SLYOU Magazine Issue 1 | Page 59

Noel, who hails from Laborie, is co-founder of Invictus, a company which creates workable solutions in various areas, including improving water supply in drought-affected areas. The innovative spirit, he said, continues to blossom. “I never stop learning and experimenting. At any given time, I have like four or five possible innovations swirling in my head, just waiting for the right time and opportunity to be pitched,” he said. Last February, the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations, and Sustainable Development and key public and private sector stakeholders launched the Decade of Research and Innovation (2019-2029) themed Unleashing Our Creativity, Crafting Our Destiny. “From sheer frustration in the school system, I just couldn’t cope. However, I never allowed that to interfere with my desire to contribute to my nation. So I read, experimented and created. I worked some terrible jobs to fund my need to experiment, just waiting for the right time and right opportunity,” he told the students. Noel said his success was a mixture of good luck, hard work and support and advice from well-chosen friends and mentors, viewing each failure as an opportunity to begin the next journey more intelligently. This, he noted, is the recipe for creating the solutions for today’s problems. He said science and technology van help students produce solutions to challenges such as climate change, noting that recent technological advances have had a huge impact across the globe in many areas, including improving water and energy management, transportation systems and public safety. “Technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, synthetic biology, satellite and drone technologies can create opportunities to address sustainable development goals in numerous areas, including poverty, health, agriculture, education, water scarcity, and alternative sources of energy,” he stated. www.slyoumag.com | July-August 2019 The aim is to stimulate and develop a culture of innovative scientific thinking and analysis with nationally-driven research studies designed to offer sustainable solutions to socio-economic issues within the local context and foster apolitical, sustainable and evidence-based decision- making. A reduction of the island’s continued reliance on metropolitan countries to offer solutions to issues that impact us, as well as maximizing opportunities for infusing innovations across the national economy that foster sustainable national development and visionary problem-solving, is expected to be among the outcomes. Dr. Gale Rigobert, Minister for Education, Innovation and Sustainable Development, said that over the years students have showcased some brilliant projects at the fair. However, she noted that her Ministry will provide the necessary shepherding that would take the students’ ideas to market to commercialization to profit- making. SL-YOU | Business, People & Lifestyle 57