T&T must focus on innovation, says EU Ambassador

European Union ambassador to T&T, Peter Cavendish, says in terms of this country’s economic future there is a need to rebalance the country’s energy production with the output of other products.
Speaking to Sunday Business Guardian, following the ‘Shaping the Future of Innovation Awards’ (STFOI) ceremony’ at the Hyatt last week, Cavendish said as it relates to Europe, it is secured in many areas including trade, in which the group of countries meets the demands of its population.
He noted that T&T has good fashion, food, and construction products along with Information Technology people.
“This country has one of the highest engineers per head in the population of the Americas. We need these types of people in Europe and we obviously want to trade more with T&T. At the moment the ball is in T&T’s court with the huge surplus that you have.” Cavendish highlighted.
In terms of digital connectivity, he said the EU is approaching a deeper level of exchange, with the extension of the super-connectivity cable called BELLA, which stands for Building the Europe Links with Latin America.
The objective of this cable is to connect educational and research networks (ERNs), for example the University of West Indies and the University of T&T, together with third-level bodies in Europe, Latin America, and elsewhere in the Caribbean region.
Continuing on the topic of diversification, Cavendish said the European Union at the ceremony handed out grants to 25 awardees, with the range being between US$50,000 to US$70,000 per recipient.
He said the EU has been supporting this initiative, along with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Lab, and the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (Cariri) for the past three to four years.
The ambassador noted that this programme is targeted to entrepreneurial innovators who have shown their worth in the various cohorts.
Outlining the importance of innovation to national and regional development Cavendish said when the T&T Government selected innovation as the focal sector for development, it did so for the following key reasons:
• Innovation was considered necessary to support T&T to build an enabling business environment and improve the ease of doing business;
• It was determined that there was a need to build the innovative capacity of the private sector;
• It was important to leverage the resources and capacity of the local universities and business schools and to encourage their cooperation/partnership with the private sector;
• Gender equality and empowerment of women are important human rights principles for both the EU and for TT, so it was agreed that this programme would focus on ‘inclusive innovation’ including ensuring support for women-led innovative enterprises.
“We all know that innovation plays an increasingly important role in our economies. As well as benefiting the consumers and workers, it is essential for creating better jobs, building a greener society, and improving our quality of life. It is also key to maintaining the country’s competitiveness on global markets,” he detailed.
The future of innovation, the ambassador said, is to adequately respond to these issues, T&T needs to sustain and expand this initiative through an effective innovation agenda, which should focus on five fundamental areas such as: funding scale-ups; enabling innovation through experimentation spaces and public procurement; Accelerating and strengthening innovation in innovation ecosystems across T&T and addressing the innovation divide; fostering, attracting and retaining talent and improving policy-making tools.CEO at Cariri Hans-Erich Schulz speaking at the ceremony, said the ‘Shaping the Future of Innovation,’ project is the first initiative of its kind in this country—a comprehensive programme designed to bridge critical gaps in our innovation ecosystem: from funding and mentorship to strengthening industry-academic linkages and creating inclusive stakeholder collaboration.
He noted that the Innovation Challenge Facility (ICF), as the flagship component, provided integral support to entrepreneurs in transforming their bold ideas into impactful ventures.
Through the four calls for proposals, Schulz said it’s an impressive range of pioneering solutions in sectors such as Agriculture, including innovations in the cocoa industry and controlled environment systems; agro-processing, with new product innovations such as geotextiles made from coconut fibres; ICT, including fintech, mobile drone technology, digitisation, and the Internet of Things and creative industries, education, healthcare, and manufacturing.
The CEO outlined that funding from the project has allowed recipients to develop new product formulations, automate processes for increased efficiency through AI applications, invest in new equipment and instruments, achieve certifications, and improve human capital through international training.
These solutions are not just innovative, he said they are economically empowering. They represent new businesses, new jobs, and new sources of income and export potential for our country. But beyond economics, they build hope and resilience in communities, inspire others to take risks, and embody the creativity of our nation.
“Behind every innovation is a story of determination, sleepless nights, countless iterations, and a drive to make things better. All the grant recipients present today exemplify this spirit. They remind us that innovation doesn’t only happen in large labs or boardrooms—it starts in small spaces, with big dreams,” Schulz added.
To date, the four calls of the STFOI project have financed a total of 77 innovative projects.
(Source: The Guardian, june 29, 2025)