Trade Watch V8 No 1 Jan-Feb 2014

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4 Tradewatch • The Official E-Newsletter of the Caribbean Export Development Agency • Vol. 8 No. 1 January - February, 2014
PROMOTING INNOVATION & COMPETITIVENESS
Innovation is the cornerstone of progress. It is the
principle on which all development and sustainable growth
is based and it is what makes a product distinctive and
inimitable. This is why Caribbean Export, through the 10th
EDF, invests so heavily in facilitating initiatives, which
promote innovation.
In an effort to exercise that mandate, Caribbean Export
convened the inaugural meeting of the Regional Innovation
Advisory Group (RIAG) from January 30-31, 2014 at the
Hyatt Regency Trinidad, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
The Group was gathered to provide insight as it pertains
to developing Caribbean Export’s regional innovation
strategy as a catalyst for enhancing the competitiveness
of the region’s private sector and to secure buy-in for the
development of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
for the transfer of technologies among Research and
Development (R&D), Tertiary Institutions and the Private
Sector.
Twelve (12) key players in sectors in the region that
foster innovation participated in the RIAG, which was
chaired by Caribbean Export’s Manager of Competitiveness
and Innovation, Christopher McNair. Overall, the meeting
sought to determine exactly how the objectives would be
achieved and what role Caribbean Export would play in
implementation.
Innovation tends to correlate with creative industries,
and thiswas demonstratedbyWayne Sinclair’s presentation
on the Animation Industry in Jamaica. As the Executive
Director of GSW Animation, Mr. Sinclair provided the
model for an innovation eco-system that could be utilised
across the region. Through his presentation, Mr. Sinclair
was also able to highlight the potential for employment
generation and growth as well as the various challenges
which the fledgling industry has had to face and overcome.
This served to inform the direction of the group’s initial
discussions.
Caribbean Export Hosts Dialogue on
Regional Innovation
Members of the Regional Innovation Advisory Group during discussions at the
inagural meeting in Trinidad and Tobago
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The group also heard from Kenneth Sylvester, the Chief Executive Officer
of Caribbean Knowledge Learning Network (CKLN), the parent company of
C@ribNet, which is an electronic research database for knowledge sharing
and technology transfer within the Caribbean which draws from similar
databases around the world. C@ribNet represents the very essence of
what the Advisory Group has been tasked with achieving: progress through
integration and collaboration in an innovative context.
Professor Cardinal Warde, President of the Caribbean Diaspora for
Science Technology and Innovation (CADSTI) also presented the role of
his organisation and that they would be keen on contribution the region’s
innovation frameworkparticularly througheducation-basedentrepeneurship
in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
The meeting drew to a successful close with the architecture of an
ecosystem for fostering innovation having been established. This system is
four-tiered: Information Sharing, Financing, Intellectual Property and the
development of concrete measurements for innovation in the region. It is
hoped that, with this approach, that meaningful steps can be made towards
a globally competitive region. (TW)