By Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer
Michael T. Gardner (right), lecturer in anatomy in the Department of Basic Medical Science at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, St. Andrew, shows Dr. Keith Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada, and other visitors, preserved conjoined twins following yesterday's opening of UWI's 'Research Day 2004' on the university campus.
- Rudolph Brown/Staff Photographer
PRIME MINISTER Keith Mitchell of Grenada yesterday signalled concern about the responsiveness of the scientific community in devising solutions to economic and social challenges facing the region, and has put new policy proposals on the table aimed at energising researchers.
Speaking to academics and officials at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, St. Andrew yesterday, the Prime Minister told the regional institution that it had been "found wanting" in meeting the demands of the region for innovative responses to its many challenges economic and otherwise notwithstanding some notable achievements which he identified in the fields of agriculture, food and energy.
He admitted, however, that regional governments and the private sector had also fallen short.
Professor Wayne Hunte, Pro Vice Chancellor for Research at UWI, conceded yesterday that there was truth to the criticism, when asked for comment by The Gleaner, and said there was room for improvement.
The university, he said, had concentrated so far on a few select areas of research: natural resource and environmental management, tropical medicine, social and economic studies, and cultural studies, with sustainable tourism being a relatively new area of concentration.
Professor Hunte, while pointing to the UWI's "proud history", said it needed to go forward with a greater emphasis on its role "as a research institution, innovator, and a genuine contributor to the kinds of information and understanding that will underpin regional development."
Dr. Mitchell, who has portfolio responsibility for science within CARICOM, proposes that the UWI and regional governments "assume a role of supporting partnerships with the private sector in developing new technologies."
The Grenadian Prime Minister, giving the main address at the opening of the annual 'Research Day' at the UWI, recommended three main policy approaches, starting with "a legal basis for co-operation between industry and government agencies."
This legal framework, he said, should include licensing agreements, property rights and financing "in order to make it easier and faster for an innovative culture to emerge and be sustained."
EMPHASIS
It should place emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises "and the promotion of linkages among national research and development institutions, private firms and governments," said Dr. Mitchell.
He also suggested a strengthening of innovative entrepreneurship, which governments could address through education and indirect incentives.
Such incentives, he said, should include schemes for instructors, and policies to facilitate the mobility of personnel within the science system and between science and industry.
Looking to the future, he called for the many ideas generated by Caribbean innovators to be patented and commercially developed.
The best path to achieving that goal, he argued, was "by honing strategic linkages with regional and international experts."
Already, he said, the framework for making the desired breakthroughs was being developed with the establishment of centres for innovation in several countries.
This year marks the eighth annual Research Day at the Mona campus, during which the broader community is invited on campus to observe the institution's activities and achievements in the broad field of research.
The St. Augustine campus in Trinidad and Tobago had its first Research Day last year, while Cave Hill in Barbados will have its first this year.
