She holds a PhD in Public Policy - Science and Technology Policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology (US). Her expertise is in the field of innovation, science and technology policy, institutions and technological capabilities in developing countries.
She is currently working at the Institute on Sustainable Development, Innovation and Social Inclusion (IDIIS), University of the Republic.
Previous experience includes an evaluation of sectoral industrial plans and consortia implemented in Uruguay as a fundamental ingredient of the national industrial policy.
Between 2010 and 2013 Bortagaray worked as a Senior Program Officer at the International Development Research Center-Canada, for the Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office. In that context, Isabel was responsible for the program on Innovation for Inclusive Development.
Before joining IDRC in 2010, Bortagaray spent some time at the Higher Council of Scientific Research (CSIC) in Spain as a postdoc. Furthermore, she has worked at the University of the Republic in Uruguay, promoting a research program on University-Society/Productive Sector linkages.
She is a research associate at the Technology Policy and Assessment Center (TPAC), at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In 2004 she was awarded a dissertation grant from the National Science Foundation, and in 2000 she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship for her PhD studies.