If the Caribbean wants to compete in the global economy, it will need to come up with new ideas, new platforms and new strategies. That means innovation.

So what’s the most innovative place in the Caribbean?

It’s Barbados, according to the newest edition of the Global Innovation Index, which is co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

“Innovation holds far-reaching promise for spurring economic growth in countries at all stages of development. However, realizing this promise is not automatic,” said WIPO Director General Francis Gurry. He added: “Each nation must find the right mix of policies to mobilize the innate innovative and creative potential in their economies.”

Barbados was ranked 37th in the world in the ranking, which covers 141 economies, or 95.1 percent of the world’s population.

The index looks at 79 indicators to “gauge both innovative capabilities and measurable results,” according to the GII, from university performance and patent applications to whether economies outperform their peers.

The index revolves around five key input pillars: institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication and business sophistication, along with two key output pillars: knowledge and technology outputs, along with creative outputs.

Barbados was ranked head of Lithuania and just behind Slovakia.

Other Caribbean countries that made the ranking included Trinidad and Tobago (80), Guyana (86), the Dominican Republic (89) and Jamaica (96).

No surprise here. They are waaaaayyy ahead of Guyana and ahead of most. A highly educated society that knows its few weak links. They are now at steady state growth...with per capita of US$ 15K...But I expect these innovations in green tech and others to break out to a sustained growth that will take the island to another steady state of US$25K. Guyana...oh well...

And just a few weeks ago some one was claiming that Barbados was worse off then Guyana.

Barbados is a small piece of land which does not have space to build more houses.  They have no manufacturing base and no progressive economy. They no longer have any beaches that are wothwhile to visit. If you visit, they take you to see an anglican church and Blackbeard ghost. They drive along the four cricket grounds and befroe you know it, you circle the Island in a few minutes.

Try visiting again when you are sober.

Guyana has lot to offer compared to most Caribbean countries, but PPP and PNC fighting over 50 years has done much damage

And yet at least 10,000 Guyanese live there, and to the chagrin of many Bajans, they don't seem too anxious to leave.

Let me rephrase this.  Guyana has lots to offer, compared to most Caribbean countries, but the ethnic distrust between Africans and Indians, and the desire of the PPP and the PNC ti secure political power by exploiting this, has done much damage.

Politicians are like prostitutes.  They give their clients what their clients want, and extract payment for such services.  Guyanese have ethnic insecurities, which dominate how they vote, and so politicians peddle this to win their votes.  If Guyanese didn't vote, based on race, then the PPP and the PNC would NOT be able to attract their votes, and to govern, based on race.

I went to Barbados more than a decade ago. I noticed a significant amount of the TV commercials are from Guyanese-owned businesses like Gafoors. The Bajans don't really own much of the businesses in Barbados. Most of the businesses are owned by foreigners. The Bajans work for those businesses. Don't believe they don't their political quarrels like us in Guyana. I listened to the radio while I was there and  many of talk shows focus heavily on the disadvantages of the Black people on the Island vs. the old people (Old English Whites) and other foreigners. I was shocked to hear the views of Bajans on this Black and White issue. Their views can be very radical.

Indeed both races have lots to offer...we can see this by how successful they become when they leave Guyana

I have visited several Caribbean countries, and besides the beaches...they don't have the variety that Guyana has...

Name other Guyanese businesses, other than Gafoors.  Banks is now Bajan, so that doesnt qualify.  There is also a huge sector of mid and smaller businesses owned by black Bajans.  I went to an expo a few years ago and I was pleasantly surprised.  Also most of the smaller hotels are black owned.

They have the black vs. white thing, but that is a bit fallacious as those Bajan whites are now selling off to the Trinis.  Their sons would rather car race, jet ski, or surf than put in a good days work.  They already have the $$$, so they dont see why they must kill themselves.  We can argue as to how long it will be before all the wealth, accumulated over the past 400 years is squandered.

In fact a Bajan white once disputed how powerful they are given that the gov't is 100% black (no white national heroes) and when the white business goes for a bank loans, its most likely a black man who will decide whether he gets or doesnt get it.

I would argue that Barbados has a more solid black middle class than any where else in the world, inclusive of the USA.  Bajans do not even migrate to the USA any more, and a whole lot who did years ago are now returning home, or wishing that they could.

The socio economic status of Bajan blacks is a far cry from blacks in Guyana, who are among the poorest in the Caribbean. 

Guyanese have this habit of thinking that every white is a foreigner.  I am really not sure how much foreign (as in non CARICOM) investment exists on that island, aside from lavish villas.

However small the manufacturing sector in Barbados might be, it is 2X the size of Guyana's.  I went through that argument with Poli a few weeks ago, and he ran off crying.

And yet they are much better off.  Guyanese are the largest group of Caribbean migrants in all most all of these places.

seriously dude..two things..

1) quit being a drama queen

2) learn to let things go...it's unhealthy to hold grudges..

smh

goes back to the point that politics and race has kept Guyana back

The success of Barbados is mainly due to the foreign nationals, especially the Brits. they control the economy. Tourism is the main industry and it's expensive.

And there he goes again.  I made a point, and you engaged in a mental break down, instead of furnishing data to make your point.

Even now you don't furnish data.

