On Tuesday, 10 June, the World Bank’s infoDev team launched the Caribbean Mobile Innovation Programme (CMIP) in Kingston, Jamaica. The programme, which is part of the Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in the Caribbean (EPIC), seeks to recruit and nurture the next generation of talented mobile/cellular entrepreneurs in the Caribbean by providing startup and incubation support.

The main focus of the CMIP launch event was to showcase eight new and emerging apps developed created by Caribbean teams, and are presented below. Some of the apps are available for public download, while others are still in beta testing.

AgroCentral

AgroCentral is Jamaica’s first digital agricultural clearinghouse using Web to SMS/SMS to Web technology to connect small farmers and businesses. Businesses will have the ability to source large amounts of crops directly from farmers, who will be able to sell their available produce directly to businesses. The solution aids small farmers who have trouble locating markets by connecting them to larger businesses. Unlike services that help them to find markets for their products, AgroCentral removes the middleman who drives up prices and cuts farmers out of their share of the profits.

Country of development: Jamaica

Status: Launched 2013

Availability: SMS; Website

Best Daily fx Rates

Most days, it’s difficult to determine which bank will offer the best value in exchange rates. This leaves individuals with the frustration of searching for local banks by scanning websites or running around to find the best fx rates.

Best Daily fx Rates will give these users an innovative mobile/web-based app and a convenient way to find local banks and browse their rates. Today, most foreign exchange apps provide users with the ability to browse foreign exchange rates for every world currency vs. the US dollar.

With Best Daily fx Rates, users can browse foreign exchange rates for world currencies, and conveniently access the best rates from local banks on one screen:

• access and compare the local rates of banks near their location
• real time (24-hour) trading rates will be provided for the top traded currencies (USD, CAN, GBP and EURO)
• daily rates updates will occur via Wi-Fi once potential partners update their trading rates.

Country of development: Jamaica

Start date: Launched December 2013

Availability: to come…

CariOla

The CariOla Digital Mobile Player is the only one of its kind offering exclusive Caribbean music and video content. The platform is designed and developed to take full advantage of current digital and technological opportunities available worldwide and to present Caribbean creativity and entertainment to an international market.

Country of development: Saint Kitts and Nevis

Status: Launched July 2012

Availability: Website

CrimeBot

This award winning crime-fighting app was developed to involve the public in alerting incidences of crime and identifying crime hotspot areas. CrimeBot focuses on anonymous reporting along with user confirmation feedback to verify incoming reports. In so doing, it maps crime hotspots around any specific community or country. With this information, users can view crime directly around them as well as report crimes and search other locations for crimes.

Country of development: Jamaica

Status: Launched 2013

Availability: Android only; other platforms to come

ezLearner

EZLearner Inc. is a provider of educational technology solutions for students in the English-speaking Caribbean. In 2011, the corporation commercialized the design, development and online distribution of educational web apps and premium content for children between 8 to 12 years old.

EZLearner has created an award-winning learning platform comprising four integrated learning apps, Composer, Comprehend, Compute and StoryVille. The apps feature gamified activities that are compliant with national curriculum standards.

The learning content showcases relevant Caribbean culture and values. The mobile app, StoryVille, is a digital storytelling social feed that motivates students through peer recognition and acquires customers for the other apps on the platform.

Other apps for entrepreneurship, science and social studies are planned for 2015 and 2016.

Country of development: Barbados

Status: Launched 2011

Availability: BlackBerry; Website

M.A.D.E.

M.A.D.E (My App for Disasters and Emergencies) gives users actionable and location-specific information on what to do before, during and after hurricanes earthquakes, flooding, wildfires and other disasters in the Caribbean. M.A.D.E keeps loved ones connected and helps reduce the overall cost of recovery after a disaster or emergency.

