World Bank and Education
Global Lead for Innovation in Education, Sr. Education & Technology Policy Specialist
Michael Trucano is the World Bank's Senior Education & Technology Policy Specialist and Global Lead for Innovation in Education, working on issues at the intersection of technology use and education in middle- and low-income countries and emerging markets around the world.
At a practical working level, Mike provides policy advice, research and technical assistance to governments seeking to utilize new information and communication technologies (ICTs) in their education systems. Over the past 20 years, Mike has been advisor on, evaluator of, and/or working-level participant in, educational technology initiatives in over 50 middle- and low-income countries.
A frequent public speaker and interview subject on the use of technology in education around the world, and on ICT use for development (ICT4D) purposes more broadly, he is the principal voice behind the World Bank's influential EduTech blog. He also regularly serves as a 'master of ceremonies' or moderator at conferences and industry events, including the annual global symposium on ICT and education in Seoul, which he helped to establish in 2007. You can follow Mike on Twitter .
Mike leads the World Bank's global solutions group on 'innovation in education', which helps to maintain the World Bank's internal knowledgebase on related topics, provides technical support and guidance to large scale national education projects around the world, and sponsors numerous knowledge-sharing events each year. He also directs related analytical work under the World Bank's flagship Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) initiative as it relates to information and communication technologies (SABER-ICT), including a related working paper series. Recent (2016) short papers include(with Gavin Dykes); and Technologies in education across the Americas. Mike was a contributor to the World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends and, together with Birger Fredericksen and Sukhdeep Brar, was a co-author of the 2015 book.
In addition to his advisory work on projects funded by the World Bank and other international aid agencies and donors, he serves on a number of external advisory boards for non-profit groups, international development agencies and prize committees, including Digital Promise Global, Dfid's Digital Advisory Panel and the International Literacy Prizes of the U.S. Library of Congress.
Mike previously served as the ICT and Education Specialist at infoDev, where he coordinated research activities related to the use of new technolologies in the education sector in middle- and low-income countries; led work exploring the use of various low-cost ICT devices to meet developmental objectives in the social sectors; and managed the program's mobile banking work. Highlights from this time include the influential (what we know, and what we don't, about ICT use in education in developing countries); 75 country surveys of ICT and education in Africa and the Caribbean; a handbook on Monitoring and Evaluation of ICT in Education Projects; and the ICT in Education Toolkit for Policymakers, Planners & Practitioners (with UNESCO, used in national policy planning processes in over 30 countries).
In the late 1990s, Mike was a core member of the team that developed and implemented the pioneering World Links for Development program, a teacher professional development initiative which introduced educational technologies for the first time in education systems in 22 medium- and low-income countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia. While at World Links, he initiated and coordinated related country programs in China, India and Southeast Asia.
Current and recent areas of notable activity and attention include:
The World Bank EduTech Blog
Mike is the principal contributor to the World Bank's widely read EduTech blog ( His essays and posts have been collected into seven separate volumes. Popular and/or influential posts include:
