The United States Virgin Islands is making a big push to court investment in the territory’s technology sector.
The core of the push is the territory’s RT Park program, established at the University of the Virgin Islands in 2002, a specialist economic development agency that aims to establish the U.S. Virgin Islands as a premier business destination of choice for firms in knowledge and technology intensive sectors.
It gives many qualified entrepreneurs and business owners an opportunity to work from the beach by benefiting from generous tax incentives while they enjoy the lifestyle of an island paradise.
Investment projects that are focused on quality are screened for their likelihood of fit in the RTPark program.
The priority sectors include bio-medical devices, personalized medicine applications, wellness and healthcare management, energy research and systems, including renewable and clean technology, energy efficiency, energy management and sustainability solutions, as well as firms that will draw on advances in marine science.
The RTPark has also found success in attracting Internet advertising firms, technology-mediated entertainment companies and advanced logistics and supply-chain management firms and recently welcomed Intellectual Global Concepts LLC and Anvil 1 LLC as clients.
The University of the Virgin Islands Research & Technology Park will celebrate Caribbean Week in New York with a Big Apple VIP Investment Showcase Reception this June.
The event is set to introduce the opportunities of the RTPark program to business leaders and key members of the Caribbean Diaspora in New York and highlight the many advantages to doing business with the RTPark program and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“The RT Park program is at a very exciting stage. Ten years after our first client, we have fine-tuned the application process and now offer impact investors a unique opportunity and have drawn twenty new companies to the Virgin Islands since 2015,” said RTPark executive director Dr. Gillian Marcelle. “Our recent clients are involved in projects that build the pipeline of skills in the US Virgin Islands and bring new ways of doing business to the Territory while the owners of these businesses enjoy living in an island Paradise.”
The RTPark program is headquartered in a US $13 million, LEED certified green two-story, 18,000-square-foot building near the main entrance of the University of the Virgin Islands, Albert A. Sheen campus just off of the Queen Mary highway, in St. Croix.
— Dana Niland, CJ Contributor