The Information and Communications Technology fair will be held from Aug. 10 - 15, and will provide information on and introductory exercises in ICT.

The Ministry of the Public Service, Information and Broadcasting through the Caribbean Regional Communication Infrastructure Program (CARCIP), will be hosting an Information Communication Technology (ICT) fair from Aug. 10 - 15.

The fair will be held at the Public Service Training Institute (formerly Spinners) in Union.

Project coordinator for CARCIP, Christopher Roberts, said the ICT fair will showcase current ICT trends and efforts by the government to develop an ICT-enabled economy and information society.

"This fair is designed to increase awareness of the various services and products that are available on broadband, and to also contribute to the development of an ICT economy around broadband. We have already identified a number of very promising talents in Saint Lucia, with very innovative ideas leveraging broadband, and we want to increase that and encourage that."

Roberts detailed the various activities of the fair.

"We will have a number of dignitaries, as well as international partners at [the opening ceremony]. I have been working with [partners] such as Microsoft and Google, and the ECCB, so that will essentially be the opening ceremony, on Monday. On Tuesday, we will have a digital marketing symposium facilitated by the Trade Export Promotion Agency (TEPA). Then, for the balance of the week, we're going to facilitate a hack-a-thon, which is essentially an introduction to programming and coding which will hopefully interest youth and entrepreneurs, so that they can start the process for developing applications that can be sold."

The hack-a-thon will culminate in a regional competition called Business Think Tank hosted by the ECCB, with participants from OECS countries.

Interested persons are encouraged to visit the CARCIP website for more information about the fair.