Above; St Vincent (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Three Eastern Caribbean countries are benefitting from an infrastructure development thrust that could usher in a new era of technology-based innovation and entrepreneurship for the region.

The initiative is part of the World Bank-funded Caribbean Communications Infrastructure Program (CARCIP), coordinated by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU).

A series of workshops rolling out in St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenada are intended to ensure that citizens can take full advantage of the telecommunications infrastructure upgrades.

The series aims to encourage greater innovation in the public and private sector across the Caribbean.

The inaugural workshop, which took place Feb. 10-11 at Gros Islet, St Lucia, brought together some of the region’s leading minds in the fields of entrepreneurship, information and communications technology, leadership development and innovation.

Hosted by the St Lucian Ministry of the Public Service, Information and Broadcasting, the workshop set out to stimulate new approaches to national through the application of modern technology and new ways of thinking.

“In reality, the potential exists today to overcome the many challenges in the region,” said technology expert Bevil Wooding, the event’s keynote speaker. “What we face is more a challenge of leadership paradigm than of technical possibility.”

Wooding, who is an Internet strategist with US-based Packet Clearing House, said the challenge was “to define and articulate a clear set of actionable priorities. These must be based on our native strengths and shaped to match a properly resourced vision for development.”

The CARCIP Innovation series rolls into Saint Vincent on February 26th  and 27th, with a third installment scheduled for Grenada at the end of March 2014.