AI-slands Research Review

Contribution. Sets seven regional policy pillars spanning infrastructure and compute, governance, economic transformation, skills, public-sector AI, climate resilience and collective representation. The complete report was inspected together with the later ministerial communiqué.

Why it matters. It is an endorsed regional recommendation, not a binding CARICOM framework. Its strongest contribution is to specify pooled oversight, procurement, portability and shared evaluation while acknowledging that implementation remains under-costed and institutionally incomplete.

Contribution. Confirms Cabinet approval of the Seychelles Digital & AI Strategy 2026–2031, an inter-ministerial coordination committee, ministry focal points and a two-phase in-country government cloud and datacentre programme.

Why it matters. It joins policy, institutional coordination and infrastructure in one national decision and explicitly seeks to reduce overseas dependence. The public record does not yet identify procurement terms, vendors, energy and water requirements, workforce effects, evaluation measures or the distribution of facilities and benefits beyond the principal island.

Contribution. Reframes SIDS as stress tests for global AI governance and proposes standards-oriented requirements for transparency, control and procurement.

Why it matters. It converts the broad problem of dependency into mechanisms that could be audited and incorporated into technical standards.

Contribution. Draws on engagements in resource-constrained states, including Samoa and Trinidad and Tobago, to show how AI enters institutions through procurement, vendor platforms and everyday workflows before assurance capacity is fully established.

Why it matters. It identifies a structural gap between those who build systems and the public institutions held accountable when systems fail. Its findings concern small states and related constrained settings, not all SIDS uniformly.

Contribution. Sets out a five-year national AI strategy spanning adoption, skills, companies, research, data centres, semiconductors, data and regulation, and includes Eigg as a community-energy case study.

Why it matters. The strategy connects AI to energy and infrastructure, but Eigg is not presented as an operational AI application. Its inclusion creates a research question about whether future AI-enabled energy systems strengthen community authority.

Contribution. Records five island organisations supported through AI readiness, five businesses receiving mentoring, nine businesses offered vouchers of up to £1,500, workshops in Stornoway, Kirkwall and Lerwick, and £152,000 in innovation funding for eight island organisations. HIE’s 2026/27 regional programme offers structured adoption support and mentoring. A free Shetland roadshow at Shetland Museum and Archives on 5 November 2026 provides a specific local route into this support.

Why it matters. This is verified evidence of outreach and adoption support rather than proof of specific applications or outcomes. Eligibility extends across the Highlands and Islands and Moray, so regional participants and examples cannot automatically be counted as island based. Midton Acrylics in Lochgilphead is a documented AI user, but not an island case. HIE’s wider Innovation Programme grants are available for innovation generally and should not be represented as island-specific AI awards.

Contribution. Identifies open data, ethical frameworks, community-centred adaptation and climate-finance access as linked requirements.

Why it matters. It connects AI governance with distributive justice, though its document-based method still requires field testing.

Contribution. Synthesises 17 readiness assessments around data governance, inclusion, skills, cyber resilience, open standards and regional collaboration.

Why it matters. It supplies an implementation baseline: AI cannot deliver public value where the underlying digital state remains fragmented.

Contribution. Establishes a comparative baseline of substantial inequalities in data readiness, governance research and official AI initiatives.

Why it matters. It remains the most direct cross-SIDS evidence base, but its dated findings must not be treated as proof of present absence.

Contribution. Provides a practical checklist covering mandates, powers, technical capacity and coordination.

Why it matters. It enables the Tracker to ask not only whether a policy exists, but whether any institution can supervise its implementation.

Contribution. Models data-centre and renewable-energy co-planning in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, then adds a ten-factor siting framework covering grids, fibre, hurricanes, freshwater, noise and zoning.

Why it matters. It shows why energy optimisation alone cannot establish island public value. The study is a six-page preprint using synthetic profiles, a partial-year simulation and unvalidated expert weights, so its numerical results are propositions for local testing rather than policy-ready forecasts.