In June 2021, The Trust for the Americas, in partnership with the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI), and the financial support of Citi Foundation, launched the DIA Lab in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, where young innovators and disruptive entrepreneurs will create low-cost, high-impact, high-quality innovation solutions that generate affordable access and livelihood opportunities for their communities on a long-term sustainable basis.
This innovation lab marks the first initiative implemented by The Trust for the Americas in the Caribbean country.
Promote innovation and the creation of disruptive solutions in the youth of Trinidad and Tobago, while developing skills through training and access to technology.
Train and empower at least 200 young innovators/entrepreneurs in 2021.
Provide $15,000.00 in seed-funding to support disruptive and innovative projects.
ICT. Key tools will include an introduction to Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, data visualization, and data-driven projects, the development of public policies with data, data interpretation languages such as Python and R, introduction to machine learning, internet of things, among others.
Business Training & Incubator. Key components will include digital marketing, critical thinking and communication with clients and partners, intellectual property, social media strategies and modern tools for commercialization.
Ideathon sessions are brainstorming/community events for communities to define challenges in a thematic area. The best solutions will get start-up resources and mentoring to translate them into reality, implemented in partnership with local actors.
Regional Caribbean activities to include international specialists, local private and public sectors, and a simultaneous hackathon to promote the use of data to solve social problems.
Develop an outreach strategy for the local business community to identify candidates to provide mentorship, internships and job placement opportunities.
The Pitch Tank Competitions allow the beneficiaries to compete for seed funding based on the quality of their ideas and their business plans.
The DIA Lab in Trinidad and Tobago celebrated its first graduation ceremony, in which 46 young Trinbagonians were recognized for completing the DIA training program, focused on digital and entrepreneurial courses.
The virtual competition invited tech-savvy innovators from Belize, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago to develop new ideas that support the COVID-19 recovery response.
The invitation is open to tech-savvy innovators from Belize, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, to develop new ideas supporting Open Government initiatives.
The Youth Innovation Lab in Trinidad will impact 200 young people in 2021, providing state-of-the-art innovation and technology training, access to collaboration spaces and more, promoting STEM education and entrepreneurship.
Citi Global Community Day Ideathon created a collaborative space to generate innovative solutions to address challenges that affect communities in the Caribbean.
