“We provide master facilitation to support strategic planning and change initiatives in organisations across a wide variety of public and private sectors. Our clients include CEO's, Board Chairmen, and senior executives who are responsible for strategic thinking and 'making the boat go faster'.”
—Next Corporation
Trinidad and Tobago Growth and Innovation Network
by Dr. Nick Marsh and Ian Ivey
The Caribbean countries are a group of island citi-states, being brought together economically via the CARAICOM free trade agreement. Their economies have traditionally been based on commodities – such as sugar , bananas, rum. Long standing tariff barriers have protected those exports from competition from larger markets such as in Latin America. But those barriers have now disappeared leaving the Caribbean countries which depend on them with a big challenge.
Trinidad and Tobago also has copious quantities of oil and gas which are part of the Venezuela fields (Trindidad is 4 miles off the Venezuela coast). Trinidad is a nation of 1.2 million people – the capital city is Port of Spain. The challenge for the country is how to best use the revenues from oil and gas to fund a step change in growth and innovation, and avoid the ‘Dutch Disease’ where by when the oil runs out, the economy collapses.
There are many ‘champions of innovation’ in the country but until recently they had no way of connecting up their thinking , and their projects. Getting the economy moving into knowledge based growth depends on connecting the right people up- to get the new ventures to happen faster and with rtaer shared resources. But people who can make things happen tend to work in silos- entrepreneurs in their own small companies, business associations, business development agencies, government ministries, bankers, universities and so on.
So NEXT was funded to set up an experimental solution – an online innovation network to bring people together to ‘make the boat go faster’. The network reports on the latest stories of innovation champions, key trends, and entrepreneurial ventures
See www.ttfi.net