New council aims at innovation to take us onwards

Seychelles Nation - 19.03.2010
The newly formed Seychelles Innovation and Technology Council aims to promote a creative society to bring Seychelles towards a new stage in its development.

Its chairman Dr Rolph Payet said this during the first meeting with all the other members, in the Vice-President’s office at State House yesterday.

In his opening remarks, he said the council brings together a wide diversity of talented individuals to work towards creating a platform for innovation.

“The council will create the drive and motivation for innovation,” he said.

He said innovation is about change, the need to continuously improve on things and, above all, it is a way of life. It is meeting the needs of today’s generation and preparing for tomorrow’s generation.
“It has to dominate in our productive industries, such as fisheries and tourism, and also in sports and our culture,” added Dr Payet.

He said innovation has to permeate our society and our social fabric so as to address our current social challenges.
The role of the council is to interact with the government, the private sector and all stakeholders, to see how we can develop and review the way we do things, he added.

And it is also about how we can improve our services and bring innovation into the lives of Seychellois, as there is a need for us to develop our potential and bring in new ideas.

“There are many innovations that have taken place in the environment, using ideas from different organisations,” said Dr Payet.

He said innovation is not always about technological development but it also means new ideas and ways of doing things for the benefit of our economy, our people and our country.

Dr Payet also spoke about the variety of activities proposed by the council for this year, including the launch of the Seychelles Innovation Programme, which may lead to national innovation awards.

He said the University of Seychelles also plays a key role in fostering innovation as it carries out a great deal of research.

“We have to take models from countries like Singapore, which has invested in its social resources to move forward,” he added.

Seychelles has been recently recognised as a country that has put in place certain innovations, especially in the environment, he said. President James Michel received awards last year from Unesco and Lebanon on our behalf, which shows our potential.

Other educational activities to feature during the year will be national quizzes and spelling-bees, and promotion of research in educational institutions.

The council also has some long-term objectives, which include nurturing creativity and innovation as part of a lifelong learning process at all levels of society, and making all educational institutions centres of learning, creativity and innovation.

The new council’s role was outlined in Mr Michel’s recent state-of-the-nation address, in which he stressed that the innovative drive of the Seychellois people has been recognised internationally.

Its members are from the fields of business, industry, economics, education, the law and the arts.