Montserrat’s Innovation Board is now accepting nominations for the 2018 Overseas Countries and Territories Association (OCTA) Business Innovation and Creativity (BIC) Awards.
The BIC Awards is a European Union (EU) funded project which is aimed at promoting sustainable development through innovative and creative means in the OCTs, thereby improving their competitiveness, while at the same time increasing the visibility in Brussels, for innovation in the OCTs. The awards, given across all sectors, are part of OCTA Innovation’s “Innovation Support Network programme”. They also showcase examples of innovation – frequently within Small and Medium Enterprises – for others to implement.
Individuals on Montserrat are therefore encouraged to nominate businesses or entities that are implementing their services in innovative and creative ways, particularly in Education, Energy, Creative Industries, Tourism, Agriculture and ICT.
Montserrat’s Innovation Team Manager, Miss Angela Estwick explained that the nominations will serve to highlight and celebrate businesses that are excelling through the use of innovative and creative elements in their service delivery. Additionally, she noted that the winner will receive local and international recognition which will create greater visibility for their business and also serve to inspire others to start a business.
Individuals interested in submitting nominations should collect the nomination forms from the Office of the Premier. The form is also available for download from www.gov.ms in the publications section, which can also be accessed via direct link at http://www.gov.ms/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/BIC-Nomination-Form.pdf
Completed nomination forms must be submitted no later than 4:00p.m. on Monday, June 25. Nominations will be forwarded to the OCTA Innovation Team Leader, Milan Jezic von Gessneck in the European Union; the OCTA Steering Committee, of which the Government of Montserrat’s UK Representative Mrs. Janice Panton is a member, will select final awardees to be recognised at the award ceremony later this year.
If you wish to nominate an enterprise and require assistance in completing the form, please contact Mr. Welsh Ponde on 495-0944 or Miss Angela Estwick on 491-3378 who will guide you through the process.
Last year’s awardee from Montserrat was Vinceroy Cassell, owner of Emerald Isle Ceramics, in the Creativity category.