ECCB 2022-2023 Annual Report and Financial Statements

Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Annual Report 2022 - 2023

The Development of the Knowledge and Innovation Hub The ECCB Hub (Knowledge and Innovation Hub) is a collaborative dynamic, virtual forum and resource centre that brings together persons of diverse experiences and expertise to discuss and ideate real functioning solution-oriented perspectives, as well as produce and share research outputs that address real world problems relevant to the growth and resilience of the ECCU/OECS. The AI Climate Resilience Data Challenge was the first project launched by the Hub in 2021 and culminated with four awardees in 2022. The Challenge provided an ideal opportunity for students and practitioners to showcase a wide variety of data-driven AI applications; the potential of AI as a service to reveal deep insights from data sets and inform policy and decision making. Throughout their development journey, participants were coached and mentored by AI scientists from the Region and North America. The Hub, in collaboration with Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) and other stakeholder organisations, is currently working with the AI Data Challenge teams to advance work on two AI prototype projects emanating from the Climate Challenge, and one research project: (i) Natural Disaster Risk Smart Classifier (NDrSC), (ii) Sargassum Beaching, and (iii) Socioeconomic Impacts of Public Respiratory Health Shocks on the Caribbean Region.

Beyond those projects, Hub activities also focused on development of tech entrepreneurs and building capacity in Science, Technology, Engineering Arts Mathematics (STEAM) among the region’s youth. AI Climate Resilience Data Challenge Winners A team from the UWI Five Islands and The UWI St. Augustine Campuses captured the first place in the AI Data Challenge with its AI Disaster Risk Smart Classifier (DRSmc). The team comprised undergraduate and post graduate students and lecturers. A team representing the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA captured the second place. The application assessed tourism sustainability in the Eastern Caribbean from Polar Region Ice Melting to Sea Level Change to Rainfall. The third place winner was Odion Hillocks, a Teacher from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines pursuing a Master of Science degree and a Data Science student at the University of the West Indies St. Augustine Campus. His model sought to predict the monthly maximum temperature within an OECS territory. The two-member team of Odessa Eli, a Data Science Consultant and Khern Toussaint, software engineer, was adjudged as the fourth place winner. They are nationals of the Commonwealth of Dominica residing in the USA. The two-member team pitched their Caribbean Climate App which sought to demonstrate the relationship between climate related variables in the Caribbean.

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