The app has 3 components:

• M.A.D.E – Early Warning System; Disaster Response Plans and Interactive Checklists; Family Circle; Offline Access

• M.A.D.E Biz-Integrated Insurance – Identical to M.A.D.E but with a secure link dedicated to insurance services
• M.A.D.E DRM – Online Disaster Risk Management training

Country of development: Trinidad and Tobago

Status: Launched May 2014

Availability: to come…

meAgo

In Jamaica alone, there are approximately one hundred events attracting over 50,000 attendees each month. This number is significantly greater when extended to the Caribbean. Unfortunately, for anyone to get tickets for these events, they must first, identify places where they can buy tickets, then get there within business hours. However, when they get there, there is no absolute guarantee that they will get the tickets they want.

meAgo is a one-stop shop for getting tickets for the events you want to attend, and is open 24/7, every day of the year, right at your fingertips. With meAgo, you can always get information on events tickets and availability.

Country of development: Jamaica

Start date: Soft launch in the works for Summer 2014

Availability: to come…

MediRevu

MediRevu is a mobile health app that empowers physicians and caretakers to easily manage patients by tracking compliance with doctor instructions regarding diet, exercise and medication. Patients download the free mobile app to access diagnosis, treatment instructions and automatic reminders for helping them stay on track. Subscribers pay a monthly fee to access the MediRevu online dashboard to track and monitor the patients’ compliance as well as an analysis of their response to prescribed medications. This allows doctors to adjust patients’ medication, plan, and/or re-diagnose the patient as needed.

Country of development: Barbados

Status: Trial launch, June 2014

Availability: iPhone; Android

Image credits:  Cristiano Betta (flickr);  Facebook,  infoDev

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Dr. Kim Mallalieu

In the first half of our interview with educator and game-changer, Dr. Kim Mallalieu, we learnt about the Master in Regulations and Policy in Telecommunications degree programme she developed, along with her thoughts on the changes that have occurred in STEM education over the last 20 years. In this the second and final part, we discuss her involvement in mobile application development and Open Data; her views on how telecoms/ICT are evolving in the Caribbean, along with her thoughts on opportunities in the tech/ICT space in the region.

ICT Pulse:  Many persons might not be aware, but you are one of the “movers and shakers” behind the mFisheries project, which has won a number of regional and international awards. In a nutshell, what is the mFisheries project?

Kim Mallalieu:  mFisheries (“mobile fisheries”) is a project that was conceived within the Caribbean ICT Research Programme (CIRP), launched towards the end of 2009. The general objective of CIRP is to promote multi-stakeholder knowledge exchange and dialogue about the potential contribution of ICTs for economic development and poverty alleviation in the Caribbean.

The Trinidad and Tobago arm of the programme, CIRPTT, sought to explore the opportunities for mobile innovations among the region’s poor and to develop capacity to pursue these opportunities. It also sought to provide related advice to policy makers, regulators and other relevant stakeholders; and to recruit, cultivate and encourage young Caribbean ICT researchers and entrepreneurs to adopt pro-poor research and development agendas as well as   pro-poor business strategies.

On an approach for mobile training support for fishers by the Director of the Distance Learning Secretariat in the then Ministry of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education, I decided to make small scale fisheries the focal point for the CIRPTTmobile research. The mFisheries project itself comprises several components including:

mFisheries mobile app user interface

1. Development of a map of mobile application and service use among fisher folk, with particular emphasis on the Caribbean, based on desk research and stakeholder consultation
2. Analysis of mobile opportunities among Caribbean fisher folk, based on extensive empirical data and stakeholder consultation
3. Collaboration with MIT’s NextLab Team on mobile application development
4. Development of a suite of mobile applications, “mFisheries”, designed to address key livelihood challenges of Trinidad and Tobago small scale fishers
5. Development of a mobile service cost model for mFisheries
6. Implementation of a resource pack for development-focussed mobile innovation
7. Facilitation of a number of training programmes and competitions aimed at encouraging pro-poor research agendas and business strategies amongst existing and potential mobile application developers.

