IMPLEMENTATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF CYCLE No. 2 OF THE PRODUCTIVE CLUSTERING OF KNOWLEDGE-BASED SERVICE BUSINESSES (KBBS) PROGRAM

Dates: 07/2022 – 11/2023

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) signed Loan Agreement No. 4929/OC-CO “Program to Support the Diversification and Internationalization of the Colombian Economy” (hereinafter “the Program”), whose general objective is to contribute to greater diversification and internationalization of the Colombian economy in order to boost the country’s economic growth.

The Program consists of two components. Component I “Promotion of exports of Knowledge-Based Services (KBS)”, seeks to boost external sales of the KBS sectors prioritized for this Program. Component II “Attraction and Facilitation of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)”, seeks to increase efficiency FDI flows, through the implementation and use of new tools for the streamlining of procedures, and the promotion and attraction of investments.

Between 2021 and the beginning of 2022, the first call for SBC companies to participate in the “Productive Service Linkages” program was issued. As a result, 40 companies were selected to participate in the first stage of the Program (diagnosis) and eight companies benefited from co-financing resources to finance their proposed projects (second stage of the Program). In cycle 2 of the Program, 40 companies are expected to participate in the first stage of the program and, subsequently, a closed call for cofinancing will be issued to the companies that have completed their participation in that stage.