Go Creative Project

“Go Creative” is a regional project, which is being implemented by the Caribbean Council for Science and Technology (CCST) and NIHERST with the sponsorship of the Organization of the American States (OAS). The main beneficiary countries are the Bahamas, Dominica, Grenada, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago.

This three year project has two main components:

• building capacity in the planning and execution of camps to develop scientific literacy and inventive in youngsters; and

• the Caribbean Young Inventors Competition, which will target secondary students in the region.

The general objective of "Go Creative" is to arouse and develop in youngsters the qualities, abilities and skills for applying creative thinking processes to the development of innovative solutions to problems encountered in life.

Creativity Workshops/Camps will be held in the Bahamas, Dominica and Grenada. The camps will comprise a program of fun hands-on activities for stimulating creative thinking and will include design and building activities. Puzzles, brainstorming, experimentation and object play will be some of the techniques and tools used. NIHERST's "Go Creative" exhibition, http://www.gocreativett.org/ will be used as a teaching and motivational tool in the creativity workshops/camps. This exhibition involved a collaboration between Lord's in Canada, a firm of exhibit developers, and the NIHERST Innovation Unit, on the production of an interactive exhibition to educate visitors on creativity, its multi-faceted nature and pioneers in fields spanning industry, science and the arts. It is envisaged that the exhibition will tour each of the three countries while the creativity workshops are taking place.

The Caribbean Young Inventors Competition will involve national competitions on set themes and will challenge secondary students to find creative solutions to alleviate poverty, promote economic diversification, and economic competitiveness using their knowledge of science and technology. Students will work in teams of three persons plus a mentor to first come up with a creative solution and to develop a working prototype of their ideas. The first place winners in each island will come together for the regional championship.

The workshops/camps and the competitions will expose participants to the inventive process, focussing them on the identification of opportunities for innovation and invention, providing practicuum in problem-solving techniques, and introducing them to intellectual property rights, marketing and entrepreneurship.