(L-R) Chairman of BIDC, Nelson Straker; Name Sponsor of the Conference and CEO of PromoTech Inc., Kailash Pardasani; and CEO of BIDC, Sonja Trotman.
BIDC’s ‘Innovate Barbados’ coming soon
Wed, 09/21/2016 - 12:00am
By:
Peta Rowe-Forde
As the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC) celebrates its 60th anniversary, it will be hosting a signature event, in association with its industry partners, called “Innovate Barbados”.
It is scheduled to come off on October 25-26 at the Llyod Erskine Sandiford Centre and is set on finding unique ideas for leveraging Barbados’ best opportunities in health and wellness, food and beverages, renewable energy, creative industries and new media, financial services and tourism.
Giving the reason for such an initiative, Chairman of the BIDC, Nelson Straker explained, “We acknowledge that the Government of Barbados has used in the past a number of incentives to revive the productive sectors and to assimilate new economic activity…it is clear, however, that these provisions have not brought about the level of competitiveness anticipated.”
The reason for this, he said, could be discussed at length, but the BIDC along with its 11 partners will be moving forward under the theme "Transforming Tomorrow Today".
Giving an overview of the short but all-encompassing conference was the Chief Executive Officer of BIDC, Sonja Trotman. She noted that the conference aims to bridge the disconnect that exists between academia, industry and policy makers and to serve as the platform for stimulating conversations, catalysing partnerships and igniting new engines of growth.
She added that the conference will feature 15 speakers from local and international markets as well as a keynote address and the Minister’s address. The keynote address will focus on how Barbados can use innovation and human imagination to create a stronger economy and society; while the Minister’s address, being brought by Hon. Donville Inniss, will unveil Government’s aspirational plans in a futuristic presentation of “Moonshots for Barbados 2026”.
While the conference is targeted largely to the business community, the general public is invited as well. Persons wishing to participate can register online from September 26 via the website www.innovatebarbados.com.
(L-R) Chairman of BIDC, Nelson Straker; Name Sponsor of the Conference and CEO of PromoTech Inc., Kailash Pardasani; and CEO of BIDC, Sonja Trotman.