by Tricia Simon
Innovation is coined as a new method, idea or product but it is important to note that innovation is cumulative in that it builds on prior technology centered around education – allu weh we dey and wey we goin!
Innovation is driven by culture and the ideas of human capital. Today, when we think of innovation we think of Europe, the United States, Japan and now China. There was a time when Arabs and Africans were far advanced civilisations, so societies do rise and fall. The World Bank in regards to China stated, “Since China began to open up and reform its economy in 1978, GDP growth has averaged almost 10% a year, and more than 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty. There has also been significant improvements in access to health, education, and other services over the same period.”
The United States of American that we know today is said to be created by pilgrims aka refugees fleeing religious persecution in England and started off with humble beginnings (but that is for another article). They brought with them their culture and technology and adopted some of the Native Indian culture and technology who were already present. Today, the United States of America is centred around innovation and the education of its human capital at its core, both in the foreign policy of the US Department of State and its other branches which focuses on internal aspects of innovation. Both China and the US are seen as behemoths in regards to strategic development and embody innovation and human capital as key tenets of their culture. So allu wey we dey an wey we goin?
Today, there are several areas for innovation which includes Personalised medicine, Distributed energy (DE), Pervasive computing, Nanomaterials, Biomarkers for health, Advanced manufacturing, Biofuels, Universal water, Carbon management, Engineered agriculture, Security and tracking and Advanced transportation. With this we turn to the UN Sustainable Development Goals which are related to the aforementioned; no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, life below water, life on land, peace, justice and strong institutions and partnerships for the goals. In Grenada, the areas of youth development can be looked at through the lens of remote working in technology jobs and agriculture.
Members of our diaspora are now in key positions to provide assistance in developing Grenada. Darren Blake who is a descendent of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique and an IT manager at the UK University of Northampton said what is required is “a process or system which allows you to open the doors to IT, understand IT and upskill the youth population, this makes the workforce agile and employable as we are now part of a global market. Our biggest commodity is our people and if we train them adequately the sky is the limit.” We need to be strategic and plan as the computer and internet are the drivers of our modern society. At present, we are net importers of technology – we import weed eaters (because ah see ah lot ah dem young fellas in de area wid one on dey shoulder) and they use it on a daily basis. Now, have we thought about taking it apart and improving on the technology as opposed to only basic repairs? I see the lawns littered with the plastic string – can our youths make a stronger string, recycle the string, make them less noisy, create a shield to prevent the material from flying in the air, can they be created to use kinetic energy as opposed to gasoline? Look at the “Cane Juice Man”, he made his own machine and now makes a very good living using his machine. Watch, allu use YouTube to gain knowledge, all dem people allu look at have dey money already, so time to make yours.
