SRC to Target Low Productivity Companies

Businesses suffering from low productivity will be targeted by the the Scientific Research Council (SRC), as one of the Council’s priority areas for the 2005/06 fiscal year.
This is reported in Ministry Paper 52, which was tabled by Minister of Commerce, Science and Technology, Phillip Paulwell in the House of Representatives, yesterday (June 1).
The Ministry Paper outlines that the SRC will seek to reach businesses plagued by low productivity through a public education programme, which will utilise creative marketing approaches.
In its quest to increase client productivity and product quality, the Council will also implement a work programme under the Memorandum of Understanding signed between itself and the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ) within the fiscal year. The work programme will see staff at the SRC being trained in Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems – Level 2, ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 under the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)-funded Quality Jamaica Project. Four food processing companies will also be prepared for HACCP certification.
Work programmes and action plans in relation to other MoUs with the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, and the University of Technology will also be implemented as agreed, in 2005/06.
In the area of new products and processes, the Organisation of American States (OAS) Nutraceutical Project is to completed by March 2006, with protocols established for standardised activities from selected plants. Also, formulations and protocols for new natural products from at least one indigenous material will be completed by March 2006.
The SRC has also timetabled that at least six projects, including nutraceuticals and tissue culture should be submitted to funding agencies by March of next year.
The Ministry Paper reported that research and development programmes for select species for a three-year period will be developed by December 2005. Completion of research work on the temporal immersion system is expected, and protocols developed for commercialisation is also expected to be finished by the same time. Another new component expected to come on stream by March 2006 is an environmental management system model, which will be established at the SRC, for which technical assistance will be provided to enterprises upon their request.