Economic boom will drive R&D – Henry

JAMAICA’S IMPROVED economic climate should make it more conducive for private-sector entities to invest more in research, Dr Wayne Henry, director general of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), has suggested.

Speaking at Wednesday’s opening day of The University of the West Indies, Mona, Research Days, Henry contended that past economic challenges made it difficult for the private sector to pump money into funding research as there were other competing priorities.

“Historically, I would argue, the landscape of private-sector development did not necessarily lend itself to much research initiative and engagement. The types of environment that existed were more about trying to explore low-hanging fruit of establishing trade markets, trying to navigate a local private sector for business that was characterised by quite a bit of macroeconomic imbalances,” Henry said.