Productivity measures how efficiently inputs such as labour and capital are utilized to produce increased levels of output, such as goods and services. Locally, focus is being place on the roll of research and innovation to boost St. Lucia’s competitiveness and productivity.
The World Economic Forum has put out a call for a “new crop of innovators.” It believes that a shared connected future built by scalable innovative solutions could be the answer to some of the most pressing global issues. The theme “Innovation for greater productivity” has been adopted by the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council (NCPC) which is tasked with identifying key issues related to competitiveness and productivity in St. Lucia.
The NCPC has commenced work to develop the National Competitiveness Agenda for St. Lucia which will establish the necessary framework to improve the islands overall competitiveness. To contribute to this process, conversations were held with a number of stakeholders and policy makers.
Managing Director of Caribbean Awning Ltd. Paula Calderon whose company produces innovative products for domestic and commercial clients stated that for St. Lucia to become more competitive the work ethic must improve.
“Productivity means performing a day’s work and making sure your have achieved something at the end of the day which means you do not slack-off when you want to, you do not take time off when you feel like it, that you put in your eight hours and at the end of the day you have achieved something and that gives you personal satisfaction.”
Denell Florius, CEO of EcoCarib Inc., a green energy service company, shared his views on the importance of innovation.
“Innovation is critical to everything that we do. Innovation in the 21st Century is everything and I always say this as well, climate change is one of the biggest problems of our generation and we need a bunch of innovative technological solution to solve this problem.”
Kurt Harris, Project Manager for the Solarization Project with the Vaughn Alan Lewis Institute for Research and Innovation (VALIRI), pointed out that for innovation to be truly meaningful it must be preceded by the necessary research to answer the question, why innovate?
“ If you have an evidence based society and you can show person why is it that you’re doing it and why it is more efficient then automatically you’re going to start being a lot more productive because as you do things more efficiently productivity increases. When persons know why they are doing something they are more likely to do it.”
Minister for Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development, Hon. Dr. Gail Rigobert who recently launch the Decade of Research and Innovation for St. Lucia believes the innovation dialog must not be high handed but should also involve persons within the communities.
“That conversation needs to become one and the same, that it is not sectorally defined, that the interconnection is evident and obvious. So when we talk about increasing yield per acre, it is not the domain of a field officer or an agricultural economist that it’s the business of the farmer, the farm labourer, the consumer because ultimately if you can raise productivity levels one would think that the benefit would accrue to the consumer as well at the tail end of the transaction.”
In keeping with the theme for St. Lucia’s 40th Anniversary of Independence, “All In,” the NCPC has challenged all sectors of the economy to raise the level of competitiveness and productivity on island through greater innovation within their business processes.