Arts & Creative Leadership: Jo-Annah Richards has been appointed Director of the Montserrat Arts Council, effective Aug 10, bringing public policy, law, finance, governance, risk, and arts administration experience from roles in Montserrat’s government and the Royal Bank of Scotland. Mobile & Connectivity Outlook: A GSMA Caribbean report says 5G will rise from 10% of mobile connections today to 23% by 2030, but warns the region needs regulatory modernisation, spectrum access, and incentives to close a major investment gap and usage gap. Trade & Imports: A new U.S. Section 201 safeguard sets a four-year tariff-rate quota on quartz surface products starting Aug 15, with higher duties possible if quarterly quota allocations run out—important for importers planning countertops and related materials. Health Tech Manufacturing: ARPA-H awarded up to $26m for DNA Script and GE HealthCare’s FLASH programme to build scalable, automated cell-free DNA bioproduction, aiming to speed up on-demand DNA manufacturing for next-gen medicines and vaccines. Local Culture & IP: A ZJB panel discussion on calypso tackled AI’s impact on songwriting, competition judging, and protecting creators’ rights. Food Traceability Innovation: A QR-linked chocolate traceability approach uses chemical “fingerprints” to verify bean origin and sustainability, targeting mislabelling in premium fine-flavour markets. Fintech in the Caribbean: Finovate Global highlights Belize Bank’s six-year digital modernization partnership with Backbase, focusing on AI-native onboarding and unified business cash-flow visibility. Aviation Business Networking: Hampshire Air Festival backers announced a behind-the-scenes networking event at Thruxton Aerodrome (Sept 11) ahead of the Sept 12–13 public festival, with engineering and STEM-focused activities.