Rodrigo Balbontín works as an Associate Director of Digital Technology, Policy, and Innovation Programs at The Asia Foundation. In this role, he is responsible for The Asia Foundation’s engagement in innovation policy issues, with a particular focus on the promotion of initiatives and practices to overcome the middle-income trap, such as institutional frameworks for innovation, digital trade, the Future of Work, and the adoption of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Chile and a master’s degree in Science and Technology Policy from the University of Sussex. Before joining The Asia Foundation, Rodrigo worked as a Consultant at the Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation Global Practice at the World Bank, researching innovation policies for SME support, including Asian countries, such as South Korea and the Philippines, and developing methodologies to standardize Science, Technology and Innovation policies (STI). As a consultant, he also served at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Ministry of Finance of Peru, and the Foundation for Agricultural Innovation in Chile. He earlier served at the Directorate of Budget at the Ministry of Finance of Chile, where he was involved in the design of the Chilean National Innovation System reform, and as an intern at the Science and Technology Policy Division at OECD.
