‘Get into biotech to grow Bajan economy’

Barbados won’t ever get into making cars, the head of the state export promotion company Export Barbados declared Thursday, but he suggested there are “mind-blowing” opportunities for the country in biotechnology to help build economic resilience.

As CEO Mark Hill dismissed the notion of the island ever becoming a major player in heavy industry space, he said the country will need to make some “industrial decisions”, come up with more imaginative but workable and bankable ideas, and make greater use of the ocean space.

“We need to let our imaginations expand and begin to see new possibilities in new ways that is mind-blowing,” said Hill. “So I want to challenge us, don’t just get hooked on an idea, focus on nurturing your imagination and out of your imagination the processes, the strategies and the approach that we need to get where we need to go will come up.

He was addressing a Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) webinar on Thursday which discussed the topic, Turning Adversity into Sustainable Economic Opportunity.

He said one of the areas ripe for tremendous value creation at the moment was that of biotechnology, adding that “this is based on our bio-economy and exports. The data that we have in front of us is pointing to Barbados’ strength in this area of biotechnology”.

“One of the things we see is that Barbados has in this area a very strong legacy and one of our focuses going forward is to really build on this legacy. As I said, 75 per cent of our exports are based on the bio-economy and biotech,” he said.

Pointing out that there was a global need for biotech services, Hill said Barbados already had the scientific capacity and strong research capabilities.

Adding that the island also had the skill sets, Hill pointed out that there were more than 1,500 students who graduate from the University of the West Indies “with biology-based and bio-chemistry based degrees” but most of them ended up becoming entrepreneurs or work for supermarkets, factories in the food sector or in government labs.

“What COVID and these whole dynamics bring to the table is that biosafety and biosecurity will be central to our tourism sector. Then we have to ask ourselves how do we participate in the global biotech market,” he said.

“Resource intensive industries like pulp and paper chemicals and metals may not apply due to fact that electric infrastructure of Barbados is based on diesel fuel generation. So the point is that we are not going to be a heavy industry space where you are going to get car manufacturing and all this kind of heavy industry stuff.

“We will explore robotics but we have a highly educated workforce of bioengineering and biochemistry, coupled with low labour cost relative to this sector, giving Barbados a distinct advantage over North America and western European countries competing for life science investments,” he said, adding that the biotechnology sector came with ‘decent paying jobs’.”

Pointing to climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic as two challenges needing urgent solutions, Hill issued a challenge to start imagining those solutions while answering several questions.

He said: “Is it real, can it work, and is it worth it? You have to lock your imagination around those three questions. Every idea that is passing through your head, you have to filter those ideas with those three questions.”

He said as the country moved towards total reliance on renewable energy “the reality is that it means we also have to make industrial decisions that allow us to build industries that fall within that 100 per cent framework”.

“When you try to build out an industry that doesn’t fall within that 2030 goal you are also not allowing yourself to have a very feasible outlook on how you intend to create wealth and value going forward,” he said. (MM)