Innovation & digitization

Innovation is crucial for Curaçao’s economy as it supports sustainable development, diversifies the economy, and boosts global competitiveness. It creates new industries, making the economy resilient, and enhances tourism with unique, sustainable practices. Innovation drives sustainable solutions in energy and waste, attracting foreign investment and opening international trade opportunities. It’s essential for creating jobs, attracting investments, and ensuring long-term economic health by moving beyond traditional sectors.

Our strategic goals for innovation are:

• Strengthening businesses, particularly SMEs, and making them export ready;
• Reinforcing existing economic pillars;
• Promotion of new business models and activities;
• Transformation into a more resilient and digital economy which requires collaboration between government, business, knowledge institutions, the community, and other stakeholders;
• Positioning Curaçao as a focal point for fostering and supporting innovation in the region.
  

Digitalization is no longer an option, it is changing the way people live, work and do business.
Bitcoin, is used in Curaçao as a form of digital currency. Some business, shops, restaurants and food stations accept Bitcoin as a payment method for goods and services.

The Digital Hub Americas (DHA) platform facilitates the interaction between businesses active in the digital economy eco-system on the island to offer commercial or professional services to Governments or the private sector in the Americas & Europe. DHA believes that together the digital sector can be developed as the fourth economic pillar of Curaçao that can create new jobs to attract diaspora to re-migrate and offer opportunity for locals to switch to a different sector.

Aqualectra, has been installing smart water- and electricity meters, a modern, digital meter that allows the company to detect and resolve faults faster and cheaper, detect illegal tapping of electricity and reduce leakage. The smart meter network allows the consumer to better manage their use of water and electricity. Besides smart meters, Aqualectra has been replacing conventional street lighting with LED street lights. LED lights are more durable (longer lifespan) and more energy efficient.

The Government of Curaçao started the pilot project in 2023 for the construction of a large floating windmill park on sea, which should generate sufficient renewable energy (green hydrogen) to supply in the daily power needs of the island and for export.

Selikor N.V. launched a sustainability project, Resembid (Resilience, Sustainable Energy and Marine Biodiversity) financed by European Union, in the second half of 2023 with the goal to collect and analyze information on waste to assess shortcomings and challenges within the existing waste management system and propose solutions to avoid and process waste materials through reuse, recycling and/or energy generation.

The private sector has also been contributing to sustainability in different ways. Kolektivo Curaçao Foundation, supports regenerative development, and builds solutions on local level by leveraging new technologies for ecological regeneration (e.g. food forests) and community empowerment. The local retail and construction company Kooyman BV. has partnered up with The Great Plastic Bake Off, a Dutch green tech company, through the FUSE Caribbean joint venture, transforming locally sourced plastic waste into building materials for the local market.
The aquanaut Fabien Cousteau and his organization Proteus Ocean Group plan to start the construction of an underwater housing and research lab in Curaçao in 2024. This will become the first international space station (ISS) of the sea in a network of Proteus platforms.
With this initiative, Cousteau places the special underwater world of Curaçao as an innovative commercial sector for the island. New discoveries may lead to new intellectual property and patents and Curaçao will become a center for innovation because of this.

Considering the importance of innovation for local businesses and our overall economic development, it is imperative to encourage local entrepreneurs to always keep revolutionizing.

One of the ongoing incentives is the Startup Launchpad for a Smart Curaçao. This, is an accelerator program provided by Curaçao Innovation & Technology Institute (CITI) https://citi.cw/startup-launchpad/ with the support of the Ministry of Economic Development since 2017. The program offers businesses in the start-up stage with an innovative business idea, that contributes to the development of Curaçao into a Smart Nation (improve economy, quality of life, substitute import, increase productivity and efficiency) a chance to participate and earn technology, knowledge and support vouchers to invest in their company and help bring their idea to the market. This is in addition to an extensive mentoring and coaching program and exposure of their business in the local media.

Other incentivizing activities include the annually organized Curaçao Innovation Awards, recognizing successful innovations and inspiring local businesses, organizations and innovators. This award ceremony is organized by CITI for the Ministry of Economic Development and awards businesses and organizations with the best recent innovation in the following categories:

• Business Innovation
• Circular Innovation
• Digital Transformation
• Junior Innovation
• Overall Winner Curaçao Innovation

Business and organizations can apply via CITI https://citi.cw/innovationaward/ to be eligible to participate in one or more category.

In addition there’s also the Innovathon Kickstart Curaçao which is organized every two years by CITI, commissioned by our Ministry. The Innovathon Kickstart Curaçao is an ideation hackathon in which teams work together non-stop creating innovative solutions on a certain topic.

Visit CITI’s website https://citi.cw for more information on these incentives and more.