Into the foreseeable future, innovation and entrepreneurship will be two essential contributors to wealth creation. In this our July 2020 Community Chat, and with two members of the Caribbean tech community, IT professional and CEO, Chad Fraser, and soon-to-be university graduate, Juleen Gentles, we discuss: co-innovation as a model for innovation and competitiveness; and youth empowerment to realise market-ready solutions.

 

This episode is also available in Apple iTunes, Google Play Music and on Stitcher!

In this changing digital age, one of the things we perhaps know for sure is that innovation and entrepreneurship will continue to be key drivers of growth and transformation in our societies. According to a 2018 Strategy& study, research and development (R&D) spending among the world’s 1,000 largest corporate R&D spenders increased 11.4 percent to USD 782 billion in 2018.

In the Caribbean region, many of us in the tech space might have wanted to model our businesses and the supporting ecosystem based on Silicon Valley, in the United States. However, in recent years, there appears to have been a growing acceptance that the ‘Silicon Valley Model’ might not be possible, and also might not be viable, in our neck of the wood, and that we just need to put our heads down and work within the current construct.

Hence in our July 2020 Community Chat podcast episode, we focus on two, out of the many factors and considerations that can strengthens entrepreneurship and innovation in the region.

 

Co-innovation as a model for innovation and competitiveness

For those not familiar with the term, ‘co-innovation’, which is also known as ‘open innovation’,  speaks to two or more entities engaging in joint invention and commercialisation activities. Ideally, the arrangement should be an equal partnership that is beneficial to all of the parties.

Chad Fraser

In the Caribbean region, we have tech start-ups and software development teams that have the skills and expertise to develop innovative products, but frequently they may not have access to the resources to either bring a finished product to market, or to scale the business. On the other hand, government and enterprise may have need applications and tools, which cannot be developed in-house. However, and according to our guest panellist, Chad Fraser, these products – if successfully developed and deployed – could not only allow governments and enterprise to be innovative and remain competitive, but also give tech start-ups a much-needed boost towards their longer term viability and success.

Chad Fraser is based in Grenada and is the Founder and CEO of Sonover, a software development company that partners with organisations regionally and Internationally to facilitate their planning, design, development and implementation of digital transformation initiatives. He is also the Co-Founder and Business Development Manager of Qualishore a business process outsourcing operation in Grenada that offer a broad range of services, including contact centre, survey administration, and customer care.

Chad has over 15 years of experience in the IT industry. His experience spans ICT solutions development, e-government consulting, research and advisory, business process reengineering, change management, IT strategy, governance and quality assurance.

 

Youth empowerment to realise market-ready solutions

In recent years, so much has been said about Generation Z (Gen Z), the demographic cohort born between the mid-to-late 1990s and the early 2010s. They are an age group that are considered true digital natives, independent-minded, and eager to establish a work-life balance in the lives, to name just a few of their common characteristics.

Juleen Gentles

Gen Zers are considered vastly different from Generation Xers (people born between 1960 and 1979) and Generation Yers (also termed Millennials, and born between 1980 and 1994), who tend to be more competitive, materialistic and career-focussed. As a result, Gen Zers appear not be cut out for the hustle and cut and thrust of business, but are eager to realise achievement. Hence although they might be innovative, our second guest panellist, Juleen Gentles – who is a Gen Zer herself – is asking how can students and young people feel empowered and equipped to transform their big ideas into market ready solutions?

Juleen Gentles is a final year student at the University of Technology, in Jamaica, who has been studying Computing and Information Systems. You may recall Juleen on the Podcast as one of the panellists for the group conversation on Preparing to thrive in the future gig economy, which had been organised by Caribbean Girls Hack to commemorate International Girls in ICT Day.

Juleen is an advocate for both women and the black community in technology to empower and enable others to be not only consumers of digital content, but also creators. She has also worked with regional social enterprises such as Youth Can Do I.T. and is currently an Ambassador of Caribbean Girls Hack. Her work and mission have been acknowledged by entities such as Microsoft Windows Insider, the International Telecommunications Union, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, Huawei Technologies Limited, and the National Commercial Bank (Jamaica), to name a few. She is also a is a public speaker and storyteller, who is deeply inspired by her heritage.

 

We would love to hear from you!

Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or via Twitter, @ICTPulse.

 

Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Image credits:  Gerd Altmann (Pixabay);  C Fraser;  J Gentles

Music credit:  Ray Holman

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