ICT Pulse Podcast

In our June 2025 Community Chat, and with members of the Caribbean tech community, print and web journalist , Mylène Colmar  of Guadeloupe, and Simone Passmore, the Chief Executive Officer of Webstylze in Barbados, the panel discusses:    *  whether AI is signalling the end of Caribbean blogs;   *  the AI dilemma of mitigating the risks and maximising the good; and   *  the changing social media l...

Although data is considered the new oil, across the Caribbean region, it is becoming increasingly evident that we do not fully appreciate the value of data, as it is not comprehensively reflected in the policies and structures established in Caribbean countries. As a result, we are grappling with several issues, including data protection, privacy, data sovereignty, data ethics and management, to n...

In our continuing effort to increase our awareness of the tech scene in Africa, we chat with Caribbean Data Scientist, Kevan Rajaram, who did a short stint working as the Head of Business Intelligence for a company in West Africa, specifically Côte d'Ivoire (the Ivory Coast). During our conversation, Kevan shared with us , among other things :   *  how he ended up in Côte d'Ivoire;   *  his  first...

We are relaunching our Know Your Neighbour series, in which we explore the state of the telecoms and ICT development in Caribbean countries. We kick off this 2025 update with Saint Kitts and Nevis, officially the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis. With our guest, Rodney Browne, of eCaribbean Limited, we discuss, among other things,   *  the current state of telecoms and broadband internet,...

In our May 2025 Community Chat, and with members of the Caribbean tech community, Communications Strategist, Liselle Yorke, who is based in the United States but originally from Trinidad and Tobago, and Rojane Rose, a Product Manager in Jamaica, the panel discusses the following three topics:   *  Who's watching our data?   *  AI in the Caribbean: hype or opportunity? and   *  Building Smart Islan...

The Postal Service is an often overlooked sector in most Caribbean countries. Its potential remains untapped in the region, although it is often considered an essential service. With Mr Tracy Hackshaw of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), we discuss the evolving role of the Postal Service in our increasingly digital age, including:   *  the role of the UPU;     *  key drivers that led the UPU to pr...

Thanks to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Caribbean and other developing countries have the potential to accelerate their development and economic diversification, as well as increase competitiveness through technologies such as AI and the Internet of Things. With Dr Curtis Charles, of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Five Islands Campus, and a key driver of the UWI Five Islands AI Resea...

In the second instalment in our Expert Insights series on cyber threats and security for 2025, we are joined once again by Obika Gellineau, of Fujitsu Caribbean. During this conversation, Obika shares his thoughts on, among other things:   *  the changes in the threat landscape that have occurred since our last conversation in 2024;   *   the cybersecurity job market and the expertise that is bein...

The Caribbean stands at a pivotal juncture as artificial intelligence (AI) emerges as a transformative force with the potential to drive development across virtually all sectors. With Dr Craig Ramlal, a global AI expert, who was appointed to the United Nations Secretary-General's High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, and Lika Døhl Diouf, of the United Nations Economic Commission for...

In our April 2025 Community Chat, and with a member of the Caribbean tech community, Nigel Cassimire of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union in Trinidad and Tobago, and Steven Williams of Data Privacy and Management Advisory Services in Barbados, we discuss just one topic: Fostering Caribbean digital resilience and transformation in an era of global uncertainty. In the current economic, trade an...

As the internet becomes more integral to economic development, cultural diplomacy, and public governance, there may be strategic value in having custom generic top-level domain s ( gTLDs). Active participants in the global Internet Governance space, Lance Hinds and Carlton Samuels, are back to discuss ICANN's New gTLD Program: Next Round, which is currently open. The conversation covered, among ot...

Decentralised autonomous organisations or DAOs are one of the fastest-growing segments of the blockchain space. In this episode we are revisiting an oldie but goodie: our 2022 conversation with Donald O'Brian Porter, the Founder of CaribDAO, who explains, among other things,   *  how DAOs work;   *  the parallels between DAOs and the informal cooperative savings system that has been prevalent in C...

Following up on a 2022 conversation we had about digital currencies in the Caribbean region, Dr. Jan Schröder of CaribCoin, and Rodney Taylor of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union are back to provide an update on CaribCoin, a regional stablecoin backed by Caribbean assets that will provide a faster and more cost-effective alternative for regional cross-border payments that can also foster Cari...

