The past two years have reaffirmed that digital is not optional. It is a central tool for public service delivery, citizen engagement, and catalysing new industries and opportunities. Digital also plays a crucial role in crisis response – countries with existing strong digital foundations were largely able to respond quicker to the COVID-19 pandemic. With this in mind, digital is an essential component of SIDS’ development journey - from driving investment and growth, to enabling critical communications. But these tools need to be leveraged effectively by SIDS. This includes ensuring they align with the unique needs and realities of our countries, including the threats that SIDS face. Most notably, the vulnerability of digital infrastructure was sadly highlighted during the devastating incident in Tonga this week.
2022 could see digital efforts translating into exciting opportunities across the SIDS community. Discussions around ‘The Great Reset’ driven by the COVID-19 pandemic have re-focused attentions on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The barriers to exploring new and emerging technologies are lowering every day, whilst the natural agility and leadership of SIDS countries could be an important complement to developing testbeds and trials and shaping other explorations. For instance, as SIDS aim to move towards a large ocean approach, they are harnessing technologies to spark a data revolution for the Blue Economy in these traditionally data poor countries. Barbados is piloting digital technologies for the Blue Economy, installing pelagic data systems tracking devices on small vessels to inform fisheries management and conservation efforts, piloting the Blue Digital app with fisherfolk to improve data and traceability along the supply chain, and using drones and artificial intelligence to monitor Sargassum seaweed influxes.
However, 4IR isn’t just about technologies like 5G and AI – it’s also about redefining global supply networks, and global comparative advantages. Here, innovations such as 3D-printing – and interventions like makerspaces – are already gaining traction in SIDS. As we reflect on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply chains, SIDS could become key players in these new global structures.
However, digital also could allow SIDS countries to no longer be constrained by physical boundaries, or their comparatively smaller sizes. Most famously, the governments of Estonia and Singapore recognised the importance of digital for their countries – and are now reimagining these structures and processes. With Barbados looking to establish an embassy in the Metaverse, could these new tools and innovations enable SIDS to lead aspects of the global digital economy? Recent developments in the digital world like Non-Fungible Tokens – an initial step into digital property ownership – are gaining traction with the creative community, including in lower-income countries. Could they catalyse the Orange Economy in SIDS countries?
Similarly the pandemic has broken through cultural and technological barriers that prevented remote work, generating important opportunities for SIDS to overcome geographical constraints. As traditional tourism re-opens, remote workers will continue to be an important new market, with the natural beauty and climate of SIDS as a powerful draw for expats. Beyond their direct investment (the Barbados welcome stampers accounted for US$92 million spent on accommodations alone), this cohort represents a still largely untapped resource for driving innovation, partnership, and investment within SIDS economies. Remote work could also provide a much-needed solution to the domestic labour markets and brain drain. As demonstrated by the Dominica Work Online programme, this shift is providing SIDS with opportunities to create jobs for skilled nationals who can now find opportunities abroad, while staying at home.
Digital is providing important opportunities for driving collaboration within and beyond SIDS – particularly priorities such as cross-border data and relevant initiatives such as Open Banking (drawing on the strong fintech interests of SIDS). Similarly, increasing efforts around open-source and digital public goods demonstrate the importance and impact of working with – and learning from – each other. But, inequalities and risks remain. And any exploration or implementations of digital need to be led, owned, and shaped by SIDS. Countries should not be testbeds, playgrounds, or training sets for technologies from higher-income countries. As they equip themselves with new or emerging digital strategies, SIDS governments, such as Belize and Dominica, are empowering themselves to attract public and private investment to key areas and to lead a wave of transformation on digital skills, government services, and private sector innovation.
Read more in the SIDS Bulletin Special Edition - SIDS in 2022 and Beyond
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