On Wednesday 3rd August, 2016, CARIRI and the Engineering Institute of The University of the West Indies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which will see greater collaboration between the two institutions. The general intent of both parties is to cooperate in the areas of Research, Development and Innovation (RDI), Entrepreneurship Development and Commercialisation.
The primary focus of the MOU will be on collaboration in the areas of design, manufacture, calibration and marketing of electronic/precision engineered products/instruments and the establishment of joint training and entrepreneurship development initiatives.
Signing the MOU on behalf of the Engineering Institute was the Manager, Professor Clement Imbert. Representing CARIRI was Mr Liaquat Ali Shah, Chief Executive Officer. While acknowledging the new challenges that lay before their respective organizations, both men were looking forward to the collaborative efforts that will see real benefit accruing to the institutions and, by extension, Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean region.
Both CARIRI and the Engineering Institute have highly trained staff and modern, well equipped facilities which will see more ground breaking ideas and inventions coming to the forefront as the partnership takes effect.
CARIRI has established an Idea Advisory Service (IAS) over the last year, which is a free service offered to the general public. It provides an avenue for persons with innovative ideas to submit these ideas for screening, via a portal on the Institute’s website, with a view to determining novelty and market validation, as well as proof of business. The IAS has been gaining traction over the last few months and the signing of this MOU with the Engineering Institute aligns with CARIRI’s ongoing, strategic thrust of facilitating Innovation, ie. Creativity Being Implemented, as a means of increasing substantively its contribution to economic diversification.
For over 40 years, CARIRI’s modern laboratories with state-of-the-art equipment, together with its highly trained specialist professionals, technologists, technicians, consultants and researchers, have been helping local and Caribbean enterprises, encompassing large and MSMEs, to grow and develop while ensuring that the environment is adequately safeguarded.
CARIRI’s focus, as far as R&D is concerned, is primarily on applied research and, with the signing of this MOU, a new world of possibilities opens up to translate developmental work into commercial opportunities.