Dr. Neville Duncan

Neville Duncan holds the B.Sc. Economics & M.Sc. Government degrees (University of the West Indies), and PhD from Manchester University, England. He is a retired Professor in Caribbean Policy Studies and a former Director of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), UWI, Jamaica. Professor Duncan has researched and published on Caribbean government and politics, political economy, poverty, community empowerment, and non-governmental organizations, and on issues of international relations and development.

He is the author/editor of nine books or monographs, nine reports, more than seventy academic and scholarly articles, several other published research papers, and hundreds of papers and manuscripts. He has undertaken considerable scholarly work in international political economy, governance, poverty and community development and has had important consultancies with IDB, World Bank, OAS, UNDP, UNICEF, ECLAC/CDCC, DFID, ILO, CARICOM, OXFAM, NGOs, among others. Recent evaluation consultations were done for the BVI Government (Social Sector Policy and Implementation Plan); for the Ministry of Water and Housing Jamaica (National Housing Policy and Implementation Plan); as a governance consultant with a team doing an ADR on UNDP, Jamaica; and work on "The Political Economy of Implementation Deficit" for the World Bank.



Dr. Michael Witter, Professor Neville Duncan, and Dr. Keith Nurse, all eminent faculty of the University of the West Indies, will jointly present in a plenary session on the subject: "Innovation Governance and Small States: Strategic Opportunities in Energy, Food and Health."

Summarising their topic, the presenters explain that over the last two to three decades Caribbean countries have become less competitive, as exemplified by a decline in export diversification and increased concentration in exports and markets. Most countries have extremely high levels of trade specialisation, usually in the export of low value-added raw materials, commodities, manufacturing (for example, clothing and electronics) and services (for instance, tourism and financial services) which have had declining terms of trade, and fetch low (and volatile) prices in global markets.

Further, it is increasingly recognized that Caribbean countries need to improve their innovation systems in order to compete globally. In tandem, there is rising acceptance that innovation systems should also respond to the demands of Caribbean societies in terms of poverty alleviation and sustainability goals. To achieve these multiple goals, specific strategies need to be in place in order to ensure that innovation efforts increase competitiveness as well as respond to environmental impacts and the distribution effects.

The overall aim of the paper is to explore areas of innovation governance that can make a definitive and measurable contribution to the thinking and planning on how to reduce key Caribbean vulnerabilities/fragilities and/or enhance strategic export and growth opportunities in the contemporary and emerging global context which have a discernible impact on sustainability and social inclusion. The paper explores, in particular, areas related to health, food and energy, given the region’s high dependence on imports and the quantum of GDP shares in these areas. Emergent trends in the global economy and in the climate change agenda suggest that these areas of the economy are likely to experience higher prices and so present increased risks for import-dependent economies like the Caribbean region.