Even Cuba can be a small example of innovation. The Caribbean island, a symbol of Castro's revolution but which today is trying to open up at least partially to private enterprise, is notoriously at the forefront of health care: in recent weeks it has been experimenting with 6 different vaccines (one of which with China), the only country South American to be able to afford it, and by the summer it expects to vaccinate at least half of its population, confirming itself from this point of view among the most advanced countries in Latin America. But now Cuba is also discovering that it is technological: it is about to be put on the market the first mobile phone 100% made in Cuba, indeed “hecho en Cuba”, as they would say there. No mean feat, if you consider that many Western countries (including Italy) do not have mobile phone manufacturers. As is the style of the regime, however, there aren't many details about it, except that the phone was designed by Gedeme, the national group for information technology, telecommunications and electronics.
According to the local press, by the end of June the devices will be available in the shops of the two main telecommunications operators, Etecsa and Copextel: initially, 6.000 units will be sold. And it will be an absolute novelty, given that for years only old Nokia or Alcatel mobile phones were sold in Cuba, and that smartphones can only be connected to the Internet since 2018. But now, with the new political course led by Miguel Diaz Canel, Fidel Castro's island wants to try to make itself less dependent on imports also on the telephone market, aware by now of the fact that American President Joe Biden will hardly ease the sanctions. Gedeme's general manager, René Cano Díaz, guaranteed that the mobile phone software was developed entirely by local institutions: in the first phase, the devices will not have their own operating system, but then - the authorities say - one will be implemented in collaboration with the University of Information Sciences, which is called NovaDroid.
However, the innovative Cuban new deal does not end here: Gedeme is also trying to design the production of tablets and computers, to be used in particular forcomputerization of the public school, which will also be equipped with interactive televisions. Not only that: Cuba also wants to enter the green energy game and for this reason the state-owned company is working on a series of "green" electronic products, such as LED bulbs, electronic whiteboards, and has launched a project for energy sources renewables, especially photovoltaics.
