5.1.9 Industry and ICT Sector (Inc. Trade and Financial Services) The initiatives proposed in this area of focus aim to develop the nascent ICT sector and to facilitate the utilisation of ICT by the business community itself. The development of e-Commerce will also provide an incentive for businesses to go on-line and to present SVG to the global business community. And finally the strategic introduction of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) will be pursued as a mechanism to develop the ICT sector itself. These initiatives will be delivered as part of the e-Industry Programme. The first initiative will focus on better defining the use of ICT by the business community and seek to better define and understand the capabilities and capacity of the ICT sector itself. This will require a comprehensive survey of what ICTs are used by the business community to support its internal business processes and to interact with the rest of the world, whether as part of a supply chain or offering its services via the Internet. It will seek to determine the capability of the organisations’ employees to support an accelerated e-Industry programme. The ICT businesses will be surveyed to assess their capability to support the national ICT plan and to grow and support a profitable ICT sector. This survey will review the software development and support capability of the existing sector and the ability to support modern ICT as well as the capacity to innovate with technology. The information derived from this survey will be used to benchmark SVG with countries such as Barbados, Malta and Singapore and concrete recommendations developed to strengthen and develop both the business community and the ICT sector to take on the challenges that will arise in supporting the national ICT agenda. The information will also be utilised on the St. Vincent and the Grenadines is now at a stage where it can leverage several investment criteria to intensively promote and attract greater ICT Investments. 1. Low Competitive Telecommunication Costs 2. Highly Trained Labour Force in ICT 3. Suitable locations to accommodate ICT firms 4. Low Crime and soon easy air accessibility 5. Progressive Fiscal Incentive package 6. Assistance provided in identifying and training suitable human resources Government Portal or via the proposed ICT Portal as a Virtual Directory such that the services and capabilities of the business community of SVG can be presented and offered to the rest of the world. While the National Investment Promotion Incorporation – SVG has made some progress with foreign investment in the ICT sector, and the EU/SFA 2005 Business Skills and e-Business Incubator Project has sought to improve strategic alliances to strengthen the ICT sector, much more needs to be done. Government is the largest consumer of ICT goods and services in SVG, and therefore has the potential to facilitate the growth of the ICT sector through the strategic outsourcing of some aspects of ICT development and support. This can be specific software development projects which have the potential for export to other Caribbean countries and the world at large. In this regard, the opportunities to work collaboratively with other OECS countries to develop ICT products that can be shared will be pursued. In order for this strategic outsourcing arrangement to work, a clear policy framework must be developed. During the period of this Plan, it is expected that the policy framework will be crafted and approved and at least three ICT projects which have sharing and export potential will be distributed under PPPs to the ICT community. The role of the private sector in support the e-government agenda, including government on-line will be defined under this initiative. E-Commerce initiatives are being pursued under the EU/SFA 2005 Project. These initiatives need to be considered under the ambit of the national ICT plan. The expansion of the proposed 100 SMEs in the ICT Portal project will be expanded to the entire SME community. The enabling policy framework to allow this Portal to grow and expand to support a thriving business community will be finalised and implemented. The Portal will expand to support full businessto-business transactions and support the export development effort in the long term. 5.2 ICT-ENABLED SMES The smart use of tools and resources can make the difference for SMEs to survive and prosper. However, business owners still have to add a certain "X-factor" to ensure business success. There is a direct correlation between ICT adopted by SMEs and its competitiveness. The implication is that SMEs stand to make their businesses much more efficient and capable by taking advantage of the benefits of technology. Depending on affordability, high speed connectivity tend facilitate competitiveness; and Projects and Programmes P a g e | 71