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July 2011
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From the Principal: Support for research, innovation and technology transfer
Our Vice Chancellor, Professor E. Nigel Harris, recently made the point that the university must take on some of the roles filled by governments in other societies in tackling social problems in areas as diverse as gun crimes, school dropout rates and the preservation of forests. This view of “applied research” is one that I endorse fully, and it extends to that which helps to increase our economic competitiveness in the global environment. The work we have done has been fairly extensive, although much of it is still not widely known. For instance, a substantial boost to the cocoa industry has been generated by the Cocoa Research Unit; food security is constantly being addressed in ways such as pigeon peas that can grow all year round and disease resistant crops. And we are trying to enhance the commercial aspects of small industries, like the anthuriums we feature in this issue. I myself spent many years working on the storage of tropical crops like the breadfruit and the development of machines for processing – the nutmeg in Grenada, for example. The list of contributions is long and varied and includes non-tangibles, which is why since 1998 The UWI developed an Intellectual Property Policy which deals with issues of ownership and control of our creative outputs and matters such as copyright and inventions. It provides a framework for protecting rights and clarifying some of the gray areas that often occur in complex situations where multiple researchers and sponsors are involved. The bottom line is that regardless of the specifics of each circumstance, ownership can only be determined through discussion and mutual agreement. Clement K. Sankat |
By their very nature, universities are sites of ideas, research and creativity. In fact, it is the stated goal of this St. Augustine Campus to become recognized for research, particularly research that leads to finding solutions to the problems of the region, and that enhances the quality of life of our people. It has been our policy to encourage such work as vigorously as we can, because we understand the changing role of the university in modern times, especially in developing societies such as ours.