SUN, SEA + INNOVATION WEEKLY REPORT #7

Every Thursday, I curate the top Caribbean Tech News of the Week, give insight and opinion on some key developments about the people, businesses, trends and opportunities powering the rise of #DigitalCaribbean and making things happen at the intersection of technology and money, travel, health and wellness, creative industries, sports, climate change, media, food and cannabis.

In this week’s report.

[ SUN, SEA + CLIMATE CHANGE TECH ]

This week has been heavy with the news around technology, innovations and Climate Change in the Caribbean.

THE US$22BN/ YEAR PROBLEM THE CARIBBEAN CLIMATE SMART ACCELERATOR SEEKS TO ADDRESS

The deadly havoc that was caused by hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 posed huge challenges to many Caribbean countries. While the Caribbean has historically been vulnerable to natural disasters, climate change is exacerbating these risks and is threatening the region’s quest for sustainable development. Unless confronted with substantial resources, the economic impact for the region could exceed US$22 billion per year by 2050, or about ten percent of current GDP.

The IDB partners with #TheCaribbean #Climate-Smart Accelerator to program and implement $1bn of funding for #TheCaribbean. #JumpCaribbean

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) announced that it will partner with Governments and the private sector to program and implement the additional $1 billion in funds that it pledged for climate smart-investments across the Caribbean region at the Paris One Planet summit on December 12, 2017. This additional funding will build on an existing portfolio of over $200 million to support innovative solutions focusing on low carbon emissions, sustainable infrastructure, and energy efficiency projects in the wake of natural disasters, drawing from low-cost blended finance and contingent credit facilities. In addition, the IDB will provide $3 million as start-up funds to help get this important initiative successfully up and running, with the first $1.5 million available this year.

Read More Here

CGI ACTION NETWORK POST-DISASTER RECOVER EVENT

L-R: Ingrid Riley ( SiliconCaribe), Bob Lord ( IBM) Javier Saade ( Fenway Summer Ventures.

I was asked to moderate a motley panel of individuals who are part of the CGI ACTION NETWORK community at the event at the University of Miami on Tuesday.  The panelists on that Technology Challenge Panel were Javier Saade is Venture Partner at Fenway Summer, a venture capital firm backing companies at the intersection of tech and finance  and Bob Lord, Chief Digital Officer at IBM partners in the Call for Code Global Initiative.

The intention of the panel was to discuss  Technology as a Tool: Improving Disaster Response, Recovery and Long-Term Resiliency in the Caribbean and to challenge the 350 leaders from government, business, and civil society to leverage what they do to create more tech-driven solutions focused on this area.

Amazing insights were shared by Saade and Lord, and you can catch up to the online discussion via the hashtag #IdeasIntoAction

From that event too President Clinton announced a slew of projects to help the Caribbean nations still recovering from 2017 Hurricane Season.

SEVEN NEW PROJECTS HELPING CARIBBEAN NATIONS RECOVER FROM LAST YEAR’S HURRICANES AND PREPARE FOR THE 2018 STORM SEASON 

As the 2018 hurricane season approaches its peak months, President Bill Clinton convened the second formal meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Action Network on Post-Disaster Recovery at the University of Miami, bringing together more than 350 leaders from government, business, and civil society.

These leaders are working to develop new, specific commitments that are helping islands recover from last year’s devastating hurricane season, continue to prepare for this year’s storms, and address long-term recovery needs.

Learn how these organisations are working together to create measurable change for hurricane rebuilding and resilience.

Read More Here

SUN, SEA + CARIBBEAN TECH TALENT

Jerome Campbell, is a Jamaican Tech Entrepreneur. I know him personally, he’s part of our Kingston BETA Startup Community. He was always a regular in pitching various ideas. And he’s at it again with Code App.

Jamaica recently added a new area code +1658 and also made it 10 digit dialing mandatory so you when calling a local number you now have to add 876 or 658 to the 7 digit numbers. Now imagine like me you have literally  hundreds of contacts in your mobile phone, can you imagine the hell of having to spend hours to add 876 to all of those numbers. Well, Code App built by Jerome solves that.

You can download the app from the Google Play store fore Android Users, with iOs users coming up shortly.

