WHAT'S NEW AT  COMPETE CARIBBEAN
DIALOGUE: TOWARDS EXPONENTIAL GROWTH THROUGH INNOVATION

The need for an eco-system to support innovation is even more pressing in a global context of rapid technological change. For the Caribbean, new technology is an opportunity to use the region's recognized creativity to transcend the logistics hurdles that have traditionally affected its goods and services' exports.

The Caribbean  is in a good position to take advantage of the ongoing 4th industrial revolution. It boasts universities generating local talent in business and in tech, a relatively well-developed financial sector.  Missing in the region, however, are key policies and instruments to support innovative businesses at all stages, particularly in the early stages, and especially in the high-tech sector.



To address such gaps developed countries, and to a lesser extent, developing countries, have put in place institutions that offer support for innovation. 

Compete Caribbean invited Ruta N representatives to engage stakeholders in Jamaica and Barbados and delve into the different kinds of support that an eco-system would need to provide to promote and foster innovation.



Ruta N is the innovation agency of Medellín, a city of 3.6 million people in Colombia which was once known as the global capital of narco-trafficking. Medellín has transformed itself from one of the most dangerous cities in the world during the 1990s, to being recognized in 2013 as the world's most socially innovative city.

The example of the city of Medellín, Colombia, located in a small and similarly isolated geographical setting as most countries in the Caribbean, will illustrate what a dynamic innovation agency can do for economic growth.


To learn more about the dialogue you can download the presentations here: -  Jamaica

For photos of the event, please click here:

Jamaica
Barbados
FEATURED RESEARCH
Publication:
Information and Communications for Development 2018 : Data-Driven Development

Productive development policies (PDPs) are notoriously hard. They involve a daunting level of technical detail, require public-private collaboration, are in constant danger of capture, and demand time consistency hard to achieve in a politically volatile region. 

Nevertheless, the potential of PDPs to revitalize the region's economic performance and spur productivity growth cannot be ignored. Careful study of these experiences might help successful productive development policies gain currency across the region.
 

Publication:
Doing Business 2019: Training for Reform

Doing Business 2019: Training for Reform, presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 190 economies-from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe-and over time.

Doing Business measures regulations affecting 11 areas of the life of a business. Ten of these areas are included in this year's ranking on the ease of doing business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. 
 

NEWS FROM OUR DONORS
CDB launches Cultural and Creative Industries Innovation Fund

The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) today announced the launch of a new fund to provide financial support and stability for the Region's cultural and creative industries.
The  Cultural and Creative Industries Innovation Fund (CIIF) will provide grants for innovative projects within the creative industries sector. It was established with an initial USD2.6 million contribution from CDB and is intended to become a multi-donor fund.
IDB and CDB to expand the Sustainable Energy Facility (SEF) for the Eastern Caribbean     

Address by Minister Bibeau to the Building Resilience to Disasters and Climate Change in the Caribbean conference