Don Robotham | A holistic approach to development

In the last column, I made the point that development is about transforming our structure of production not just about enhancing ‘human capabilities’ in the sense of the great Indian Nobel prize-winning economist, Amartya Sen. If an economy fails to do this, it will remain a low or middle income one forever caught in a low technology trap.

One of the biggest mistakes we could make is to reduce this drive for technological transformation to a narrow technocratic vision. If we approach it this way, we shall fail. We must take a holistic approach. The Humanities express values which we want to uphold. They are essential in their own right, especially history and literature. Technological transformation depends heavily on the Humanities as it really is about ‘applied creativity’ and enhancing the naturally creative inclinations of the Jamaican people. Creativity in music, sport, poetry, novels, painting are crucial expressions of our general creativity. Notwithstanding what Auden wrote, poetry makes a lot happen. Creativity is fungible and if we stifle artistic creativity and personal freedom, there shall be no technological creativity either.

NEED FOR TECHNOLOGICAL SOPHISTICATION

This is particularly true for us in Jamaica. What is distinctive about Jamaica is the unique natural properties of many of our products – coconut oil, Jamaican black castor oil, scotch bonnet pepper, ginger, mangos, rum, coffee and our music – and the distinctive qualities of the Jamaican people. But if we continue simply to export these as raw products or semi-processed ‘mash’ or ‘raw services’ then other economies which do the research and the product innovation, processing and packaging, will get the value-added, not us. So, their incomes will rise, not ours.

As The Gleaner has pointed out with respect to coffee, research in this area is advancing rapidly in Japan so they shall reap the value-added. This kind of research is complex because we want to innovate with new products, processes and packaging but we also do not want to lose the unique properties which are the essence of what makes our products attractive.

Much of our development will have to be in technologically sophisticated, small-scale manufacturing and farming. There is a large body of experience in Asia and in Italy on small-scale tech innovation though not specific to Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Goal 9 (Industrial Policy) of the UN Sustainable Development 2030 Agenda, mysteriously omits SIDS from having any need for Industrial Policy! So original research which takes account of our specific unique qualities will be essential.

The same goes for the environment. What I have in mind is not some blind rush into technology-driven development. On the contrary, I am talking about low carbon/carbon-free ‘green’ development. Again, this is why research is so essential. We have to understand our environmental specifics better and devise original ways of reconciling development with climate change.

As for human rights, this is such an important subject that it merits a separate column. Suffice it to say that there will be no development in the sense being proposed here without respect for the rights of the individual and the strengthening of our human rights framework. We have a punitive concept of law and confuse vengeance with justice. Again, human rights are values in their own right. Given our history, the values of individual freedom are deeply ingrained. But we also have traditions of authoritarianism which threaten these hard-won freedoms.

The point of transforming our production systems is not to develop a materialistic society in which a minority enjoys ‘prosperity’ and represses the majority. It is to free people from the daily hustle for basic necessities so that we can develop our better selves, with individuals enjoying the highest respect, whatever their colour, class, gender or sexual orientation. Tech transformation is utterly pointless if, in the process, these central values become sidelined in the name of ‘discipline’ or ‘law and order’ or any other such canard. Repression will crush our individual spirit and bring innovativeness to a halt.

Current spending on technology transfer is tokenism and not focused on innovative research and transformation. Nor is there any radical refocusing of our institutional structures to make industrial policy central, as the Biden administration has done in the US. Our diplomatic representation in Asia remains weak, despite Asia being the most dynamic part of the world economy.

PREMATURE DECOUPLING

Although technological innovation is our core mission, transfer of existing technology is crucial. Our larger firms are medium-size by global standards and have a vital role to play in this area. Yet it’s striking how many are diversifying away from Jamaica. This ‘diversification’ is more like decoupling. They ‘link up’ to global value-chains but don’t ‘link back’ to transform our own technological landscape in Jamaica. In so far as there is any innovativeness in their operations, these remain located outside of Jamaica. So, in addition to premature de-industrialisation we may also be experiencing ‘premature decoupling’.

Large firms need to be incentivised by government to do research and development (R&D) in Jamaica so that we get the benefit of the value-added and strengthen our domestic tech capacity. Indeed, one of the purposes of acquisitions overseas should be the transfer of foreign technology home to Jamaica. JAMPRO needs to be repurposed to assist business to identify overseas opportunities on the condition that these result in strengthening local R&D capacity and ‘link back.’

WEAK R&D INFRASTRUCTURE

Jamaica and the Caribbean have a weak R&D infrastructure. We must develop a strong one. The tertiary system needs to be approached strategically as a single integrated intellectual ecosystem with relatively specialised roles for University of Technology (UTech), The University of the West Indies (UWI), Northern Caribbean and other private institutions. There must be collaboration across institutional boundaries in particular interdisciplinary fields. We do not have the luxury of having standalone tertiary silos.

The UWI needs to do more basic research linked to the Scientific Research Council, with UTech more on the applied side. Both should be hubs for interdisciplinary research centres with close linkages to each other and to firms and the production process.

UTech MUST return to its original mission but even that won’t be enough. It should be a centre for technology research across the Caribbean region, collaborating with like institutions. All tertiary institutions must also ‘link back’ to high schools (especially our technical high schools) which in turn should link with our primary schools and work with them to raise standards up and down the ecosystem. Northern Caribbean is already doing some of this with HEART programmes. We need to seriously consider developing a mass programme of skill upgrading – a kind of JAMAL-HEART – in which we try to upgrade the skills of hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans, including the thousands in the informal sector, in a relatively short period of time.

These measures which I am proposing will take time to bear fruit. We shouldn’t fool ourselves that it will be easy as the decline in technical knowledge in the society has been broad and deep. But if pursued consistently and with determination they will offer us the chance to break out of our current stagnation.

n Don Robotham is professor of anthropology and founding director of the advanced research collaborative of the graduate centre, City University of New York. He was pro vice chancellor for graduate studies and research at UWI. Send feedback to drobotham@gmail.com