If Bajan whites aren't Bajans, then you are not Guyanese.  Bajan whites have been in Barbados LONGER than your ancestors were in Guyana.

While there are foreign investors in Barbados, the larger companies are owned by Bajans who happen to be white, just like Gafoors is owned by a Guyanese who happens to be Indian.

http://www.investbarbados.org/testimonials.php

Guyanese need to quite being jealous of Barbados.  Foreign investment is a GOOD thing.  The fact that we cannot attract it, despite our vary low labor costs, is because our governance is a disgrace, the country has poor social and physical infra structure, and it is unstable.

Barbados should be given credit for having the third highest standard of living in the Americas, ahead of much larger nations, with far greater natural and human resources. That island in 2015, is a far cry from what it was in 1945, when Bajans were still flocking to Guyana in DROVES to find work!

LOL! Ayoo PPPites live in a world of delusion. The primary reason for Barbados' success is smart and intelligent policies from the time they got independence. They could have gone the Jamaican route of isms and ideologies. Their early leaders were very smart and they ALL happened to blacks. Aluh Indo god Cheddie pushed Forbes to nationalize and chased out the foreign companies. Jock Campbell urged Cheddi to adopt a Fabian Socialist model  but that was not left-wing enough.

Nonsense! The east coast is virtually empty. Lot's space to grow but there will be some natural resource limitations like fresh water.

Lets don't put COLOUR into this conversation, I spoke of Barbadians, the people and not a race. You go to Bridgetown and there are shops with British names, the streets are spotless, the buildings are freshly painted the people still speak with an English accent, the major race is Blacks and because of that there is racial harmony. Barbados has the lowest crime rate in the region. Real Estate in Barbados is as high as Toronto Canada, rich Europeans are snapping up prime properties which the locals cannot afford. The Royal Family still owns Properties in Barbados.

Sugar is a loss makiing industry as in Guyana.  It is only kept for soil conservation purposes (the grass carpet minimizes erosion) and as a social program for Bajans still working in the industry,  Those tend to be older and uneducated people, who lack the transferable skills to move to other sectors.

 Well foreigners are snapping up prime real estate in NYC, that few NYers can afford, so they just have to live in places that are affordable.  Barbados is NOT unique, and in fact Bajans have the HIGHEST rate of home ownership in the Caribbean.  They also have the HIGHEST rates of indoor plumbing with Guyana (as usual) being one of the laggards in this regard.

So some Indians, who may or may not feel deeply rooted in Guyana (they seemed to have a problem when Moses said that he was) have names connected to India, then so do some white Bajans, and even black Bajans have names connected to England, as after all Barbados had the longest colonial connection to the UK.  So why the shock about the names of the stores?

You, being  simple Guyanese, think that every white face that you see in the Caribbean is foreign.  The largest Bajan companies (those that havent been sold off to Trinidadians) are owned by people who have MORE connection to Barbados, than you have to Guyana. 

Their ancestors might have been there in the 1620s when Barbados became a British colony.  Yours have not even been in the Caribbean for 200 years, and most likely more like 150 years.

That English accent is your colonial brain saying that every white man is English.

Foreign investment in Barbados is in SOME of the larger hotels, the financial/business processing sectors, and in some electronic assembly.  This is not to say that some Brit might not own some specialty store, but please do not mkake yourself look foolish by claiming that this is the  norm.

Give Bajans of ALL races, yes even black Bajans, some credit.  They have created an island with a stable gov't, and a well educated population, which has allowed the development of the HIGHEST living standards in the Caribbean.  The large Caribbean immigrant population is evident that the island offers BETTER quality of life than the countries from which these people come.

Guyanese flock EVERY WHERE in the Caribbean. Check to see which Caribbean countries are the largest source of immigrants in the various Caribbean islands, and Guyana almost aways pops up.

So give Barbados credit, and toss aside your rage that this majority blak island, with a 100% black gov't, and where 80-90% of the professionals abd administrators are BLACK, gives a better life to PPP supporters than did your PPP run Guyana.  They fled UNDER PPP rule.

If black Bajans were incompetent NO ONE would invest there.  Not the locals and definitely NOT foreigners. The Indo KKK will not give credit to these black Bajans, because they wish to continue their Indo supremacy based on he notion of the inferior black.

You should not always seek the lowest common denominator.  I believe, LFSB, with all his wutlissness brought more innovation to Guyana than the PPP.  He tried to forge a localized economy and drove a lot of creativity.  Afro racism is what did them in.

Afro racism and Indo racism feed on each other.  Want to find out why Afro racism exists just admit to the existence of Indo racism.  I have always admitted to the existence of Afro racism.

Caribbean's most innovative country

If dem guys take dis here putagee boy advice an plant some seed yo know..plant dat 'erb...ohhhh soooo greeennnn..then plant some bambooo, then yo plant nuff nuff an when ah say nuff nuff ah mean nuff nuff coconut.

Start exporting, bypassing Venezuela, in no time Guyana rich like a rass an everbody happy...well except for a few pon GNI.

LFSB stole the PPP economic development plans  and didn't know how to implement them.  His greatest achieved is his attempt to Africanize Guyana with national service his top priority.  He failed  to comprehend the backlash of Pan Indianism.