KINGSTON, Jamaica — Opposition Spokesman on Science, Technology and Digital Transformation, Christopher Brown, has charged that the country is going in the wrong direction in relation to the building blocks of a modern economy.

Using the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s (WIPO) Global Innovation Index which ranks 139 countries on whether they are genuinely building the systems that drive modern economies, Brown noted that in 2020 Jamaica ranked 72nd, falling to 83rd in 2025.

“Five consecutive years of decline. Year after year, after year after year – decline. We’re going in the wrong direction,” said Brown during his contribution to the Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on June 3.