Caribbean Tech Pitching: Four Caribbean social startups—Byde Mill (Barbados), Colmado Cash (Dominican Republic), EleCare AI (Jamaica) and Dolphin (Trinidad and Tobago)—won the EU-LAC Social Accelerator pitch competition and will take their impact-led ideas to CIF 2026, spanning fintech for informal credit, healthcare access, sustainable tourism and digital transformation. Digital Justice Upgrade: Barbados is scanning station diaries and public medical journals to speed criminal case disclosure, moving toward a more paperless system and exploring civilian support so police can focus on core duties. Digital ID Sandbox: Saint Lucia is setting up a cross-sector regulatory sandbox for digital ID and fintech pilots under its DigiGov programme, with ECLAC support, starting with ID management and payments. Regional Payments Push: CARICOM central banks are moving closer to a pilot for a regional payment and settlement system to enable faster cross-border payments in local currencies, drawing lessons from Africa’s PAPSS. Health & Safety Tech: Barbados Dental Association and Dental Council warn of a rise in illegal cosmetic dental work advertised on social media, urging tighter enforcement to prevent irreversible harm. Autonomous Shipping Milestone: An autonomous solar-and-wind sailboat, Oshen C-Star PC13, completed the Microtransat Challenge by crossing the Atlantic to Barbados without a crew or human decision-making. UN Tech Diplomacy: India co-sponsored the UN’s Partners for Multilateralism (P4M) summit, with Barbados among partners, as leaders called for stronger rules-based cooperation—explicitly including emerging technologies like AI.