The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has been honored with the International Knowledge Management Award 2025 by Knowledge Management Austria and the global Knowledge for Development Partnership (K4DP), recognizing its leadership in knowledge management for sustainable development and its role in linking evidence, learning, and action across Latin America and the Caribbean.
For over six decades, the IDB’s mandate has extended beyond financing, encompassing the generation and sharing of knowledge to support regional development. This dual mission was reinforced in 2024 with the approval of the Institutional Strategy 2024–2030, which positions the Knowledge Bank agenda at the heart of development effectiveness.
The IDB emphasizes not just the quantity of studies it produces but how knowledge is applied in public policy, investment decisions, and project design. Its Knowledge Loop ensures that analytical work informs projects while implementation generates lessons that feed back into future research, creating a continuous cycle of learning and improvement.
Governance structures, such as the Knowledge Advisory Committee (KAC), have been strengthened to align sector knowledge agendas with institutional priorities, update internal policies, and enhance the quality and influence of knowledge products.
The award also highlights the IDB’s advancement in building a modern digital knowledge ecosystem. Internally, the IDB Group Knowledge Platform, supported by AI, serves as a central repository for curated knowledge, while tools like the Lessons Learned Writing Assistant capture project experience as institutional memory. Publicly, the revamped Open Data Catalog and the AI-powered Seek tool promote transparency and accessibility, allowing users to interact with the Bank’s peer-reviewed publications and data.
Initiatives such as Knowledge Days, Operations Days, the Knowledge Excellence Prize, and the Superheroes of Development program help embed learning into daily operations and recognize teams and partners who leverage knowledge to improve development outcomes.
The International Knowledge Management Award 2025 underscores the IDB’s sustained commitment to knowledge as a key driver of impact and positions the Bank as a global reference in knowledge management for sustainable development. The award ceremony will be held online on December 11, 2025, and will be accessible to a worldwide audience.
