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Avinash Meetoo

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Designing the Future of Tourism: Expanding the access of small operators to new market segments via the existing ICT infrastructure

22 June 2022 By Avinash Meetoo Leave a Comment

Photo: UNDP Mauritius / Stéphane Bellerose.

The Republic of Mauritius, which includes the island of Rodrigues, has improved its Information and Communication Technology infrastructure over the past decade. The country ranked first in Africa in the ITU ICT Development Index 2017, the ITU Global Cybersecurity Index 2018 and the UN e-Government Development Index 2020. During a two-day dialogue held in December 2021, participants were asked whether local MSMEs in the tourism sector could leverage the existing ICT infrastructure to expand their access to senior tourists and to digital nomads by providing them with targeted products and services. Here are the answers obtained.

Silver tourism and medical tourism now and in the future

Currently, 25% of the tourists coming to Mauritius are aged 55+. Given that silver tourists are more prone to medical issues, local institutions in Mauritius need to be able to connect rapidly with the treating physicians or medical centres of these people abroad. The current ICT infrastructure of Mauritius is perfectly capable, as shown during the lockdown periods, of supporting video conferencing and the transfer of large files.

Furthermore, Mauritius has embarked on a major strengthening of the health sector through the establishment of a comprehensive digital health system (e-Health) in the country. The Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW) has the objective to improve its services through the definition of an ICT strategy. The aim is to enhance processes and optimize the use of resources with a view to increase the effectiveness and quality of patient care. One important consideration is entering new markets through the provision of novel services. In other words, the e-Health project, with the UNDP Mauritius and Seychelles as a major partner, can eventually provide the building blocks required for the establishment of Medical Tourism as a viable sector of the economy.

It is therefore the right time for forward-looking private operators in the medical sector to provide innovative services to this new market segment. For example, what about providing better signage for travelers? Mauritius is known to have numerous small roads and small villages, which can cause people to get lost from time to time. Physical signage can be installed by the local authorities but, in the era of Google Maps, digital platforms can also provide efficient services.

In this context, a private operator can seize the opportunity to systematically submit detailed and precise information to Google Maps (pins, descriptions, photos or, even reviews). The proper business model needs to be defined, but an interesting aspect is that the ICT infrastructure already exists (connectivity, mobile devices, and Google Maps). It is just a question of properly leveraging them.

Knowing Mauritius and its people better

Tourists, whether seniors or digital nomads, are known to be very open and adventurous. Some travel for the ‘sea, sand and sun’ experience, but many seek different experiences and social interactions with the local population.

Linking a tourist with a beekeeper, a farmer, or a fisher, weeks before the actual trip would allow fruitful and enriching interactions between the visitors and the inhabitants of Mauritius. Photo: UNDP Mauritius / Stéphane Bellerose

In the era of ecological consciousness, an option could be matching tourists with members of the local community at the time of booking of the air ticket. What about linking a tourist with a beekeeper, a farmer, or a fisher, weeks before the actual trip? This would allow the tourist to get a feel of the (real) country while the local will be able to benefit, in many ways, including financially, from this interaction. This novel idea is, as a matter of fact, an extension of the social network and the service could be provided by a local operator. In this case, there is no need to reinvent the wheel as existing social networks, such as Facebook, can be leveraged upon.

In the same way, while there are museums in Mauritius, much is left to be done to propose a coherent “museum experience” to visitors. The same observation applies for the promotion of local artists, whose talent deserve to be exposed in a more methodical manner. There is ample space for another local operator to open a virtual museum of Mauritius and Rodrigues linked to strategically placed QR codes everywhere in the country. One can readily reuse platforms such as YouTube or Facebook to create interesting virtual tableaux vivants for those who are traveling in the country. Mauritius being multicultural also offers many opportunities in the religious tourism space.

Modern technology for better experiences

Doing a presentation on “A brief history of Programming” during the Mauritius Developer Conference 2022.

Well-travelled people are often environment-conscious and familiar to the latest digital technologies, and they want to form part of the “right crowd”. Such tourists aspire to share ideas, knowledge and experiences with the local community. They also seek services and immersive learning experiences for them and their children.

Mauritius has a very well-developed ICT infrastructure, and, with a critical mass of innovators, it can become one of the most forward-thinking destinations in the world. The country can shift its focus from an exclusive ‘sea, sun and sand’ offer towards meaningful and potentially life-changing experiences for visitors. The digital transformation of the tourism sector, through products and services provided by innovative local private operators, can be one of the major enablers towards this vision. The role of small, agile and innovative MSMEs is fundamental and policy measures can be designed to create an enabling environment for them. Naturally, access to finance is also important and it is reassuring to see that, in Mauritius, business angels’ investment structures now also exist.

A proper balance between the traditional and the modern is therefore required. It is interesting to note that this transformation is in line with the new UNDP Strategic Plan, which proposes digitalization, innovation, and novel means of financing as enablers for the years to come.

