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