Minister of Industry, Innovation, Science and Technology, Marsha Caddle, says a developers’ hub is needed for technologists to come together to identify and solve “real” problems as Government moves towards digitising the public sector.
Ms. Caddle was speaking at the recent Catapult Technology Summit – “We Gatherin’: Support Beyond the Screen” to discuss Barbados’ digital transformation journey and the opportunities for strengthening the technology ecosystem in Barbados.
“I want us to have our developers hub. I want us to come together to say look, this is a problem that we’ve identified but also, this is not a problem. This is a way that we can live on another level; this is a way we can enhance our well-being. So, this is not just us trying to not be so bad off, but this is us really trying to elevate how we live in our country…. I can’t wait to launch the developers hub…. For me, that’s the way, it is to say, look, find some problems, solve them, show us, and let’s build it,” she said.
Minister Caddle also discussed the mobile ID, stating that it would make moving through the online space easier. She added that when the e-services platform comes on stream, it would also facilitate the process.
CEO of GovTech Barbados Ltd., Mark Boyce, said there were some e-services currently available, however, they were done in a “bespoke” way. He explained that Government was looking at a more centralised and uniformed way of onboarding services throughout the public sector, a process that would not happen overnight.
“The services will have to be, first of all, catalogued, to figure out exactly what are the hundreds or thousands of services that exist across government. And then, there will need to be prioritised. And, you know, because there are finite resources, some will have to come later than others. But the idea is that eventually, most, if not all of the services will be available in a digital form, so that people will no longer have to physically travel to government offices to get things done. So that the e-services platform involves several moving pieces,” he stated, noting that one key aspect was getting the various siloed technological systems across government to speak to each other.
He added: “That’s the so called interoperability part of it, which we need to get our economy to build or procure. The second part, is the visual ID portion to authenticate people online that will be a part of this system. We may also need digital signatures and, obviously, all of this has to be wrapped in security. We need to make sure that the system is secure from a cybersecurity perspective. So, this is all in train,” said Mr. Boyce.