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PhD., Public Policy - Georgia Institute of Technology

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Isabel Bortagaray is a research associate at the Technology Policy and Assessment Center (TPAC, Georgia Institute of Technology), a Postdoctoral fellow at the Spanish Institute of Public Goods and Policies (Spanish National Research Council -CSIC), and an Adjunct Professor at the University Research Council (CSIC), Universidad de la República, Uruguay.

Isabel is a sociologist and holds a PhD in Public Policy (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007, dissertation on The building of agro-biotechnological capabilities in small countries: The cases of Costa Rica, New Zealand and Uruguay). Her research focus is on science, technology and innovation policy in developing countries, particularly looking at how do institutions contribute with the building of technological capabilities in emerging fields. For the last ten years she has been studying these issues in different countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, New Zealand and Uruguay. For the last two years she has contributed with the project on the Distributional Assessment of Emerging Technologies led by Susan Cozzens at TPAC, and has also taken part in a project on The Evolving Role of Academic Institutions in Innovation Systems and Development in Uruguay coordinated by Judith Sutz and Rodrigo Arocena (University of the Republic, Uruguay and University of Lund, Sweden). Previous research experience includes the study of agricultural innovation systems in Colombia, focusing on cassava and flowers (UNU-INTECH), and the study of innovation clusters in Latin America and the Caribbean, at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC-LACRO).

Some recent publications in which Isabel Bortagaray has participated are: “Bridging university and society in Uruguay: perceptions and expectations” Science and Public Policy 36(2): 115-119, March 2009; “Strengthening the Agricultural Innovation System in Colombia: An Analysis of the Cassava and Flower Sectors”, with Lynn K.Mytelka, in A.Hall, W.Janssen, E.Pehu, and R.Rajalahti Enhancing Agricultural Innovation: How to Go Beyond the Strengthening of Research Systems, The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank, Washington, D.C. 2006; “Towards impact and outcome indicators for biotechnology”, with S.E. Cozzens and G. Ordoñez, in L. A. Orozco and J. F. Chaves (ed.) Construcción de indicadores en biotecnología: Región comprendida por cuatro países de America Latina y el Caribe: Colombia, Costa Rica, México y Venezuela [Creating Biotechnology indicators: Region compounded of four Latin American and the Caribbean Countries: Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Venezuela], Bogotá, 2005; and, “Scientific research collaboration in South America through the SCI®”, in C.M.Allwood, S.Hemlin and B.Martin (ed.) Creative Knowledge Environments, E.Elgar, New York, 2004, among others.

In 2000 she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, and in 2004 she obtained a Dissertation Grant from the National Science Foundation. During that same year she spent few months in a PhD internship at the former Institute for New Technologies (INTECH) (currently UNU/MERIT).