (FONTAR), Brazil (FINEP/ADTEN), Chile (FONTEC), Colombia (COLCIENCIAS), Costa Rica (FODETEC), Mexico (FIDETEC), and Uruguay (FINTEC). Since S&T capacity fundamentally depends on competent personnel, infrastructure and institutional development, it is clear that the IDB made an important contribution to it in some countries of the region.
report (Teubal, M., 1994) of S&T activities financed in Chile concluded that "the programs are well designed and appear to operate harmoniously and with relative effectiveness." The report found that the Technology Development Fund (FONTEC) provided effective support for a significant "learning to innovate" process in the private sector, while the S&T Development Fund (FONDEF) helped to strengthen R&D capabilities in universities and institutes of technology that are relevant for the country's development. Another independent evaluation by INVERTEC IGT (1995) concluded that: "in the vast majority of cases involving small businesses, which constitute two thirds of the universe, the projects would not have been carried out without FONTEC" and "FONTEC financing is generating from 5 to 6 pesos in value added tax for each peso allocated, without considering other benefits in the form of jobs, indirect impact and, of course, the strengthening of innovative enterprises". Two evaluations conducted in Colomb Nac con capacity in universities and the budding process of learnin sectors. Some examples of successful technological innovation follow, among hundreds of cases to which the borrowing institutions of the Bank have contributed resources. In Argentina, results worthy of mention include: a pioneering biotherapeutic milk product, already available throughout the country, that restores the intestinal flora in children suffering from diarrhea; a rotavirus vaccine for calves, now in commercial production, which has driven the incidence of the corresponding disease from more than 40 percent to below 9 percent and reduced the death rate in afflicted calves from 5.4 percent to 0.2 percent; an ester sweetener derived by cloning a natural herb, with a pilot plant about to begin operations; a reagent to diagnose Chagas disease for which mass marketing plans are being negotiated with international pharmaceutical firms; and a new catalyst for oxidizing
The few formal ex post evaluations conducted by the countries confirm good results. One evaluation 5