The mFisheries project is most known as the mobile application suite that was designed and implemented for, and deployed amongst, local small scale fishers. The mobile suite, with its Web companions, revolves around five application components, variously implemented for Android smart phones with data service; regular phones with SMS service; and the mobile and fixed Internet, as follows:

1. A Virtual Market Place comprising Got Fish Need Fish and Prices applications
2. At-sea Navigational and Safety facilities comprising a Compass as well as S.O.S and GPS applications; and a Location Tracker with a companion Web application for monitoring by the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard
3. Training Applications comprising multimedia First Aid Training Companions and audio podcast Tips covering several themes related to operations, safety and regulations
4. A Citizen’s reporting Camera Tool with logging, annotation and transmission facilities
5. Info Zone comprising an online survey tool (mTellUs), an open-ended mFisheries Feedback facility and several Web Links to fisheries and related online content and information services.

The suite was bundled with a number of open source applications that provided real time weather and tidal information as well as multimedia training in Spanish.

mFisheries is an action research project which, by design, was able to build new knowledge while at the same time facilitating a community intervention.

ICTP:  In what ways are you involved in the project?

KM:  I am the principal investigator of the umbrella Caribbean ICT Research Programme (Trinidad and Tobago), CIRPTT, within which the mFisheries project was conceived and conducted. As principal investigator, I formulated the concept and sought resource support for it. I have directed all research aspects and led the multi-disciplinary Team of Kevon Andrews, Candice Simonta-Dyer, Candice Sankarsingh, Mark Lessey, Tremayne Flanders, Jevon Beckles, Yudhistre Jonas, Amanda Suraj and others who pitched in at various times along the journey.

Dr. Mallalieu at an mFisheries pre-trial event

ICTP:  At what stage is the project? Has it been fully implemented as yet?

KM:  The first cycle of the mFisheries project is now complete, with all relevant CIRPTT objectives met. At present three lines of analytical investigations, informed by mFisheries’ empirical studies, are underway. These include strategies to strengthen information security amongst low digital literacy mobile users; strategic frameworks for building digital literacy amongst traditionally marginalized users; and techniques to extend mobile coverage at sea. Following the current phase of analytical work, further empirical studies are expected to be articulated and pursued.

ICTP:  What successes have been realized to date?

KM:  To date, the project has led to a number of meaningful outcomes amidst the rich portfolio of outputs and findings. Even among the varied profiles of field trial participants (vendors, processors and fishermen) changes in livelihood-related behavior, capacity and attitude have been observed. For example:

• 

  Rasta fisherman with cell phone

  Over 70% of mFisheries sea farers use tide and weather applications on the mobile phone for planning trips to sea

• Half use GPS for marking and recovering the locations of fishing gear and catch sites
• 78% rely more on market prices than before mFisheries when they buy or sell fish, with almost all using “Prices” to get an idea of fish market pricing before buying or selling fish (90.6%), and for setting their own wholesale and retail prices (96.9%).
• 84% indicate that mFisheries tools responding to operational matters can save them a minimum of a quarter of the time it takes to conduct fishing activities
• 78% did not know prior to mFisheries that smart phones could be used for navigation and their work-related information management needs. 9 out of 10 are now confident that smart phones with the right mix of apps could be used to improve their fisheries-related work.

Another remarkable outcome of the intervention is that fishers from the northern village of Blanchisseuse used their mFisheries phones to capture video of interviews which they edited and compiled [video clip is shared below], during a participatory exercise, to advocate for a gas pump in the area. Their approach to private and public sector agencies yielded prompt and satisfactory resolution of their cited problems in the form of a gas pump for sole use by the fishers, storage bins for ice, and coverage of utility bills.