Digital sovereignty has been a hot topic over the past several weeks, with data sovereignty and AI sovereignty being the subjects of such conversations. However, how does digital agency fit into the mix? With IT Specialist, Researcher and Digital Analyst, Matthew Cowen, we discuss digital sovereignty and digital agency, including:   *  Could digital sovereignty lead to increased fragmentation of t...

In our March 2025 Community Chat, and with members of the Caribbean tech community, Tariq Mohammed, a PhD candidate and the Chair of the Caribbean ICT Youth Network who is based in Trinidad and Tobago, and Chad Fraser , the Founder and CEO of Sonover, headquartered in Grenada, the panel discusses the following three topics:   *  how Caribbean businesses can leverage technology to compete in a glob...

In the first instalment in our Expert Insights series on cyber threats and security for 2025, and one again with Sean Slattery of Caribbean Solutions Lab, he discusses, among other things:   *  the changes in the threat landscape that occurred in 2024;   * the changing threat and impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation in the security space;   * the security-related challenges as org...

In February 2025, the Government of Jamaica made publicly available the National Artificial Intelligence Policy Recommendations prepared by the National Artificial Intelligence Task Force. We are joined by the Chairman of the Task Force, Christopher Reckord, to discuss the policy recommendations made, including:   *  the unique, Jamaica-specific considerations that shaped the recommendations;   * ...

Without a doubt, Caribbean farming is fraught with a broad range of challenges. Chief among them is that most of the farms are smallholdings, often in difficult locations and with relatively poor soil, which can affect yield, quality, sustainability and profitability.  In our conversation with Dr Yvane Agard-Abbot, the Founder of HydroFluidics, a Deep Tech/Agritech startup, she discusses, among ot...

In our February 2025 Community Chat, and with members of the Caribbean tech community, Kira Mohammed, an e-Commerce Strategist based in Trinidad and Tobago , and Mark Codling , a PhD Candidate in GeoInformatics from Jamaica , the panel discusses the following three topics:   *  ways AI is transforming e-commerce;     *  AI and real-time weather; and   *  cashless fraud.   The episode, show notes a...

The Caribbean region ranks lowest in statistical performance compared to other regions, and studies have estimated the value of Open Data alone could contribute between 1% and 2% to the national GDP of Caribbean countries. The 'Data Queen' herself, Raquel Seville, is back to discuss her new start-up, Dataffluent, which is offering  financial and investment insights on underserved markets, includin...

In response to the goal of doubling the ICT sector's contribution to Trinidad and Tobago's GDP, the Developers Hub, more commonly known as D'Hub, offers training, access to tools, as well as income and networking opportunities to local developers and citizens interested in ICT. With Devindra Ramnarine, a  Digital Transformation Adviser at the Ministry of Digital Transformation, Trinidad and Tobago...

In our January 2025 Community Chat, and with members of the Caribbean tech community, Esmeralda Levens-Wijngaarde of Blyce in Curaçao, and Niko Kluyver also of Curaçao and CyberVade, the panel discusses:   *  the impact of social media on mental health in the Caribbean;   *  data residency in the Caribbean; and   *  big tech and developing countries: can there be some rebalancing of power?   The e...

The Trinidad and Tobago Internet Governance Forum (TTIGF) is just around the corner worldwide, and it is among the first Internet Governance events of the year. With Jaqueline Morris, a longstanding player in the global Internet Governance space and the current Chair of the Trinidad and Tobago Multistakeholder Advisory Group Board, which is the organiser of TTIGF, she discusses, among other things...

In our first episode for 2025, we are starting a new series in which we showcase Caribbean tech entrepreneurs and startups that are doing incredible things in or for the region.  Our first guest is Jarryon Paul, the Founder of Sunshine, a stablecoin exchange based in Trinidad and Tobago. In this conversation, we learn more about Jarryon and his entrepreneurial journey to date, which started when h...

In this our final Community Chat and final episode for 2024, and with members of the Caribbean tech community, Financial and Impact Innovator, Digital Economist and Digital Transformation Expert, Telly Valerie Onu, and International Consultant, Carlton Samuels, the panel discusses the ICT/technology trends and developments that were evident across the Caribbean region in 202 4 , and what might be...