Jamaica and the rest of the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region have the potential to experience remarkable economic growth and development by embracing the Deep Tech revolution, say experts in an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report titled, Deep Tech: The New Wave.

The focus on natural resources as the primary driver of development in LAC has been proven ineffective, with evidence suggesting that sustainable growth lies in offering knowledge-based services (KBS).

Although the region makes up 8.3 per cent of the global population, it remains well below the world average in its KBS capacity, falling to 1.6 per cent of the global market in 2021.

Since 2011, the region has grown by 25 per cent during the same period and attained $49 billion in exports in the same year but the growth rate for the rest of the world was 90 per cent for the same period.

Jamaica, as an exception during the same period, achieved a remarkable growth rate of 446 per cent.

Speaking with Our Today, ed-tech founder and ‘Jamaica’s woman of STEAM’, Godiva Golding explained that the benefits spoken about in the study that Jamaica benefited significantly from, are in the global services sector (GSS) and business process outsourcing (BPO).

The most in-demand and most lucrative (KBS) on the global market are in the fields of software development, consulting and data analytics.

“Concerning the tech knowledge-based services, Jamaica has not yet fully capitalised on the data analytical services [industry] which is a tertiary service that needs skilled knowledge workers that can apply analytical tools to solve business problems and spot emerging trends,” said Golding.

“We have made strides so far in terms of investing in STEM education and policy making – with the National Broadband Initiative which aims to bring internet to every household and the Data Protection Act which functions as a precursor for our AI policy on how we use and protect data,” she continued.

Since 2011, the government, through partnerships with entities like the US Embassy in Jamaica, has implemented many policy decisions geared towards improving internet access and access to STEM education across the country.

Last month, the government announced 1,250 scholarships through the Mico University College for Jamaicans preparing to become science, technology, engineering and mathematics teachers under a $2.5 billion-dollar Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Scholarship Programme.

Private businesses have also been heavily committed to fostering STEM education through entities such as the Amber/HEART NSTA Coding Academy, EduFocal and STEM Builders Learning Hub.