Other outcomes of the first cycle of mFisheries research include: customization of mFisheries training and at-sea applications for the Cook Islands in the Pacific, with translation of content to Cook Islands Maori; the local incorporation of mFisheries SOS facilities into the regular Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard operations; concessionary rates for mobile data service for fisher folk; penetration of research outputs into Government-led social programmes and planning instruments; direct advice to Government Councils; and new knowledge and awareness amongst policy makers and other stakeholders in response to direct dissemination of research findings. ; ; . The project has also facilitated rich institutional collaboration between UWI’s mFisheries team and several teams at MIT; as well as with teams at other universities abroad, such as ITESM in Mexico. Outside of the research and academic sectors, the project has facilitated the establishment of important new relationships linking research to policy and community intervention.

In the innovation and entrepreneurial space, our team has facilitated a number of national and regional software development competitions that have spawned a great deal of enthusiasm about development-focussed innovations. We are taking it one step further in the upcoming, first ever, Startup Weekend in Trinidad and Tobago, 22 – 24 May. The event, whose tagline is No Talk, All Action. Launch a Startup in 54 hours, is a high-powered competition that has been replicated across 300 cities in more than 100 countries. Over 54 hours, startup ideas are pitched, multidisciplinary teams are organically configured and ideas developed with the support of high profile industry coaches. Software developers, engineers, designers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiasts who team up at the event generally proceed to formalize their startups. You can read more: www.trinidad.startupweekend.org or join the buzz at  twitter.com/swtrinidad and www.facebook.com/StartupWeekendTrinidadTobago.

ICTP: Having been a Regulator, as a former Board Member of the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad & Tobago, how do you see telecoms and ICT evolving in Trinidad and Tobago, and in the wider Caribbean?

KM:  Regulatory trends are tightly linked to the changing nature of policy, technology and the market. Chained regulatory reaction will flow, for example, from increasing policy emphases on universal broadband access, digital literacy, inclusivity and open access; the increasing reach, versatility and computational power of broadband mobile; and the increasing shift in competitive advantage from voice quality to agility and flexibility in service choice, as business models gain deeper reach into the digital value chain.

Regulatory interventions will be associated with different zones in the digital value chain and with various aspects of environmental impact. Without regard for where the sectoral regulatory powers lie, the regulation of telecommunications and ICT will increasingly have to treat with matters of intellectual property, electronic / mobile payments and related transactions, and a range of environmental concerns. Management frameworks for shared resources such as spectrum will have to be reviewed and I suspect that dynamic spectrum management schema may follow on developments in cognitive radio.

ICTP:  In what ways can the Caribbean play a greater role in the area of computing and communication technology to perhaps be seen more as a leader, rather than just purely a consumer of technology?

KM:  Of course the keys to the Caribbean leading in technology are niche and agility. Niche planning should be built out across the immediate, short, medium and long term: what we are best known for (immediate), what we can do best (short/ medium) and what we ultimately set as our defining leadership niche (long). Various focal points in the immediate, short and medium terms include leveraging ICT to redefine access to; engagement with; and analysis, visualization, distribution and promotion of Caribbean business, ecology, sport, music, cuisine, raw and processed produce, language, literature, intellectual thought, art, dance, theatre, cinema. Important focal points also include the leveraging of ICT to redefine surveillance and mitigation of, as well as engagement with, vexing matters relating to crime and various forms of abuse and exclusion.

Developers participating in Code Sprint at the Developing Caribbean Conference (January 2012)

The art is in the redefinition of new, compelling ways of engagement using ICTs. The engineering is bringing products swiftly to market using ready skills and existing technologies, devices and services (smartphones, tablets, the cloud, NGNs, digital content forms and functions, social media, applications, e/m-commerce, etc. etc.) in lean, agile, dynamic and reusable ways. The deal maker and breaker is placing the product within reach, with a compelling value proposition, at the instant it hits the market. Dynamic inter- and multi-disciplinary teaming is a necessity. Other imperatives are the entrepreneurial senses (sight, hearing, touch and intuition); thinking and acting lean, pivoting when necessary; building quality and security into every aspect of design, development and deployment; and prompt, competent and courteous responsiveness. Timescales are real time and there is no magic bullet. Differentiate, deliver, support, in real time, with agility, quality and sensitivity. Take the lead.

