Jamaica’s Capability to Adopt New Technology Impressive Tough Constrained – Joe Issa

Tech-savvy Ocho Rios Businessman Joe Issa, has commented on the latest PwC Russia report that may settle, once and for all, which of the world’s 4,416 cities are most ready to adopt new technology, stating that while Jamaica cannot be expected to be near the top, its readiness has improved impressively, in recent times.

Joseph Issa and his team
“The report is a smapshot, not a moving picture…The shot can change next year and the year after, and so forth…I believe one of those years in the not-too-distant future Jamaica can get into the frame of the most-ready cities to adopt new technology to solve problems.

“Our infrastructure, including legislation to enable innovation of problem-solving technology is not where we would like it to be, as there are constraints, such as investments and a tech-ready workforce; but we are getting there, even if slowly.

“We have made a lot of progress in recent times…We have introduced technology in many of our economic sectors, including education, health, culture and tourism…Many Jamaican businesses are innovating – some in new technology and others in traditional practices.

“We are now embracing the BPO technology, and cell phones and smart phone have become a social necessity, let alone a way of doing business…Individuals are not only being trained to mann such technologies, but to also develop new ones to solve problems,” said Issa, who has used state-of-the-art technology in his Cool Group of over 50 companies.

The report, titled “The Future is Coming: Cities Readiness Rating”, which was released recently, is said to have surveyed 1,500 people in ten major global cities – Barcelona, Hong Kong, London, Moscow, New York, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto – to discover how global cities stack up when it comes to ability to adopt new technology.

The survey analyzed the readiness of cities to adopt technology-driven solutions across sectors – from education to security to healthcare. It also measured their capability for innovation across several variables such as: technology readiness (presence of basic infrastructure); the strategies and regulations that support the adoption and use of new infrastructure; the availability of finished prototypes; and the social readiness of citizens to use new technologies.

“To assess how ready a city was to embrace innovation, respondents were given two options for questions – one option implied the use of advanced/future technologies in various dimensions, while the second option involved traditional practices, approaches and solutions,” according to a press release.

The five cities which got the top marks for most “tech-ready” cities, according to the report, were: Singapore (62%); London (59%); Shanghai (55%); New York (53%); and Moscow (53%).

The report also cited a few areas of innovation. “In terms of embracing new tech in daily life, London (42%) and Toronto (41%) came in at the bottom. When gauging innovation in culture and tourism, Barcelona (78%), Shanghai (78%) and Singapore (72%), took the lead. In readiness to integrate autonomous transportation, London (72%) was at the top. And in terms of digital economy infrastructure, Singapore (75%) came in first—likely due to its adoption and investment of tech in educational settings.”


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