small open economy requires the government to act like a VC itself by supporting innovation in high potential sectors. Indeed, a recent study by Cherif and Hasanov finds that government actions as early stage investors can resolve several coordination failures which preclude innovation loops from forming. For example, while the current government initiatives in Trinidad and Tobago are commendable, they could be focused on one specific need of the future for which no country has yet specialised: big data. Big data is a popular term used to describe the exponential growth and availability of data for analysis. Much of these data are in unstructured formats but contain potentially extremely useful information if mined properly. Big data methodologies are designed to innovatively use existing computing technologies that will extract this information. While large companies like SAS and Mathworks, as well as several universities have established research centres, the space is just opening up and is full of opportunity. Concretely, perhaps Trinidad and Tobago could use the recently –approved IDB ‘Global Services Loan’ to set up a Big Data Think Tank affiliated with UWI. Top-perform-
ing students could be recruited as part of their studies where they could specialise in big data analysis methods. If implemented properly, the result of such an effort might just be that the Caribbean might be home to the next big tech giant!
Valerie Mercer-Blackman is the Lead Economics Specialist for the Caribbean Country Department at the Inter-American Development Bank. Sarosh Khan is the Economics Research Consultant at the Caribbean County Department at the Inter-American Development Bank. 1The
authors are economists at the Caribbean Country Department, Inter-American Development Bank. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Inter-American Development Bank, its Board of Directors or the countries they represent.
2Reda Cherif and Fuad Hasanov (2014) ‘Soaring of the Gulf Falcons: Diversification in the GCC Oil Exporters in Seven Propositions’ paper presented at the High-level IMF conference on Economic Development, Diversification and the Role of the State, Kuwait City, International Monetary Fund.
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