THE TECH GIRL WHO BECAME FASCINATED WITH PEOPLE

Fore Denique Ferguson, it wasn’t coding that grabbed her interest; rather, it was the real people who are at the user end of the latest device or piece of software. Everything for her goes back to that moment when she discovered that good technology is technology that everyday people can use.

“I was completely surprised with how easy it was to use,” Ferguson recalls of the first time she used a Mac computer. “It looked better and worked better than the Windows computers I’d been used to, but what fascinated me even more was how much my classmates seemed to hate it, especially at first, when they had to learn a different way of working. What’s better for one person’s purposes isn’t necessarily better for another’s. I think that’s when I really started to pay attention to how software was designed, when it frustrated people, and when it made them happy.”

Read More Here

[ SUN, SEA + TOURISM TECH ]

BIG DATA BOOSTS CARIBBEAN TOURISM

Today’s travellers are creating more and more digital data, helping savvy tourism operators refine their product and grow their revenue

The era of the travel agent is all but over. Today’s tourist is more likely to select his destination based on something she read on Facebook or a photo he liked on Instagram. Travellers begin browsing the web months ahead of their trip — visiting travel websites, reading reviews, researching attractions. All of which generates a huge amount of digital data. This avalanche of travel information is a goldmine for tourism operators, providing insight into who their customers are, what they want and how they can be reached.

REad More Here

AIRBNB BOOKINGS IN THE BAHAMAS SOAR 37% IN JUNE

Airbnb bookings in the Bahamas soared by 37.3 percent for June 2018, with occupancy rates exceeding comparable hotel listings as the sector’s popularity continued to grow.

#The Central Bank of the Bahamas report on June’s economic developments disclosed that bookings through the vacation rental website grew by between 24 percent and 52 percent for this nation’s four most popular islands compared to the same period in 2017

Read More Here

[ SUN, SEA + CARIBBEAN BLOCKCHAIN ] 

CENTRAL BANK RELEASES EOI FOR DIGITAL CURRENCY 

The Central Bank of The Bahamas (CBOB) is searching for a qualified company to produce technology that would be able to house a Central Bank-issued digital currency system. The currency could be piloted in the Family Islands in less than three years, according to the bank.

CBOB released an expression of interest (EOI) on the digital currency on Wednesday. The bank said based on the responses to that EOI, companies will be chosen to design the platform for the digital version of the Bahamian dollar.

Read More Here

THE BAHAMAS RELEASES NATIONAL PLATFORM FOR DIGITAL CERTIFICATES USING BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

The Bahamas is the first country in the Caribbean and Latin America to implement a national credentialing system using blockchain technology. The Government successfully completed a pilot project, Bahamas Blockcerts, which will radically improve the national system of creating, issuing, viewing and verifying national certificates of varied types. Long-term, this could include training certificates, academic diplomas and degrees, business license and tax compliance certificates, and a host of other national credentials.

Read More Here

[ SUN, SEA + DIGITAL HEALTH]

TELEMEDICINE TO EASE HEALTHCASE STRAIN IN JAMAICA 

Describing as “ridiculous” the overcrowding in the accident and emergency (A&E) departments at local hospitals, chief medical officer of MDLink, Dr Che Bowen, is contending that the take-up of telemedicine services can greatly ease the current strain on the healthcare system.

MDLink is an online medical service that allows patients to connect with their doctors and receive treatment via video, audio or text messages.

Read More Here

[ SUN, SEA + CARIBBEAN PODCASTS ]

What’s happening on Caribbean Podcasts this week.

THE IMPORTANCE OF GRIT WHEN BUILDING A BUSINESS, WITH LARREN PEART, OF BLUEDOT DATA INTELLIGENCE

BlueDot Data Intelligence is a research and data intelligence company, based in Jamaica, that calls some of the largest businesses in Jamaica its clients. The firm offers a broad range of services, including data mining, predictive analytics, competitive intelligence, and strategic research, to name a few.

However, a young entrepreneur starting such a cutting edge business in the Caribbean, which essentially competes with the like of some of the major management consulting firms, such as McKinsey, Bain Capital, and Deloitte, is no easy feat.

Listen to  podcast here

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