Development and Strengthening of CARIRI’s Idea Advisory Service (IAS) and Innovation Gap Analysis Programme (IGAP)

WAITRO members, the Danish Technological Institute (DTI) of Denmark and the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI) of Trinidad and Tobago, joined forces to catalyze innovation and enterprise development. Stemming from a previous Collaboration Agreement between DTI and CARIRI, a subsequent partnership was formed to enhance CARIRI’s Idea Advisory Service (IAS) and Innovation Gap Analysis Programme (IGAP). This collaboration, spanning from September 2018 to November 2019, harnessed the expertise of a DTI Consultant, Knud Erik Hilding Hamann to fortify these programs, mirroring DTI’s Inventor Advisory Service (IAS) and Innovation Agent Programme (IAP).

CARIRI’s IAS is designed to address two issues that are critical to the successful implementation of the ideation to commercialization process, i.e. effective screening of ideas to ensure that they are of high quality, with good business potential (novelty and market validation, as well as IPR and value proposition), and a strong focus on proof of business.
The IGAP is designed to foster innovation at the enterprise level. It involves the conduct of gap analyses in enterprises to identify opportunities for embracing innovation and assisting the enterprises in implementing the innovation ventures.

The new Agreement catered for the execution of a range of activities, including Team Evaluation; Workshops (Strategy and KPIs; Promotional; Innovation, including In Company innovation Workshops, Innovation Workshop with Energy Cluster Members (Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency), Cocoa Community Innovation Workshop, Innovation Workshop with Internal CARIRI Departments, Innovation Workshop with Second Stage IAS Applicants, Training Workshops for IAS and IGAP Teams (Licensing Models and Contracts, Manufacturing Optimization Methods and Servitization Models); Improvements to Systems; and New Tools and Techniques.

Both Programmes are currently operational at the Institute’s Centre for Enterprise Development (CED) which is its flagship development for Innovation Facilitation, Entrepreneurship Development, New Business Creation and Business Expansion.

SDG IMPACT 

The technical and advisory support provided by DTI assisted in building the capability of the Institute’s IAS and IGAP Teams, thereby enabling them to more effectively execute both Programmes. As a result, the IAS witnessed a higher throughput of participants. Further, with funding support from the IDB, some fifty-four (54) high growth potential SMEs benefited from grant funding for scale up over the period 2021– mid 2023. With regard to the IGAP, an increased number of firms benefited from the conduct of innovation gap analyses and the implementation of interventions; thereby contributing to the development of a culture of innovation in SMEs.

For more information on the project contact :

Hans-Erich Schulz ( CARIRI) : ceo@cariri.com