Hurricanes Irma and Maria have severely affected the economic and social activities in Small Island Developing States in the Caribbean. St. Maarten is still in recovery mode and we are determined to build back better. As an Economist, Educator and a student of Creativity and Innovation with University of the Virgin Islands and University of Buffalo (The Center for Creativity and Innovation), I hereby make my contribution to the development of our beautiful Island and the region at large.
Creativity and Innovation studies are mainly qualitative, since there is interaction with people and processes. For example, a qualitative study can and will be done on the social impact of the Structural Fund, now called Trust Fund, when received from the Dutch Government and administered by World Bank with regards to poverty alleviation and capacity building, inter alia, for the people of St. Maarten.
Before I explain part of the model as attached, like a good debater, let me define my terms. Creativity is an idea or product that is novel and has value. Innovation is monetizing of the value of the creative idea or product through implementation, product development and sales. Remember that idea you had about a camera that can work under water? And a solution to fixing your hair every time you are leaving the house? You were creative in that you thought about the underwater camera or the weave, but someone else implemented it and is making a living from the same idea.
This is true for us in St. Maarten: lots of great ideas, some borrowed, some new, all useful to the individual and to society and the region. We can recall all the creative ideas presented during the Science Fair Competitions in the past, Select Parliamentary Committees findings and recommendations, proposals by investors, and promises in party manifestos. Creative ideas of fly-overs, giant incinerators with built-in smelters, district-based approaches to development, to name a few.
The quantitative approach will be to “throw” money at the problem and by this, I mean employ the use of sound stochastic models that use econometrics and formulas. This is all necessary, because we must calculate how much we need and project where it can take us - no problem there. However, there is a need for the qualitative studies to measure the impact of the quantitative on the ground. Further, the qualitative approach can ensure participatory action by the researchers, participants and the St. Maarten community to understand and improve the lived-experiences of our people. These studies and approaches can also explain the figures from the tables in the IMF reports to highlight actual impacts in the communities.
Having made that argument about the need for the qualitative, I trust that all the quantitative minds can, at least, appreciate the possible impact that Creativity and Innovation can have on our development. If not, please follow me as I intend to discuss another type of capital called intangible capital that is receiving a greater return on investment. No, it would not be a Bit Coin discussion, but first let me go to the model presented.
My model shows the multivariate approach to generating wealth from the application of Creativity and Innovation by the Individual, the Society, with benefits for the Region, as the Sovereign or the gatekeepers promote and protect the creative and innovative processes through legislation and promotion. Institutional support would include capacity building programmes in technology, copy rights and patents bodies, manufacturing and commerce oversight organizations, global and regional governing bodies, and universities.
A brief description of the five variables will be discussed this week. In a future column I will examine each variable and its respective outcomes. The Individual creativity is referred to in the literature as little “c,” the small ideas that are birthed given the right trigger or environment, usually to benefit us personally. For example, creating a new mixed-drink, or lyrics to a song, or money move. Not everyone is a creative genius, but the research shows that creativity can be taught in the classroom and nurtured in organizations given the conducive environment by leaders who are themselves innovative.
The Society. The jury is still out as to who a St. Maartener is. Fortunately, that is not a problem for us, because for the most part we have a shared system of cognition, behaviours, values, rules. The narrative of inclusiveness and promotion of creative thinking among groups of people that make up the St. Maarten community can become a synthetic problem-solving technique, as we benefit from the diverse productive and innovative expertise and experiences on the island – more of the former than the latter. That’s because we need to continue to nurture the local experience, rather than importing and rubber stamping same.
The Region. The region here is defined in two ways. First, the wider Caribbean and former Antillean region with the benefits of monetary and custom unions. Secondly the districts on the island(s); North and South have their own demographics, heritage, history, sites and heroes that can be in the innovation process resulting in revenue generation. We know about at least one such idea from a political source.
The Sovereign is in the model is described as the top echelons in management of islands, who are the de-facto gatekeepers of our culture, jurisprudence, and socio-economic wellbeing. Some of these gatekeepers are Parliament and the Prosecutors Office and their stakeholders, such as Council of Ministers (CoM), Sociaal Economische Raad (SER), audit chambers, trade and commerce organizations, recently World Bank, and soon to be realized integrity and border monitoring offices. Collectively, this is the body that will determine outcome good governance, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross National Product (GNP), and GDP per Capita.
Institutional support. Institutions referred to in this discussion would include Universities, Custom Unions, manufacturing organizations, copyrights and patent offices, vertically integrated Tourist Bureaus, Chamber of Commerce, regional and international governing bodies, and World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) which respectively monitors the growth and stability of economies.
In the next column, Creativity and Innovation will be examined for their theoretical foundations, there will be further discussions on the CI-SIDS Model, which is still in its exploratory stage. As promised, we will together see changing nature of capitalism from the usual factors of production to intangibles.
Future articles will include discussions about:
Creativity and Innovation in SIDS:
World Economic Forum (WEF) report and the Maison CI-SID model.
Understanding creativity:
1. Person and Product: SXM -CIIEF / Carifesta / CDB Initiatives
2. Process and Press: Creativity and Innovation as a tool for problem solving.
3. The Dark Side of Creativity - Deep Web and Cyber Security in SXM.
4. Creativity and Sense-making: How to manage after an unexpected change in the
organization? A decision-making model for SXM Parliament.
