I have been a part of the tech space locally for many years now as a consumer, tech graduate, coder and tech blogger. In my youtube video I describe the tech space in Trinidad and Tobago as developing. We have good internet infrastructure and plenty tech graduates. We have ample examples of tech being used to better our lives. We are developing and there is much room for improvement. I returned to Trinidad in 2003 after studying and working abroad. A lot has happened locally in the almost last 20 years since. I want to point out some of these happenings that come to my mind and share some of my thoughts.
Liberisation of the telecoms sector is the first thing that comes to mind. I remember rushing to the Croisee in San Juan to buy that Nokia flip phone from Digicel on launch day. This brought options, lower prices and investment in upgrades over the years. Eventually we had the launch of 4G that brought tears of joy to my eyes. The proliferation of smart phones in Trinidad happened and as a tech blogger I covered many Samsung launches. When covid hit us, work from home and online schooling put our internet and digital inclusion to the test. In 2008 there was talk of TTEC offering broadband over powerlines. Nothing has come of this and I sent an email today to find out more. Having good infrastructure is one thing but making use of this is another. Who remembers Caribbean Free Radio? It was the first podcast in the Caribbean. It was a big deal for me and I always saw a need for us to be producers and not only consumers.
Over the years we had a good amount of tech startups like WiPay, F1RST and Fooddrop. We even had the I2I competition to encourage persons to get started. Have you noticed the numerous ride sharing apps we have had over the years? Trinis are wanting convenience and comfort that tech can facilitate and there is much opportunities for tech startups. The coming of Uber to Trinidad was a celebrated moment. What about the coming of the first Tesla in Trinidad. My blog post on that had crossed 30,000 views. Something that is common place now is online banking. There was a time when we had to go to the ATM to check balance.
The Trinidad and Tobago Internet Governance Forum has been happening yearly for the past few years and has been a good way for us to brainstorm topics. Similarly the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society, has been a significant part of the local tech scene over the years and from the earlies; From the lively mailing list discussions to the pizza limes to the Software Freedom Day events. Mark Lyndersay's tech column has been around all these years and provides education and insight.
The launch of the Ministry of Digital Transformation was a huge deal. I had been asking for a Minister of Technology for many years. One of the things we should not lose sight of is work from home and online schooling. We have the internet and we can get devices to students. The laptop for every student program was a headline moment. We should learn from that and continue the work to bridge the digital divide. We should learn from the last 20 years. We have to keep up with the rapidly changing and advancing tech world. We have IoT, big data, AR and robotics among other things that we can make use of. Looking forward to another 20 years of tech in Trinidad and Tobago.
Comments
I agree with the coming of Digicel as a key point of change, introducing aggressive competition into the telecommunications sector and sparking a revolution in how the customer was served in this country.
The arrival of acceptably fast mobile broadband, up to and including 4G was another leveraging factor, moving internet access from being tied to a device in a space to becoming a pervasive presence in the society. It's had a major impact on the practice of journalism for sure, something that seemed obvious right from the introduction of the early 3G services.
I count also the first removal of taxes from computing devices as a big deal, making it possible for people to consider importing their own systems rather than settling for what was available on store shelves.
Despite its poor implementation, the first major distribution of computers into the school system was, I believe, a big deal, something that we are still to understand the impact of.
Unfortunately there have been so many missed and bungled opportunities, most of them masquerading under political announcements that led to nothing and even more that were privately discussed in governance that never saw the light of day, even as cheerful announcements from political podiums.