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.
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| 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 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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