Papers by Phillip Jackson
Total mobile-cellular subscriptions almost 6 billion = global penetration of 86%.
The countries of CARICOM share organizations and institutions that have relevance to innovation. ... more The countries of CARICOM share organizations and institutions that have relevance to innovation. It is however not clear to what extent it may be said that there exist functional innovation systems at both the national and/or supra-national (regional) level. The Innovation System Framework can be used as a map to first identify the presence or absence of the organizations and the institutional arrangements incident on the innovative activities of firms and entrepreneurs in a given country, and allows for an evaluation of the level of interactions and information flow among the various components. The aim of this work is to determine to what extent there exists within the CARICOM Region the elements of an innovation system. A hybrid analytical framework for National Innovation Systems informed by OECD (1997), Chang and Shih Mytelka was formulated as a means to elucidate the issue. The region's extremely low input into science and technology is reflected in the equally low output as measured by publications and patents. On the other hand, given the rich cultural and musical heritage of the region an examination of other areas of intellectual property like Trademarks, Copyright and Geographical Indications may tell a different story. The analysis of the system's components suggests that the CARICOM region possesses a fairly high density of shared educational, R&D and financial organizations that compliment its common legal and institutional heritage. These together with its common history, language, rich cultural expressions and natural resources, including the islands' beauty, constitute promising elements of an emerging innovation system that can be harnessed to improve the region's competitiveness. The way forward for the region in creating a truly robust and sustainable innovation system will require better regional coordination and interaction, deep and accurate knowledge of available human resources within the region as well as the Diaspora and a concerted effort to focus on new and emerging possibilities including the services and creative industries where the region has an obvious advantage. Emerging consumer trends like ethical consumerism, health and wellness and deep emersion tourism combined with social networking technologies and behaviour are powerful nuclei around which to reconceptualise and rebrand what we as a region offer to the world.
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Papers by Phillip Jackson