St. Maarten Private Eye

Flipper, thanks for scanning and posting the the clip "Flemming on economy" . Scanning articles is a tedious and time consuming job and much appreciated by us all.

Fleming seems to be a man of action. I am sure there are so many issues with the new constitution that it must be overwhelming, and I am sure Fleming is doing a good job.

The only sad think with the current political situtation is so filled with urgent practical issues so no one really has the time to be visionary. Unfortunately I believe that when the practical issues will eventually be resolved, the basic problem will still remain, namely that St Martin is putting all the eggs in the same nest.

St Martin is a one pillar economy relying heavily on tourism. Tourism is a sector that mainly produces minimum wage jobs. Just "producing" tourism will perpetuate the status quo. So what to do? Our main "export" is our nature and good weather. It is very unlikely that St Martin wil start to produce and export cars or start growing bananas. There just isn't the natural resources and the land to do so.

I seriously think French St Martin needs to start thinking out of the box. Internet has brought along so many opportunities so that now even a remote island in the Caribbean can compete on the global market in the knowledge and service sector. What really is stopping us - except our imagination - of planning for a future in the knowledge based industry? It's realistic and attainable and it is environmentally sustainable.

I think St Martin should at least explore the possibilities of creating a mini version of the science park Sophia Antipolis in the south of France. Do you think this sounds unrealistic and totally up the wall? I don't.

- EU is throwing billions into "disadvantaged" European regions. St Martin fits the criteria for receiving these Euros very well. I am pretty sure that St Martin would be eligible for quite a few of those Euros for building a science park.

- Studies show that a key success factor for regions that have tried the "science park" concept is infrastructure in terms of airports, railroads etc, i.e getting there. SXM has daily flights to Europe at competitive prices and the proximity to the US, with daily flights from SXM, can't be unattractive for a software or biotech company either!

- All IT/biotech companies have the same problem, a shortage of skilled labor. I can imagine that being able to offer a software engineer a three year contract, doing the same job he would do in a snowy and rainy Europe, but being able to live in the Caribbean could be a competitive advantage in the hiring process.

Regional studies also show that the whole society gains when these high skilled workers relocate. If a well paid software engineering couple move to the region this creates a lot of jobs and income opportunities around them. They purchase goods and services locally, their children need school and daycare etc etc. Unlike tourism, this demand is year round and not seasonal.

About Sophia Antipolis

Sophia Antipolis today has more than 1 260 corporate names, and has created around 26000 direct jobs in a park where nature is respected. The park was created in 1969 with a non lucrative goal thanks to the maintained will of active forces of the Alpes-Maritimes department, the State, the region as well as the 5 initial communes.

http://www.sophia-antipolis.org/GB/sophia-antipolis/sophia-antipolis/presentation-generale/presentation-generale.htm

EU Structural Funds

The EU Structural Funds constitutes a whopping 1/3 of EU's (enormous) annual budget. The goal of the funds is to help bridge the gaps between the more and the less developed regions and promote equal employment opportunities between different social groups. The funds are concentrated on the regional areas where the needs are the greatest. The aim with the funds are to make all of Europes regions attractive to live and work in, create growth through knowledge and innovation and more and better jobs.

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