Incubating the Caribbean: CTU brings CARCIP Innovation Workshop to Grenada

A series of workshops rolling out across the Caribbean is intended to spark and harness the power of Caribbean innovation as an engine for technology-enabled development and enterprise.

The workshop suite is part of a broader World Bank-funded initiative called CARCIP, the Caribbean Communications Infrastructure Program, which is coordinated by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU). The next CTU CARCIP Innovation workshop will take place in Grenada on March 24th and 25th.

Building on the foundation of upgraded critical Internet and telecommunications infrastructure, CARCIP aims to clear the path for local innovators and entrepreneurs to develop world-class, locally driven, technology-enabled services that address the needs of Grenada and the wider Caribbean. The thrust by CTU to accelerate Caribbean entrepreneurship through technology-driven innovation builds on the work of their Caribbean ICT Roadshow, which has been held 21 times in 18 Caribbean countries.

“The CTU has been the regional pioneer for initiatives designed to foster innovative and beneficial use of ICT in Caribbean countries for national and regional development,” said Bernadette Lewis, Secretary General of the CTU.

The underlying philosophy of the CTU’s engagement with the region through CARCIP, Lewis said, is that the very same conditions that present severe challenges for the region are also creating unique opportunities for the discerning and capable.

“As twentieth-century international relations frameworks are dismantled, the emerging economies of developing regions find themselves uniquely placed to take advantage of new rules of engagement,” she said.

In the case of Grenada, the CARCIP workshop is an opportunity to deepen the Government’s ongoing thrust to develop the country’s ICT sector.

“We are extremely proud to be the next host of the CTU’s CARCIP Innovation Workshops, and we look forward to discovering new ways to apply technology to everyday challenges,” said Jacinta Joseph, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Communication, Works, Public Utilities, Physical Development and ICT, Grenada.

The CTU has established a record of bringing substantial value to Caribbean governments and citizens through aggressive regional public education activities. The two-day Grenada workshop will bring together local professionals in the field of telecommunications and regional experts in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), entrepreneurship, leadership development and innovation.

Bevil Wooding, Internet Strategist with U.S.-based non-profit, Packet Clearing House, is the lead facilitator.

“Caribbean problems are real but those problems have real solutions. Caribbean innovators must respond to our challenges by using and creating technology to discover and design relevant solutions,” said Wooding.

Against the backdrop of global economic uncertainty, the Caribbean now faces serious challenges, such as its outmoded physical and institutional infrastructure, diminishing global competitiveness and the hemorrhaging of its qualified human resource and the climate change, flight of intellectual capacity and the dismantling of preferential trade arrangements for agricultural products.

In response, the regional programme aims to improve the efficiency of telecommunications infrastructure development in the Eastern Caribbean and ultimately, throughout the wider Caribbean. Through the World Bank’s International Development Association, CARCIP was allocated a total disbursement of US$25 million, including loans to the three countries and a grant to the CTU.

CARCIP is a partnership between the World Bank and the governments of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia and Grenada, alongside regional organisations such as the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) and the Caribbean Knowledge and Learning Network (CKLN), all under the coordination of the CTU.

The Grenada workshop will be the third in the ongoing series. Among the workshop presenters are Dr Farid Youssef, Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, St Augustine; and Norman Gibson, an expert in rural development and environmental management in the Caribbean region.

The first CTU CARCIP Innovation Workshop was held at the Bay Gardens Resort, Gros Islet, Saint Lucia on February 10 and 11, while the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines event was held at the Buccament Bay resort on February 26 and 27.

Driving Caribbean Innovation: CTU brings CARCIP Innovation workshop to Saint Vincent

“One of the greatest challenges facing the Caribbean is getting people to believe in the value of ideas,” said Bernadette Lewis, Secretary General of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU).

Lewis was speaking at the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines leg of a series of workshops to encourage greater technology-enabled innovation in the Caribbean.

“Unless we can change mindsets, the returns on ICT investment will be small,” she said.

The workshop series is part of a broader World Bank-funded initiative called CARCIP, the Caribbean Communications Infrastructure Program, which is coordinated by the CTU.

The thrust by CTU to accelerate Caribbean entrepreneurship through technology-driven innovation builds on the work of their Caribbean ICT Roadshow, which encourages Caribbean citizens to harness the power of innovation as the engine for ICT-enabled development. The Caribbean ICT Roadshow has been held 21 times in 18 Caribbean countries.

Moderated by local CARCIP coordinator Roxanne John and regional coordinator Junior Mc Intyre, the two-day workshop in Saint Vincent brought together local professionals in the field of telecommunications and regional experts in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), entrepreneurship, leadership development and innovation.

The government of St Vincent and the Grenadines, host for the event, was represented by Camillo Gonsalves, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade, Commerce and Information Technology.

“The ICT revolution in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is happening now,” said the minister. “In the current environment of rapid technological development and opportunity, our private and public sector shortcomings can be met, solved and eradicated quickly by the innovative application of ICT to our unique Caribbean particularity.”

Gonsalves explained that the CARCIP workshop was part of an ongoing thrust by his Ministry to develop the country’s ICT sector through updating its laws, establishing knowledge parks, setting up an e-government system and continuing to liberalise its telecommunications sector.

“The true measure of the usefulness of Government’s large investments in these programs will not be in our improved rankings in various development indices but in tangible benefits to Vincentians,” he said.

His message was underscored by the lead facilitator for the event, Bevil Wooding, Internet Strategist with U.S.-based non-profit, Packet Clearing House.  In identifying the challenges that confront the region, such as its outmoded physical and institutional infrastructure, diminishing global competitiveness and the hemorrhaging of its qualified human resource, Wooding pointed to the need for Caribbean innovators to respond by using and creating technology to design relevant solutions.

“Caribbean problems are real, but the problems all have real solutions,” Wooding said.

Other presenters were Norman Gibson, an expert in science and technology for rural development and environmental management in the Caribbean region; and Ramlochan Ragoonanan, CEO, National Entrepreneurship Development Company, Trinidad and Tobago; Ayodele Pompey, CEO, Digital Spark Global; and Petrus Gumbs, Head of IT, St Martin Secondary School.

CARCIP is a partnership between the World Bank and the governments of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia and Grenada, alongside regional organizations such as the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) and the Caribbean Knowledge and Learning Network, CKLN, all under the coordination of the CTU. The programme aims to improve the efficiency of telecommunications infrastructure development in the Eastern Caribbean and ultimately, throughout the wider region. Through the World Bank’s International Development Association, CARCIP was allocated a total disbursement of US$25 million, including loans to the three countries and a grant to the CTU.

Building on the foundation of upgraded critical Internet and telecommunications infrastructure, CARCIP aims to clear the path for local innovators and entrepreneurs to develop world-class, locally-driven, technology-enabled services that address the needs of Saint Vincent and the wider Caribbean.

The St Vincent event was held at the Buccament Bay resort on February 26 and 27. The next CARCIP Innovation workshop will take place in Grenada in March 24 and 25.