Territorial development –urban and rural– needs to take into account intelligently the process of growth of the different economic and social sectors, a process in which development banking plays an important role in promoting and financing it. From the promotion of cities of knowledge where innovation for activities with high added value based on state-of-the-art technology; the sustainable sectorial and productive development, functional to the projection of the city and the country and to the narrowing the rural-urban gap; as well as the continued reinvention of development financial institutions to be able to address the challenges posed by the structural change of our economies and the optimization of the impact of their financial action; the variables knowledge, innovation and technology permeate the diverse aspects on which today’s development banking gravitate as a modern and vital instrument of public policy in the Latin American and the Caribbean process of economic change.

In territorial development, the current trends propose to give way to a new kind of city, prepared to lead the society of knowledge. The goal is to situate cities as economically dynamic centers, with a balanced territory, committed to the preservation of the environment, and to become a point of reference for a competitive and innovative environment for business activities with high added value. Additionally, within development financial institutions, innovation and knowledge are part of the institutional DNA to offer solutions constantly adapting to the needs of productive sectors and the economic environment, and to become a reference point in the projection of our economies into the future.

• Cities of knowledge, sustainable cities. Experiences of development banking support.
• Innovation in financial institutions and market knowledge. Innovative solutions for financing productive sectors.
• Banking models to finance innovation and technological development.