ICTP:  Are there any areas or opportunities in the tech/ICT industry in the Caribbean that you wish people would be more prepared to focus their attention and efforts?

KM:  Opportunities change over time and derive their meaning from one’s value system. The applicable motives which I most highly value are Caribbean entrepreneurial differentiation along quality lines (without regard for scale, scope, target consumer demographics, industry, sector, thematic focus, etc. etc.); enduring and wholesome global Caribbean branding; and social and economic impact, particularly amongst traditionally marginalized Caribbean peoples. I would like to see a critical mass of developers and designers who are willing and able to focus their attention and efforts in these areas as technology in general, and ICTs in particular, offer rich and ready opportunities. I would like to see in this critical mass of developers and designers a strong and enduring spirit of commitment, integrity and selflessness: tangible evidence of a driving source that is bigger than the individual.

ICTP:  Finally, how do you balance your personal/family life with what we are sure is a very busy schedule, based on your long list of achievements?

KM:  You know this is a tough one. There are several days when I tell my husband that I should have stopped working when our boys were born. Other days I am happy that I continued working and proud to be able to give them insights from the lessons I have learnt, as a mother, as a professional and as a fighter. I cannot tell you whether I made the very best decision but I am suspecting that for many the full time vocation of parenting is balanced with full commitments of one sort or other. In my case, every day I stress test information and communications technology to enable the balance. I rely heavily on my husband as an equal partner in parenting and I count on the support and friendship of my helper in the home. I have generally been blessed with good health and a high metabolic rate :-).

Image credits:  K. Mallalieu

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Dr. Kim Mallalieu

Beyond the personal and professional gains that we as Caribbean citizens might hope to realise in the ICT/tech space, there is a growing expectation that the Caribbean will become tech leaders, and not just remain mindless users and consumers of technology. Through this new series on Caribbean Tech Movers and Shakers, we will be highlighting some of the top tech innovators and game-changers in the region.

We kick off this series with Dr. Kim Mallalieu of Trinidad and Tobago. An internationally recognised educator – who has not only shaped almost a generation’s worth of Electrical and Computer Engineering graduates from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago – Dr. Mallalieu’s work and influence have transcended the lecture room, to telecoms regulation, mobile applications development and Open Data initiatives.

ICT Pulse: Dr. Mallalieu, you are a University Lecturer and a Scientist. What has motivated you to go beyond what many would consider a very safe and conservative construct to now be recognized regionally and internationally not just in engineering education, but also in ICT policy and regulation, and in mobile apps development?

Kim Mallalieu: I received my tertiary education in the US and the UK, with no prior plans to return to the Caribbean. The focus of my studies, from undergraduate through to graduate school, was the exploration of optical phenomena as the foundations for optical computing, holography, sensing and spatial light modulation. After receiving my doctorate, I deferred an R&D position at an optics company in Cambridge Massachusetts for one year to take up a lecturing position at The University of the West Indies (UWI) in St. Augustine. As they say “the rest is history”.

Having made the decision to settle in the Caribbean and work at the University, I was forced to plot a different disciplinary path for myself. Contemplating the context, constraints and considerable potential in the Caribbean, I set out to work in areas that are directly relevant to the needs of the region and to do so most particularly by focusing on the significance of science and engineering in Caribbean society.

Instrumentation and telecommunications were the most natural sub-disciplines based on my academic background so I began by focusing on developing and delivering high quality engineering programmes in these areas, tightly linking teaching to the needs and practices of relevant sectors. I also emphasized the role and responsibility of the engineer in Caribbean society and developed a world-view ethos of leadership amongst my students. These orientations, together with regular stakeholder consultations and monitoring of the regional pulse vis-à-vis world developments, led me, in their time, to ICT policy, regulation and mobile application development.

ICTP:  Based on your observations and experience as an Educator, how has the teaching and learning, especially with respect to STEM subjects, changed over the last 20 years?

