Circling back to earlier conversations we had on innovation in 2019, we caught up with Professor Patrick Hosein of The University of the West Indies and of TTLAB, the research laboratory he created in Trinidad and Tobago. Accompanied by two members of the TTLAB research team, Inzamam Rahaman and Nicholas Chamansingh, we discussed, among other things: TTLAB and some of its current projects; what might be the Caribbean region’s value proposition when compared to Silicon Valley; ChatGPT; and why AI will not replace humans anytime soon.

 

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Every so often, we humans astound ourselves with how innovative we can be. We can create solutions to everyday problems, invent something that is seemingly so simple but becomes indispensable, and sometimes develop something that expands the possibilities and transforms the way we think.

To a considerable degree, human innovation still has an ephemeral quality. We have a sense of what the key ingredients are to foster innovation, but we cannot predict how or in what ways it could manifest – if at all. This context was the impetus for our yearlong examination of innovation on the Podcast during 2019. At that time, we explored to what degree innovation could be systematised, along with highlighting some innovative initiatives in the Caribbean region.

Our very first conversation on innovation in 2019 was with Professor Patrick Hosein, a highly decorated and well-regarded son of the region, who also heads TTLAB in Trinidad and Tobago. TTLAB is a research laboratory, comprising university students and graduates, that is geared towards finding practical solutions for local and regional industrial and societal problems. Its clients include Massy Technologies, Huawei, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Innovation, CIBC, Shell and the National Geographic Society, to name a few.

With the recent developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is expanding the possibilities of what we think is possible whilst also challenging some long-held preconceptions, we thought it opportune to revisit innovation in the Caribbean region, and hopefully get a sense of what changes, if any, have occurred since 2019.

 

Introducing our guests

Professor Patrick Hosein

Professor Patrick Hosein attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he obtained five degrees including a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He has worked at Bose Corporation, Bell Laboratories, AT&T Laboratories, Ericsson and Huawei. He has published extensively with over 150 refereed journal and conference publications.

Patrick holds 41 granted patents in the areas of telecommunications and wireless technologies. He was nominated for the Ericsson Inventor of the Year award in 2004, was the Huawei US Wireless Research Employee of the year for 2007 and is a 2015 Anthony Sabga Caribbean Laureate for Science and Technology. He is presently the administrative and technical contact for the TT top-level domain and the Chief Executive Officer of the TTNIC and a Professor of Computer Science at the University of the West Indies. His present areas of research include Applied Data Science, Operations Research and Performance and Pricing Optimisation for Cellular Networks.

Inzamam Rahaman

Inzamam Rahaman is a Senior Data Scientist at Guardian Group in Trinidad and Tobago, and a part-time Lecturer and PhD student at The University of the West Indies. Previously, he worked as an Instructor and Teaching Assistant at The UWI and was awarded a fellowship by National Institute of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (NIHERST) to intern at the NASA Ames Research Center under the auspices of the NASA I2 programme at the end of his undergraduate degree.

Inzamam has published 15 peer-reviewed papers across several Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) venues, and has peer-reviewed for the IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering and the IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems. His main areas of research include data science, graph mining, machine learning, optimisation, and computational social systems. Thematically, his research is concerned with developing algorithms and methods to assist in understanding and reducing polarisation in online social networks.

Nicholas Chamansingh

Nicholas Chamansingh is an operations and commercial strategist who has held a variety of leadership roles. He is a senior Commercial Leader who was responsible for Digicel’s FMCG commercial operations and FinTech roadmap while also being the commercial lead for the full Digital transformation and evangelisation. Earlier roles with the company included Director of Strategy and Insight, and Head of Data and Analytics.

As a commercial leader as well as a senior expert in transformation leveraging Big Data, machine learning/AI, Customer Value Management (CVM)/Customer relationship management (CRM), and digital transformation to offer top-class customer journey and experience.

 

Insight into our conversation

Innovation and innovative ventures are not concepts that are given considerable thought or visibility in the Caribbean. To some degree, this may be because we don’t give ourselves enough credit, and perhaps compare ourselves unfairly to organisations, countries or regions that are much better resourced than we are.  It was thus impressive to hear about the projects TTLAB has been working on and some of the organisations with which it has been collaborating.

One of the important takeaways from talking with Professor Hosein, Nicholas and Inzamam is the importance of the impact of the solutions they are creating, and the need to solve real problems. As a research laboratory, there are numerous projects TTLAB could focus on that are primarily theoretical or hypothetical. But in emphasising the need for implementable solutions it ensures that the work that is being done, and that TTLAB itself, is globally relevant.

Also, when the conversation shifted to chatbots and AI, it was interesting to have insight into the topic from data scientists, who were able to move beyond the hype and put these recent developments into perspective. So when the conversation should have been winding down, It felt like we were just getting started!

Below are a few of the questions posed.

  1. (Professor Hosein) Since our conversation was over four years ago, is your take on innovation in the Caribbean region and whether you have seen any changes since 2018?
  2. (Professor Hosein) At TTLAB, what are the areas that it is focusing on and some of the current work or projects that are being developed?
  3. (Inzamam and Nicholas) What is the value to you of being attached to TTLAB, and what projects you are working on?
  4. (Inzamam and Nicholas) You both have studied Computer Science and even have PhDs in that field. Talk to us about the dreams you might have had regarding your career, and what the reality has been. What were some of the things you did not know or realise when you started your journey, versus what you know now?
  5. (Inzamam and Nicholas): You are still currently based in Trinidad and Tobago, why have you stayed, when arguably, with your talents and skills, more developed countries would welcome you with open arms?
  6. Are you aware of any innovation labs, like TTLAB, in the region? To what degree is there collaboration and partnership in the region to foster (tech) innovation?
  7. When we speak about tech innovation in the Caribbean region, people, particularly in the Caribbean tech community, will often want to compare us with Silicon Valley, which although might be seen as the gold standard, seems a bit unfair as well. Do you agree? And does the Caribbean region have benefits that Silicon Valley does not?

 

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Select links

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

 

 

Images credit:  P Hosein;  I Rahaman;  N Chamansingh; jannoon028 (freepik)

Music credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Chérie), by Andy Narrell

Podcast editing support:  Mayra Bonilla Lopez