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Science and Innovation
Leveraging Science and Innovation for Development

Science, technology, and innovation (STI) can drive economic growth, help solve social and environmental problems, and reduce poverty.

All countries need to develop the capacity to produce and use science and technology themselves, and adapt knowledge to their needs and contexts.

Societies also need to understand both the benefits and risks of emerging technologies, such as digital ones, in order to maximize their benefits.

IDRC’s Science and Innovation program supports research and capacity building to help developing countries produce, adapt, and use STI for development.

Along with gender, key cross-cutting themes within the program are intellectual property rights, science granting councils, and inclusiveness.

 

African Institute for Mathematical Sciences

​IDRC is implementing Canada’s $20 million contribution to expand the network of Institutes for Mathematical Sciences in Africa, which provides rigorous mathematics training to post-graduate African students.

IDRC Challenge Fund

This initiative partners with Canada’s science granting councils to support joint research by Canadian and Southern scientists in areas of shared interest, such as climate change and infectious disease.

Information and Networks

This program explores the positive and negative impacts of widespread access to mobile telephones and the Internet in developing countries. I&N works to promote positive social and economic change, particularly in the areas of creative industries, governance, learning, and science.

Innovation for Inclusive Development

IID aims to better under understand how innovation in the informal sector can improve livelihoods and contribute to inclusive development, with a particular focus on women and groups that connect informal and formal sectors.
 
 

Latest Projects

Women in Cairo are now able to report rape, harassment, and assaults through Harrassmap, a pilot project in Cairo, Egypt. The goal is to change the social acceptability of sexual harassment in Egypt.
HarassMap: Using Crowdsourced Data in the Social SciencesHarassMap: Using Crowdsourced Data in the Social SciencesCommunity Based Crime Prevention in GuatemalaGrowing Informal Cities: Mobile Entrepreneurs and Inclusive Growth in South Africa, Mozambique, and ZimbabweSoutheast Asian Uplands Agriculture FellowshipsResearch Program of Adolescent HIV Prevention Strategies

Latest Projects

Guatemala is one of the most violent countries in the world. Guatemalans of every age, class and ethnicity confront violence daily in every part of the national territory. According to statistics kept by the police and the human rights ombudsman...
HarassMap: Using Crowdsourced Data in the Social Sciences Community Based Crime Prevention in GuatemalaCommunity Based Crime Prevention in GuatemalaGrowing Informal Cities: Mobile Entrepreneurs and Inclusive Growth in South Africa, Mozambique, and ZimbabweSoutheast Asian Uplands Agriculture FellowshipsResearch Program of Adolescent HIV Prevention Strategies

Latest Projects

Migrant entrepreneurs are an important force in the informal economy in southern Africa, but their role is often invisible to policymakers and researchers. New research on the contributions of these m
HarassMap: Using Crowdsourced Data in the Social SciencesCommunity Based Crime Prevention in Guatemala Growing Informal Cities: Mobile Entrepreneurs and Inclusive Growth in South Africa, Mozambique, and ZimbabweGrowing Informal Cities: Mobile Entrepreneurs and Inclusive Growth in South Africa, Mozambique, and ZimbabweSoutheast Asian Uplands Agriculture FellowshipsResearch Program of Adolescent HIV Prevention Strategies

Latest Projects

Efforts to strengthen knowledge and research skills in agriculture and food security in the uplands of Southeast Asia are essential to developing a strong network of professionals who can address some
HarassMap: Using Crowdsourced Data in the Social SciencesCommunity Based Crime Prevention in GuatemalaGrowing Informal Cities: Mobile Entrepreneurs and Inclusive Growth in South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe Southeast Asian Uplands Agriculture FellowshipsSoutheast Asian Uplands Agriculture FellowshipsResearch Program of Adolescent HIV Prevention Strategies

Latest Projects

In Africa, HIV is having a devastating impact on young people. Globally, youth aged 15 to 24 account for almost one third of all new infections. There are unique challenges to implementing adolescent-
HarassMap: Using Crowdsourced Data in the Social SciencesCommunity Based Crime Prevention in GuatemalaGrowing Informal Cities: Mobile Entrepreneurs and Inclusive Growth in South Africa, Mozambique, and ZimbabweSoutheast Asian Uplands Agriculture Fellowships Research Program of Adolescent HIV Prevention StrategiesResearch Program of Adolescent HIV Prevention Strategies
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IDRC funds researchers in the developing world so they can build healthier, more prosperous societies
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