Research & Development

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One of ASDF’s key missions is to enable, facilitate and promote research and development (R&D) in sustainable and innovative ideas across the Americas.

 

There are significant differences within the regions regarding R&D investments and technological developments for sustainable development projects. Canada and the USA are highly industrialized nations with steady annual outputs of new technology patents and high rates of technology exports, which have added over US$19 billion to their GDPs. However, countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), with a combined 33 states, are significantly behind. As per 2016, they are generating US$6 billion from patents and exports of homegrown developed technologies.

 

With this reality in mind, ASDF helps policy makers in the LAC region to shift away from their current dependency on agriculture and natural resource extraction economies. We do this by encouraging investing in the development of knowledge and skills to convert their wealth of natural resources into innovative technologies and services to meet the needs of their communities. In doing so, it will also enable these nations to benefit from exporting knowledge and sustainable technologies to other regions on the globe.