Q COSTARICA — A platform called LEAPCR (Liderando el Emprendimiento de Alto Potencial en Costa Rica) is a newly launched national initiative designed to accelerate startups, attract international investment, and strengthen Costa Rica’s entrepreneurial ecosystem
The program operates as a technical cooperation project administered by the Inter-American Development Bank Group. It is powered by a joint alliance of four core organizations:
- BID Lab: The innovation laboratory of the Inter-American Development Bank.
- PCII: The Promotora Costarricense de Innovación e Investigación.
- Fundación CRUSA: A private Costa Rican non-profit committed to sustainable development.
- SBD: The Sistema de Banca para el Desarrollo, driving national development financing.
LEAPCR emerges at a time when Costa Rica seeks to promote entrepreneurship as an engine for innovation, productivity, and the generation of quality formal employment. To this end, the initiative will work in key areas such as capacity building, early-stage financing, open innovation, and the development of policies that foster the growth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
“With LEAPCR, we reaffirm our joint commitment to strengthening the country’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. Costa Rica has valuable talent, capabilities, and stakeholders; the challenge is to better connect them, generate clear signals to the market, and build a roadmap that allows more high-potential ventures to scale, access investment, and compete globally,” stated Patricia Rojas Figueredo, General Manager of the PCII, representing the organizations involved in this national effort.
The promoting organizations believe that the development of high-potential entrepreneurship requires a national vision, collaboration, and an infrastructure that allows good ideas to find support, financing, and real growth opportunities.
LEAPCR seeks to contribute to greater ecosystem coordination, supporting and enhancing existing efforts, without replacing the work already being done by various national stakeholders.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) Group’s innovation lab is focused on promoting innovative solutions that foster inclusion, productivity, and development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The initiative aligns directly with Costa Rica’s National Development and Public Investment Plan, specifically targeting global economic projection and sustainable employment.