Letter of the Day | More R&D, less merger and acquisition
Published:Wednesday | December 14, 2022 | 12:50 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
The recent call by Senator Kavan Gayle for greater investments in research and development (R&D) should be viewed as one of the most significant proposals to have come from that chamber in recent memory.
For far too long, business and political leaders of this country have held back the development of the nation by their failure to realise that without meaningful investments in R&D, Jamaica’s hopes for true development would always remain an elusive dream.
But perhaps the greatest tragedy of this fiasco is not that it was caused through ignorance, but by strategic design.
The truth is, the myopic approach to wealth creation that dominates the psyche of Jamaica’s entrepreneurs convinces them that the rewards of R&D are too distant. Therefore, the route to accelerated wealth creation is through merger and acquisition. This truth is borne out by the fact that there is hardly a major company/corporation that does not have a sufficiently resourced merger and acquisition department, while precious few have anything that can be considered a result-oriented R&D department.
While Senator Gayle emphasised the tremendous improvement in productivity that can be derived from more investments in R&D, I want to focus on the wider benefits the country stands to gain, if our leaders can be convinced, that the surest way to development status is through significant investments in R&D.
While we understand that the end result of R&D is greater economic growth, this is achieved because it is through R&D that innovation and invention are realised, resulting in the creation of new products and services, in addition to enhancing the quality of existing ones.
How many of us realise that it is only through the pursuit of R&D by others why we are able to possess things like a phone, TV, computer, and many other appliances and electronics?
It is noteworthy that the countries that are producing cutting-edge technologies, and other world-leading products, have been investing a minimum of two per cent of their GDP on research and development.
If the eyes of our leaders are not opened right now to the importance of significant investments in R&D, I am afraid that the country’s underdevelopment could become irreversible.
CASHLEY BROWN