The Experience of the IDB's Innovation Lab

We believe we have a story that will inspire new ways of approaching international development. During the past five years, the Innovation Lab (I-Lab), born out of the Division of Competiveness and Innovation (CTI) at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), has been promoting innovative solutions that have developed directly with and for the excluded communities, people, who find themselves outside of markets and who are often marginalized. The I-Lab has co-financed over 20 projects that have addressed the needs of the Excluded and have provided solutions that are truly sustainable, most of which have won international recognition and awards in innovation. For the I-Lab, while technology has been the vehicle and interdisciplinary collaboration has been the fuel, the addition of the excluded communities into the innovation process has been the key ingredient. We are happy to share our experiences and lessons we have learned through this publication.