Will innovative or new technologies become a threat to vested interests in the Caribbean?
In many parts of the world innovative technologies are helping create new markets and add value by disrupting existing business networks in a manner that the existing market may not expect. The effect usually is to increase competition, reduce prices and restructure a market to find new consumers; but in ways that also alter the behaviour patterns of an existing market, threatening entrenched interests.
Typical examples of this are the electronic taxi hailing services of which Uber is the best known, and Airbnb which enables individuals to rent out their usually privately owned properties to