The National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC) in collaboration with Bright Path Foundation will be hosting a mobile application development workshop at the Dominica State College this week.
Executive Director of the NTRC, Craig Nesty, in his address at the official opening on Monday explained that the five-day workshop will include training in the development of Android applications.
“Android powers hundreds of millions of devices in more than one hundred and ninety countries. Android market has reached and surpassed 1.5 billion downloads a month and growing. The worldwide mobile application market including premium downloads in app purchases and in app advertising is projected to reach a value of twenty-seven billion dollars in 2013. The NTRC believes it is time for Dominica to become a participant in the mobile application economy”
Bright Path Foundation is a Caribbean-Based International Non-Profit Organization which focuses on the use of technology in education to create new opportunities.
Founder, Bevil Wooding described the workshop as very important bearing in mind the increasing number of Caribbean nationals who utilize mobile technology.
“We have to create local apps and that doesn’t happen by chance. It happens when a serious, significant, deliberate investment is made in developing that capacity, not just the capacity to build the apps but the capacity to understand how those apps are used to address real local challenges and more importantly to create real global opportunities,” he said.
Wooding told those present that in order to be successful it is necessary to not only acquire the technical skills to build mobile apps but to develop the “mentality” to overcome the challenges of an environment resistant to new initiatives coming from this region.
He noted…”we have the unique challenge in the region and the challenge is this, we both have to enthuse people into writing mobile apps and then we also have to open their eyes to the concerns they must overcome if they [were to receive]the same opportunities that others in other jurisdictions have.”
Hon. Kelvar Darroux, Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister with Responsibility for ICT, challenged participants of the workshop to develop an application to be used by farmers.
“These mobile apps should be able to assist farmers, land owners and animal owners to work faster and more accurate in the field, thereby increasing productivity and profitability.”
Minister for Information, Telecommunications and Constituency Empowerment, Hon Ambrose George believes that the development of mobile application will help to develop individual intellect capacity.
“It’s all well and good that we attend the Dominica State College or we do a course in Information Technology; we have the laptops and all the other gadgets and pieces of equipment that are available to us; we have our mobile phones but unless we develop that intellect that we have in terms of the capacity, we may find ourselves having all of those pieces of equipment and not being able to utilize them to the fullest.”