Barbados is preparing a major digital overhaul as the Ministry of Industry, Innovation, Science and Technology sets its sights on modernising government services and rebuilding the country’s digital base as it heads into 2026.
The plans, outlined by Senator Jonathan Reid, centre on the rapid digitisation of core government services through GovTech, alongside major investments in cybersecurity, advanced infrastructure and high-value industries.
Minister Reid said the ministry’s work is anchored in three pillars, with technology and digital development at the forefront.
“The ministry has effectively three parts, one around technology, which is largely anchored in that notion of digital development. So how do we get government to be digitally advanced and digitally enhanced?” he questioned.
He said GovTech, which has already begun digitising services, will significantly accelerate its work in 2026, onboarding new services every month.
Beyond basic digitisation, Reid said government was moving into more sophisticated territory, including cloud infrastructure, open application programming interfaces (APIs), open data frameworks and stronger cybersecurity systems.
“We’re really thinking about expanding the work around digital identification and mobile identification… advancing our computer infrastructure next year, so there’ll be lots of advancement,” he said, adding that the goal is to unlock greater economic activity built on Barbados’ digital strengths.
However, Reid acknowledged that the push comes with heightened awareness of cyber threats.
In 2024, the Barbados Revenue Authority’s administrative portal was compromised after hackers claimed access to sensitive local data. The breach triggered a wide-ranging investigation led by the ministry under then-minister Marsha Caddle, with support from the Barbados Defence Force’s Cyber Unit.
That response drew on the National Cybersecurity Unit, co-led by the BDF Cyber Unit, and included national and international cybersecurity experts.
Senator Reid said strengthening those defences is now a priority as the government expands its digital footprint, particularly to safeguard the private information of Barbadians.
At the same time, the ministry is pushing an aggressive reindustrialisation agenda, noting that Barbados has steadily deindustrialised over the last two to three decades.
“We are dead set on significantly growing our industrial capacity,” Reid said, noting that the focus is no longer on traditional manufacturing but on digitally enabled, high-value production.”
“What that looks like is different to what it looked like 30 or 40 years ago. We have to create products that are much more digitally enabled, much more high-value, much more technologically advanced.”
Those efforts include investments in artificial intelligence, life sciences, additive manufacturing and 3D printing, as well as a broader ambition to reposition Barbados as a global logistics hub.
“We’re pursuing making Barbados a global logistics hub in a real way so that ultimately allows us to be much more competitive globally and have a positive impact on the cost of living through better management of goods in and out of Barbados,” Reid told Barbados TODAY.
The final pillar of the ministry’s strategy is science, with plans to transform Barbados into a centre for high-value research and development.
Reid said partnerships are being pursued with international institutions, including the University of Waterloo and the University of Tokyo, alongside expanded collaboration with the University of the West Indies.
“We have active conversations with really advanced research institutions to be doing high-value research from Barbados and creating opportunities for people to build globally impactful solutions from Barbados,” he said.
Louriannegraham@barbadostoday.bb
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