Shamrock HSE, a member of the Energy Chamber, participated in the Shaping The Future of Innovation programme, which is a partnership between the Government of Trinidad and Tobago through the Ministry of Planning and Development, the European Union (EU) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Lab, in collaboration with the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI) as the project implementing partner.
The Shaping The Future of Innovation programme seeks to build a more innovative and competitive economy in Trinidad and Tobago through economic diversification.
Shamrock HSE competed against 153 local company proposals for the first round, in which they were evaluated by an independent advisory panel that considered business performance, building local capacity, value proposition and business as well as environmental and social impact.
The company made it through to the second round of 42 companies and emerged as one of the final 15 companies selected for project funding.
Shamrock’s project
Shamrock HSE aims to assist organisations that do not possess the inhouse ability to quantify and implement a carbon reduction programme by providing GHG software modelling, carbon reduction plans and verification services for companies in different market sectors to actively contribute to the reduction of GHG emissions.
The software modelling approach and imaging hardware will allow multiple industry segments to affordably gauge their current GHG emissions and implement reduction strategies. Many businesses are now implementing corporate strategies such as ‘Net Zero’ without really knowing of what tangible carbon reduction would actually consist.
This project is unique as it focuses on a tailor-made, integrated software and hardware solution, providing customers with quantifiable GHG Emissions and CO2 equivalents from their current operations. Shamrock’s reporting template can be utilised to present this data along with different carbon reduction and energy efficiency plans that may be sustainably implemented locally.
About the Shaping the Future programme
Speaking at the Awarding of Grants Ceremony, His Excellency Peter Cavandish, the EU Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, said: “In 2015, it was determined that the focus for cooperation between the EU and Trinidad and Tobago would be innovation. The programme was launched in 2021 and is the flagship programme in our partnership with Trinidad and Tobago.”
He added that “The backbone of the programme is the Innovation Challenge Fund, which makes approximately TT$48 million in grants available to SMEs, the primary beneficiaries, to engage in innovative activities.”
The Honourable Pennelope Robinson-Regis, Minister of Planning and Development, also spoke at the event and said: “The Shaping the Future of Innovation Programme aims to be a comprehensive programme that brings actors in the innovation sphere together to increase opportunities for innovative activities, the overall objective being a more diversified and innovationdriven society in Trinidad and Tobago. As we emerge from the pandemic, our citizens, our businesses and our organisations must pivot into a new mindset. We know that a nation which makes investments in innovation today will be dominant in the global economy tomorrow, and this programme therefore represents another significant investment in innovation by all the partners involved in this programme.”