Investing in education, opening up to new technologies through foreign trade and investment, and encouraging private sector research and development (R&D) are the keys to unlocking the potential of technology to speed up economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). This work advises Latin American and Caribbean governments to address the region's deficits in skills and technology, thereby boosting productivity which is essential to improving growth prospects. To close the ""productivity gap"" in LAC, the report calls for a range of policy approaches and strategies, depending on a country's level of development. This World Bank study identifies three progressive stages in a country's technological evolution - adoption, adaptation and creation - and observes that policies should be designed to address the particular challenges that accompany each stage.