Is the Caribbean Technology Sector Growing Too Slowly?

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Grenada Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell says he is concerned that the Caribbean’s information and communication technology industry is growing too slowly compared to the rest of the world.

While ICT is growing, he said, it is yet to “seriously impact” regional economies in the Caribbean.

“There has been an increased growth globally in the ICT industry but this level of growth is yet to be experienced in the region,” he said. “However, of all the technologies, ICT is the one most utilized in the region.”

Mitchell said the region was “yet to be impacted upon in any substantial manner by the major platform technologies that are transforming the world of today.”

“And maybe therein lies our problem and our salvation,” he said. “ICT usage in the region is far from stagnant but it is far from optimized.”

Mitchell, who has been holding the Science and Technology portfolio in CARICOM, has been one of the region’s most outspoken advocates for increased technology use and development in the Caribbean.

The Grenadian leader was speaking at the opening of a workshop on “technopreneurshiop” in Tobago.

“We must embrace frontier technologies if we are to put our fragile economies on a more solid footing,” he told attendees. “You, the techno-entrepreneurs of tomorrow, must not only become fully acquainted with these technologies but also with their potential in your business venture.”