Barbados builds AI, digital talent at youth hackathon

Barbados is ramping up its artificial intelligence (AI) capacity by equipping young people with the digital skills required to succeed in today’s tech-driven world.

This commitment was demonstrated on Saturday morning at the Barbados AI Fraud Detection Hackathon, hosted at the Henry Fraser Lecture Theatre, University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill campus.

The event was designed to cultivate an AI ecosystem while engaging youth in innovative problem-solving.

Minister of Innovation, Industry, Science and Technology, Senator Jonathan Reid, outlined the government’s broader aim to transform Barbados into a hub of technological excellence.

“The goal of this is to really industrialise technological skills. We want the ability for large groups of people to be able to matriculate out of the universities and have an opportunity to land themselves in jobs or companies or build businesses themselves that have the ability to create high-quality products and services that are technologically enabled, solving local problems, yes, but ultimately really solving global issues.”

Reid highlighted the importance of nurturing talent in fields such as software development, robotics, and data analytics, skills he said were essential to any modern economy.

He observed that while Barbadians often consume technology, the vision is to shift the country towards being a producer of high-quality tech solutions.

He explained that partnerships with institutions like UWI, the GovTech agency, and ZINDI, a globally recognised community of data analysts, are helping to bring this vision to life and create opportunities for Barbadian youth to upskill.

CEO of GovTech Barbados, Mark Boyce, noted that 30 participants, many of whom were new to machine learning, had signed up for the hackathon.

He said the programme was designed to be approachable, allowing individuals with basic programming knowledge to develop skills that could eventually enable them to compete on the global stage.

“You can begin with some really simple programming language experience and, within a year, be able to compete at an international level and begin to be able to produce products and services that are globally competitive,” he said. (STT)