OVER THE decades, planners, engineers and entrepreneurs have sought to transfer new technologies and inventions to Jamaica's shores long before they even took root in many of the affluent and developed countries.As a result, the penchant to embrace new ideas, technologies and innovations now seems deeply rooted in the national psyche.
Consider the fact that Fal-mouth, a town 35 kilometres east of Montego Bay, had piped water in homes before that was the case in urban New York City.
Alexander Graham Bell inven-ted the telephone in 1876, and telephones were in the offices and residences of some Jamaican government officials by 1878. Commercial telephone service became available in 1883 within seven years of the telephone being invented.
In 1991 Jamaica was counted among a small number of countries having a 100 per cent digital telephone network. In 2002, Jamaica has one of the most sophisticated telecommunication infrastructure in the world.
The first iron bridge constructed in the western hemisphere was Judge Finley's famous wrought iron chain bridge over Jacob's Creek in Pennsylvania, which was built in 1801. Jamaica not to be outdone also constructed in 1801 that magnificent iron bridge (now disused) across the Rio Cobre in Spanish Town, adjacent to the public hospital.
Jamaica has the distinction of being the first British colony to have had commercial railway service when it was commissioned on November 21, 1845. This occurred soon after commercial service started in the United Kingdom. During that time the area of the North American continent which later became the United States of America, were still colonies of Britain.
It is also interesting to note that this development took place in Jamaica less than 10 years after locomotives had completely replaced horses as a source of power in the UK.
It is against this background that the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-Jamaica Section will stage the IEEE Southeast Conference 2003 in Ocho Rios in April, with the support of the University of Technology, University of the West Indies, Air Jamaica, Microsoft and other sponsors.
This will be the first time that this conference will be staged outside of the South Eastern United States in its 30-year history.
The conference will bring together an expected 400 electronics, electrical, computer and telecommunications engineers plus their spouses and students from many universities in the US to meet with their Jamaican colleagues from both industry and academia, including students from UTEch and UWI.
The three days will feature discourse, tutorials and technical papers to facilitate the transfer of leading edge technologies and the sharing of work experiences.
The professional networks that often develop at these meetings normally benefit the participants as well as the organisation from which they come.
Jamaican engineers will be exposed to new technologies, methods and techniques which could equip them to improve the business processes of their various organisations, thereby making them more efficient and ultimately more competitive in the global market place.
Contributed by Winston G. Smith, a member of the 2003 Southeast Conference planning committee.