Filed Under: Computing, Education, Future, News, Science, Society, Technology

Building a GRassroot Innovation Database (GRID) for Seychelles, Mauritius and Rodrigues

23 November 2021 By Avinash Meetoo Leave a Comment

The problems that human societies will face in the future will be complex, and it will take the very best minds, working as a collective, to solve them. The GRassroot Innovation Database (GRID), which is being built by the UNDP Mauritius and Seychelles Accelerator Lab, will include the Seychellois, Mauritian and Rodriguan innovators and the grassroot solutions they have worked on over the years. Through this initiative, innovators from our islands will be brought to the forefront and their solutions upscaled to the national and regional levels.

As a United Nations Agency, the UNDP supports countries towards achieving the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The vision behind is to promote prosperity for all but not at the expense of the planet and of our collective future. However, protecting the planet and people presents unique challenges. Furthermore, we are today facing unprecedented issues such as the dramatic effects of COVID-19 and climate change. To sustainably manage these threats which are quickly shaping the new normal, recipes of the past will unfortunately not work. It is thus time to think differently and this implies to work with and learn from each other.

Getting grassroots innovators on board

Today, it has become clear that top-down approaches (including solutions coming from “elsewhere” imposed on local populations) oftentimes fail as they are not really adapted to local specificities. Lessons learnt also shown that inclusive approaches are more efficient to address difficulties faced by the population. In our modern times, this involves getting everyone with innovative ideas and solutions on board towards achieving the SDGs. Missing this essential component would be tragic.

The main aim of the Accelerator Lab is to strengthen UNDP’s relationship with the grassroot communities and know more about their approaches to daily problems. Learning from these grassroot innovators, will allow the Lab to support the UNDP country office in better conceptualizing projects and proposals together. This collective approach will also contribute to improve the solutions proposed to the citizens of Mauritius, Rodrigues and Seychelles.

A GRassroot Innovation Database to democratize access to solutions

Inspired by the Indian GRID, created by Professor Anil Gupta of the Honey Bee Network and UNDP India, the UNDP Mauritius and Seychelles Accelerator Lab has embarked on a mission to build a database of innovators and grassroots innovations. This database, which will be built in collaboration with numerous partners, is meant to be user-friendly, searchable and useful for different audiences: international organizations, other funding agencies, government bodies, the private sector, incubators, and civil society.

Designed to be open and free to use, the GRID will allow easy access to a plethora of innovative solutions pertaining to women empowerment, economic growth, circular economy, sustainable natural resource management, livelihood generation, etc. Through the GRID, the works of innovators will benefit from additional support and many of them will be upscaled across the nation and beyond. It is also expected that the Governments of Mauritius and Seychelles use the GRID to determine who to engage with and what initiatives to support in the interest of the population.

The UNDP Accelerator Lab is preparing for a massive data collection exercise and ten UN Community Volunteers are on the way to help in these important tasks. The GRID will not be limited to textual information but will be a rich multimedia database with audio recordings, photos and videos. The data entered will be properly validated thorough cross-checking while outdated or irrelevant data will be purged regularly.

The protection of intellectual property is another essential aspect of the GRID. The publication of information will indefectibly require the authorization of their owners, in line with existing legislations such as the Data Protection Act of the Republic of Mauritius.

Innovation is key to the future

We have come to a period of human history where most simple problems have been solved and we now have to face the complex ones. Making sure that people of Seychelles, Mauritius and Rodrigues can strive without further affecting our planet and depleting our natural resources is a complicated task. In the face of such challenges, our Small Island Developing States cannot afford to miss out on the best minds they have. Therefore, the GRID is an important step towards bringing grassroot innovators to the table.

We envision a near future where decision makers will have direct lines of communication with innovators; a future where it would be easy to identify the real experts in different fields. This will allow various entities, including the United Nations, governments, private structures, and NGOs, to leverage on the very best minds which our countries can offer.

And, when the very best minds work together, the sky is the limit.

Filed Under: Computing, Education, Future, News, Science, Society, Technology

How to (really) learn

23 June 2021 By Avinash Meetoo Leave a Comment

Yesterday, I watched an intriguing video on YouTube called How I’d Learn Music Theory (If I Had To Start Over) and, interestingly, it’s not really about music theory only but is about how to learn in general. One of the key recommendations was to read articles from research journals and, because the video was about music theory, a peer-reviewed journal called Music Theory Online was mentioned.

In it, I found this interesting research paper, which is actually an “essay”, by Jeremy W. Smith from the School of Music at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, USA. It is about how modern music uses pitch slides (glissandos), crescendos, fade ins, accelerandos, and filter sweeps (which the author calls continuous processes) to create excitement and tension, compared to more traditional notes, melodies and harmonies (which are discrete). Clearly, the author had a lot of fun and is surely a fan of EDM like me.

Underlying everything in the video is the fact that, instead of learning theory for the sake of theory, one should learn enough theory in order to get interesting things done and then learn more of the theory to get more interesting things done, etc., etc. And connect things which were previously disconnected.

By coincidence, I also read The Age of the Essay by Paul Graham yesterday, and he says: “Study lots of different things, because some of the most interesting surprises are unexpected connections between different fields. For example, jam, bacon, pickles, and cheese, which are among the most pleasing of foods, were all originally intended as methods of preservation. And so were books and paintings.”

I fully agree with these sentiments.

Filed Under: Art, Computing, Education, Science, Society, Technology

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