A senior bank executive is advocating that Jamaica invests more in research and science, pointing out that science and technology must become important economic drivers for the country’s future.

The recommendation came from Claudine Allen, executive, member relations at The Jamaica National Group, during her address at the launch of the Forecast 2020 Conference on February 6.

The conference is being organised in partnership with The University of the West Indies (The UWI) and the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) and will be held June 9-12, under the theme ‘Science and Technology as a Pillar for Regional Transformation’. The Jamaica National Group is a major sponsor of the conference.

“Science and innovation are important to us now, as a people in this region,” Allen said, “Not simply to position our industries, including our financial services, to develop and compete more forcefully and effectively, but also to protect our countries from the real and serious harms of climate change.”

She noted that despite the numerous achievements which Jamaica and the wider Caribbean have made in the field of science and research, “collectively, our investment in, and the economic value we have extracted from, science and technology have not been great in measure”.

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