New Innovation Hub to tackle Regional Challenges
March 24, 2026
Preparations are underway for the launch of a new innovation centre at The UWI Cave Hill Campus.
The Centre for Knowledge, Invention and Advanced Sciences (NEXA Cave Hill), as it will be called, was created through a strategic partnership between The UWI and the Ministry of Innovation, Industry, Science and Technology.
The initiative was announced by campus principal, Professor Clive Landis at the recent annual meeting of Campus Council. He stated that NEXA is modelled on the Sagicor Cave Hill School of Business and Management, and has already secured $3 million in private sector seed funding.
Landis said NEXA’s research agenda will address critical regional challenges including climate resilience strategies for small island developing states (SIDS), and the strengthening of public health systems.
“What NEXA Cave Hill will enable us to do is to allow strategic expansion into emerging fields like artificial intelligence, data analytics, synthetic biology, climate engineering, and advanced material science,” he said.
Landis added that under this partnership the university will be able to access grants, offer certificate programmes, and publish scholarly work, while the government will take the lead in negotiating with investors at the national level.
NEXA will be based within the Faculty of Science and Technology, and will operate under a ten-member board of directors, comprising five UWI-affiliated members and five non-UWI members. The executive director, who will be a UWI representative, will hold the casting vote.
The centre will be housed at the former Mutual Building, now the Dodridge Miller Economic Justice building, which will be repurposed as an innovation park.
Landis described this new initiative as “a living example of the tripartite model, which is known to drive innovation between the government, university, and the private sector”.
He also expressed the hope that this model can be adapted for use in other Caribbean countries to enhance competitiveness and resilience.
