Alessandro Maffioli is a Principal Economist in the Competitiveness and Innovation Division (CTI) at the Inter-American Development Bank, where he coordinates the unit’s work on impact evaluation in the area of production development, innovation and entrepreneurship . During his ten-year experience at the IDB, Alessandro has coordinated several impact evaluations of projects in the areas of agricultural development, science and technology, SMEs’ productivity and access to credit. Prior to join the IDB in 2004, Alessandro spent five years at the Center for Research on Latin American and Transition Economies (ISLA) of Bocconi University, where he focused his research on economics of innovation and regional economics. Alessandro holds a Ph.D. in Economics of Production and Development the University of Insubria, Italy. His research focuses on the impacts of production development policies and he has published various papers and articles on the subject.