Chief Executive Officer of Export Barbados (BIDC), Mark Hill, is doing his part to promote Barbados as an ideal place to do business and investment, particularly in Life Sciences and Biotechnology.

Speaking during a webinar hosted by Invest Barbados ahead of a mission to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the end of March, CEO Hill outlined for the audience some key reasons for doing business with Barbados – the island is Safe, Sustainable and Savvy. He explained that investments would be secure as the country boasts of high global standards; it is at the forefront of promoting a sustainable economy, and the island makes sound judgments in building systems that work.

“So we’re looking to power our industrial systems using green fuels at every point, we’re looking to power everything that we do with hydrogen at the industrial level. So we’re right now fast tracking that through the process. So if you’re coming in to do let’s say, Bitcoin production, or life sciences, FinTech, we are running your entire business model on a green platform. So that is one of the key things that you can add to your product delivery, because the entire energy platform of the island is green, from solar to wind, biomass to hydrogen running our entire industrial system,” the CEO stated.

CEO Hill said Barbados has a large and talented life science workforce and is building out the framework and scientific support that international companies will require. Developments on the horizon include:

• An international life science and biotech accelerator – By year-end, the Accelerator will be operational, open to global companies to fast track their biotech and life science work
• A Life Science and Biotech Global Council 
• Full Intellectual Property Protection
• A high quality 200,000 square-foot life science park  
• A science park at Greenland, St. Andrew
• An International Food Science Center to open by August 2022