Innovation is a driver of well-being and economic development.
Innovation and scientific advances are essential to driving economic growth, new business creation, and improving the quality of life.
At the Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust, we continually strengthen our innovation culture by being optimistic, passionate, and curious. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have experienced some of the most impactful innovation deployment in history: the COVID-19 vaccine development and deployment at unprecedented speed, showcasing extraordinary scientific collaboration around the globe. We also saw the faster adoption of technology in the shortest time with remote working and the increased use of technology such as telemedicine and telehealth in the healthcare areas.
We experienced how innovation in new materials and processes results in lower cost products and services, making technology affordable and accessible for everyone. One of the greater benefits of scientific advancement and medical innovation is the increase in our life expectancy. Innovation in vaccinations, water filtration, and chlorination transformed public health.
One of the key areas that we are very enthusiastic about is the new innovations in healthcare to improve life expectancy and reduce health disparities. For us, in Puerto Rico, this is very critical because as an Island in the path of many hurricanes, and other natural disasters, we are increasing our resiliency with the use of new technologies. One of our programs, the Puerto Rico Consortium for Clinical Investigation (PRCCI) is working with several new gene and cell therapy companies to enable the delivery of their solutions to patients from Puerto Rico. The second example is the integration of new and evolving technologies in vector management by our Puerto Rico Vector Management Unit (PRVCU) to pursue the elimination of tropical diseases such as Dengue using sterile mosquito techniques with Wolbachia, new larvicide spraying methods, and working with health organizations such as the CDC and Puerto Rico Department of Health (PRDOH ) on new vaccine education efforts. We are also training a new generation of Puerto Ricans in the use of 3D printing and virtual & augmented reality, emerging technologies that are changing our life and healthcare delivery as we speak.
We inspire our team with a clear strategic vision, always raising the performance bar, and setting stretch goals. We foster creative thinking-focused problem-solving approaches, we stimulate risk-taking, and we are not afraid to fail, on the other hand, we make every failure a learning experience.
