Below are specific sectoral strategies to achieve the ICT policy objectives:

Human Resources

This strategy area seeks to provide Trinidad and Tobago with the human resources capacity to become a knowledge-based society, placing particular emphasis on the education of children in ICT. This will be achieved through the provision of affordable internet access for all citizens; the cooperation of government, business, and civil society; the development of a knowledge-based society; by developing, implementing, and monitoring ICT training and educational programmes for all segments of society; and through awareness-raising and promotion of the benefits of ICT among citizens and businesses using multimedia campaigns.

Economy and Finance

In recognition of business opportunities opened up by ICT, the economic strategy focuses on promoting and accelerating the integration of ICT applications in small business. Emphasis is placed in three areas: the acceleration of e-marketplace transformation, e-marketplace growth, and e-business talent pool expansion. Acceleration of e-marketplace transformation explores necessary pre-requisites to establishing an e-marketplace enabling environment, such as an increase in competition in telecommunications, greater awareness of ICT among the public, a fiscal incentive programme, and enabling legislation. E-marketplace growth examines various initiatives to help expand and sustain Trinidad and Tobago’s e-commerce and e-business, including an emphasis on consumer protection and on government to business interaction; and further develop the ICT sector, such as through ICT integration into industry and the development of hub and cluster strategies. Expansion of the e-business talent pool is achieved through skill development programmes that focus on e-business at all levels and are widely accessible in local communities and training institutions.

Government

This sector strategy focuses on the use of ICT in government to improve the quality of services provided to citizens, businesses, and organisations. E-government development will be achieved through five strategies. The Electronic Service Delivery strategy prioritises development of and access to citizen-centered services and products in such sectors as education, health, and immigration, also taking into account support mechanisms and required infrastructure. The Public Sector Reform Strategy focuses on utilising ICT to transform the public sector, allowing it to better serve its constituents. This process involves rethinking organisational processes and structures, and transforming them to match the requirements of a service-oriented organisation. The e-Government Awareness and Access Strategy intends to raise awareness of e-government services among the general population through extensive public awareness campaigns, recognising that the greater the population using e-services, the more efficient government can become. The e-Health Care Strategy recognises that ICT planning in this sector is underdeveloped, thus a e-Health feasibility study will explore possibilities for online health care services, supporting infrastructure, health care education initiatives, and business opportunities in the sector. Similarly, the e-Justice and National Security Strategy will embark upon a feasibility study of such areas as prevention, deterrence, and criminal prosecution, to determine how ICT can be used to better protect the public.

Legal and Policy

The legal plan aims to promote the establishment of legislation that will serve to facilitate the deployment of ICT in Trinidad and Tobago, and relies upon four key strategies. The first is the development of a legislative framework and policies appropriate for supporting a healthy ICT infrastructure. The second sets out the need for a legal infrastructure that adequately supports the enablement of e-commerce and e-government. The third strategy concerns citizen/user protection, in recognition of the need to develop legislative measures to strengthen the consumer protection framework, and to encourage self-regulation within specific sectors and greater consumer awareness. The final strategy focuses on the provision of appropriate skills and training for the legal community and law enforcement personnel, acknowledging that new legislation will be ineffective without an adequately trained workforce to apply it.

Infrastructure

This sector strategy emphasises the need for Trinidad and Tobago to develop an ICT infrastructure adequate for serving as a foundation for rapid national growth. The following factors are recognised as essential to infrastructure development: an increase in competition in the ICT sector to enhance quality and drive prices down, increasing accessibility to ICT; introduction of an innovative and well-supported regulator that will increase foreign investor confidence; improvement in the accessibility and service standards of ICT to encourage ICT use among consumers and producers; appropriate technology to meet future needs, of which broadband is the most important; and ICT-led business and job growth that will balance the national investment necessary for creating an adequate ICT infrastructure.