Promoting Caribbean science and technology-intensive development through brain circulation: The case of biotechnology in Jamaica

Abstract

This article addresses the role of skilled migrants in Caribbean science, technology and innovation policy. It asks: how can Caribbean countries that experience high levels of skilled out-migration capture the benefits of their diasporas through brain circulation? What policies and institutions are required to allow Caribbean countries to harness the knowledge and skills that exist within their diasporas so as to boost development efforts at home? How can the strong trade and diplomatic relations that exist between Canada and the Caribbean be harnessed towards achieving mutually beneficial immigration and economic goals? The article applies experience from South Korea and Taiwan to the Jamaican biotechnology sector to show how highly skilled diasporas can act as conduits of knowledge and technology and thus serve as a crucial pillar in the development of a technology-intensive Caribbean economy. What is required is the creation of appropriate institutional mechanisms to facilitate strategic interactions between policymakers, the private sector and members of the diaspora.

Cet article examine le rôle joué par les migrants caribéens qualifiés dans la politique de leur région d'origine, en ce qui concerne la science, la technologie et l'innovation. Il pose les questions suivantes : Comment les pays de la Caraïbe dont les taux d'émigration sont élevés profitent-ils de leur diaspora à travers cette circulation des cerveaux? Quelles politiques et quelles institutions doivent être mises en place pour permettre à ces pays d'exploiter les connaissances et les compétences existant au sein de leur diaspora, afin de soutenir leurs efforts de développement ? Comment les relations commerciales et diplomatiques étroites entre le Canada et la Caraïbe peuvent-elles être exploitées pour que les deux atteignent mutuellement les objectifs économiques favorisés par l'immigration? L'article applique l'expérience de la Corée du Sud et de Taïwan au secteur jamaïcain de la biotechnologie pour illustrer comment les diasporas au sein desquelles les niveaux de qualification sont élevés peuvent servir à canaliser les connaissances et la technologie, et ainsi, de pilier essentiel pour le développement d'une économie à forte intensité technologique dans la Caraïbe. Il est par conséquent nécessaire de créer des mécanismes institutionnels appropriés pour faciliter les interactions stratégiques entre les décideurs politiques, le secteur privé et les membres de la diaspora.

Keywords:

• development
• industrial policy
• science and technology
• diaspora

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Dr Keith Nurse and Jessica Jones of the University of the West Indies Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services for their support during the research phase, and to CTPL-UWISRC workshop participants and the journal editors for valuable comments on earlier versions of the article. Special thanks also go to Aziza Ahmed for feedback on the draft. All errors remain my own.

Notes

Brain circulation refers to the process of dynamic movement and interaction of skilled migrants between their home and host countries. It differs from brain drain, which reflects the flow of skilled migrants from home to host country, as well as ‘reverse brain drain’, which is a similarly unidirectional flow. By contrast, brain circulation implies a dynamic, continuous, circular flow, with migrants having continuous presence and interactions in both the home and host country and serving as conduits of knowledge and technology. Brain circulation is epitomized by Saxenian's (2007) ‘New Argonauts’ who shuttle back and forth between their host and home country as researchers or investors, establishing and maintaining a dynamic link between research and economic activities in both places. Brain circulation can occur through a multiplicity of modes including, but not limited to, short-term recruitment, provision of cross-border services, commercial presence and temporary movement or permanent return.

The services export push is proceeding despite the potentially negative distributional implications of this development strategy given the skill profile of the regional labor force (Marshall 2002).

Jamaica has made a recent push into business processing outsourcing based on domestic entrepreneurship and has enjoyed some early success, but it remains to be seen how sustainable its efforts will be in an increasingly competitive and commodified area of economic activity.

In fact, though Taiwan and South Korea are much larger than Caribbean countries like Jamaica, the proportionately larger diasporas in the Caribbean imply that the relative impact of diaspora engagement could be much greater. This is particularly so in larger more diversified economies such as Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago that offer a wider variety of industries and sectors where members of the diaspora are likely to have experience and could get involved.

The GOJ report defines ‘efficiency-driven development stage’ as being beyond the factor-driven stage of development where economic growth is driven by increased factor prices-e.g., primary commodities and unskilled labour.

Remittances play a critical role in maintaining Jamaica's tenuous macro-economic stability. At US$2 billion per year, remittances from Jamaican's overseas migrants represent the country's leading source of foreign exchange inflows.

It also recognizes that connections with the world economy are necessary but insufficient requirements. Success is determined by the nature of engagement with the global economy – particularly the quality of search functions to identify new areas of activity and appropriate technological solutions – and the structural characteristics of collaboration with other actors (Sabel 2009).

Neutraceuticals are food products derived from plant extracts that provide particular health benefits including disease prevention or treatment. They have been a product of particular interest to government and researchers in the Jamaican biotechnology sector and have comprised an important pillar of the biotechnology research that has been done in Jamaica.

Bodles suffered from a period of decline largely due to inattention in the 1990s and early 2000s but it has been on the rebound in recent years.

Recall that the concept of brain circulation does not necessarily require migrants to permanently return, but rather focuses on their role as interlocutors and conduits of knowledge flows. Indeed, many members of the Caribbean science diaspora are engaging in policy and research activities from abroad. This is well-evidenced by the work of the Caribbean diaspora for Science, Technology and Innovation, an organization that was collaboratively launched by scientists in the region and overseas, and headed by a Barbadian MIT Professor. It is also reflected in the high diaspora participation levels in the government-sponsored Diaspora Conferences.

Further, the manner of diaspora engagements in South Korea and Taiwan were tailored to local socio-political realities as well as policy and business strategies. For example, Taiwan followed a model of small- to medium-sized firms, with entrepreneurship through science parks while the Korean efforts were largely oriented around the chaebol, Korea's massive conglomerates.

The best example is the recently launched Biotechnology R&D Institute, which aims to develop nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products for export. The Institute is the brainchild of local Jamaican scientist Dr Henry Lowe and his University of Maryland-based colleague Dr Joseph Bryant. See Obukhova (2011) for a nuanced view of the ‘brokerage’ role of diasporas in China.

In fact, the efforts spearheaded by the Jamaican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade has already attracted the attention of the counterpart Foreign Affairs Ministry in Barbados who are keen to learn from the Jamaica diaspora Conference model.

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Jason Jackson

Jason Jackson is a PhD Candidate in the Political Economy of Development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, USA and also lectures in the Masters in Trade Policy Programme with the Shridath Ramphal Centre at the University of the West Indies. His research is concerned with the origins and evolution of the institutional arrangements that reflect relations between business and the state and the implications for economic development. His dissertation focuses on the political economy of foreign direct investment in India. He holds an AB in Economics from Princeton University, an MSc in Development Economics from the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School. He has won fellowships from the Social Sciences Research Council in the US and the Overseas Development Institute in the UK.