KM:  Over the last 20 years, the most significant change in the teaching of STEM has clearly been the incorporation of electronic technologies. These technologies have facilitated enriched presentation, visualization, computation, simulation, virtualization, laboratory and field automation, formative and summative assessment, user generated content, engagement, document and graphics preparation, and plagiarism checking. Many profits have accrued to STEM learners from these applications of technology, generally enabling them to visualize concepts and synthesize understanding more efficiently and, in some cases, more effectively.

Yet, outside of the class room, learners have come to rely on the push feature of electronic technologies to such an extent that the tradition of working through concepts in order to mentally formulate visualizations, synthesize information and build narrative content is under threat of extinction. There is a strong and increasing trend towards satisfaction with shallow grasp and impatience, in place of dogged curiosity and insistence on depth of understanding. Technology of itself does not monopolize the blame for students’ emerging relationship with STEM and learning. It compounds the problems created by the loopholes in Caribbean academic systems which inadvertently reward regurgitation and short-term learning.

ICTP: When you developed the Master in Regulation and Policy (MRP) in Telecommunications degree programme, there were few, if any, such programmes globally that provided formal tuition on telecoms regulation in particular. Currently, the MRP programme is highly regarded, and (to varying degrees) has been replicated in other countries. However, what drove you to develop the programme in the first place?

KM:  Once the communications teaching programme at The UWI was robust, I approached the regional telecommunications sector at various fora facilitated by CANTO, the CTU and the ITU to seek their perspectives on how our programme could best meet their needs. The resounding response was in the area of telecommunications policy and regulation as, at that time, the Caribbean was faced with the transition from monopolistic to liberalized markets. At that time also, there were no tertiary level academic programmes in telecommunications regulation and policy, though the University of Strathclyde offered a Master’s degree in Telecommunications Law; and the LINK Centre at the University of Witwatersrand and the International Telecommunications Union offered training programmes. There was the need for a programme which would treat, not only with relevant thematic content as covered by the specialist training programmes, but which would additionally provide the opportunity for analytical discourse and writing. Particular differentiating features of the MRP programme design was its emphasis on the discernment of authoritative sources, the development of robust arguments and the articulation of rigorous logic.

Countries that have been represented in the Master in Regulation and Policy in Telecommunications programme at the UWI, St. Augustine

ICTP:  What were some of the challenges encountered in running the programme, and are there plans to take it further?

KM:  The major challenge in running the MRP was that our disciplinary expertise did not lie in the area of policy or regulation. However, our team at The UWI had the wherewithal to respond nimbly to the pressing logistical criteria for human capacity development. In particular, we were able to produce in-house facilities for online application, registration and course delivery and to gain the endorsement of the ITU. We were also able to secure the commitment of some of the industry’s finest academics and practitioners from around the world, to join us as course directors.

Within three months we secured the commitment for funding and hosted a regional stakeholders’ meeting; in less than a year, we had produced course materials; developed all human resource, administrative and technical procedures; and started delivery to our first cohort of students. Participants of the MRP(Telecommunications) programme, executives and senior personnel from the public and private telecommunications sector, hailed from thirty developing countries around the world.

The MRP(Telecommunications) programme ran for a few cohorts until such time as other academic centres whose expertise lay squarely within the thematic coverage of regulation and policy, were able to get off the ground. It was established as a special programme of The UWI to run for a limited number of cohorts to address a particularly pressing need. It was envisioned as a transition programme to hand over to more natural thematic homes. The Master’s in Telecommunications Policy and Management out of the Mona Campus of The UWI; and the Makerere University’s Postgraduate Diploma in ICT Policy and Regulation were spawned directly from the MRP (Telecommunications) programme, and drew heavily from it. Several other similar programmes around the world have also drawn on the MRP resources and experience.

Look out next week for the second part of our interview with Dr. Mallalieu …

Image credits: K. Mallalieu

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