Since the late 1990s, the Jamaican government has set an agenda to push the development of technology in Jamaica. The goal is to make Jamaica a significant player in the arena of information technology.
Jamaica was among the earliest developing countries to craft a scientific law to guide the use of Science & Technology for the exploitation of domestic natural resources. In fact, the island was among the first in the American hemisphere to gain electricity, build a railway and to use research results to boost sugar cane production. The Jamaican Science and Technology Policy have two missions; 1) to improve science, technology and engineering and 2) to leverage its use to enhance societal needs. Efforts to develop its Science and Technology educative system, through institutions such as The University of Technology, has been successful but it has been difficult to translate the results into domestic technologies, products and services because of national budgetary constraints.