Over 60 policymakers, private sector representatives, donors and regional organizations attend infoDev's two-day regional workshop on Improving Competitiveness and Increasing Economic Diversification in the Caribbean: The Role of ICT.
Background
In cooperation with the European Commission and the World Bank, infoDev has developed and implemented a study on the role of ICT in improving competitiveness and increasing economic diversification in the Caribbean. The objective of the study is to provide concrete recommendations on how the European Commission, the World Bank and other donors along with their interlocutors in the region could harness ICT to address the economic challenges facing the region. These recommendations are being integrated into the World Bank's Growth and Competitiveness Report for the Caribbean and for the OECS, as well as inform the European Commission in designing programs to support economic diversification and sustainable growth in the OECS countries.
The Study
The study prepared by On The Frontier Group provides an in-depth review of the potential for, and constraints to, the further development of competitive ICT-enabled service sectors, and the broader prospects for ICT-enabled growth, competitiveness and new business development in the Caribbean. The study includes four main components:
- A review of the position of the Caribbean economies within the international business environment and the opportunities and challenges for ICT-enabled service exports, and impediments to foreign investment.
- A review of international best practice and Caribbean experiences to date with harnessing ICT for building competitiveness and increasing growth, including detailed case studies on past and current ICT initiatives assessing what worked, what did not, why and what should have been done differently.
- An assessment of the needs with respect to regulatory and institutional environment, ICT infrastructure, and other constraints facing entrepreneurs and firms in the Caribbean.
- Actionable recommendations for appropriate regional and government actions, as well as possible support from infoDev such as business incubation. infoDev is currently supporting a network of 43 business incubators in developing countries worldwide.
- A key focus of this study is on potential regional solutions (e.g. joint regulatory frameworks and other public policy initiatives) that would help to conserve on the limited public sector capacity across the region, but also overcome certain scale limitations.
Regional Workshop - Barbados - February 24-25, 2005
This workshop brought together over 60 policymakers, key stakeholders and donors from the region to discuss the findings and recommendations produced by the infoDev study on the role of ICT in improving competitiveness and increasing economic diversification within Caribbean. Over the two days, participants fine tuned the recommendations, and determined how to transform them into actions. See below for downloads for the workshop, a press advisory announcing the event, and the draft executive summary of the report.