Kingston, Jamaica, June 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC) today announced the development of EcoVista, a 283-acre smart city in Trelawny, Jamaica, designed to become the Caribbean's first university smart city. Anchored by a technology-enabled university campus for more than 5,000 students, the project will combine higher education, innovation districts, renewable energy infrastructure, research facilities, residential development, and hospitality assets within a single integrated development. EcoVista Smart City will be developed in Jamaica as the Caribbean's first university smart city The project is currently open to international university and investment partners, with an immediate capital raise of US$15 million required to complete land acquisition. The University of the Future? A Beachfront Smart City, an AI-Ready Campus, and the Caribbean's Next Big Investment Opportunity "International investors have consistently underestimated the education and digital opportunity in this region," says Dr Winston Adams, OD, JP, Founder and Group Executive Chairman of the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC). Dr Adams has been building Caribbean higher education infrastructure since 1992, when he founded the Institute of Management Sciences in Kingston at a time when fewer than four per cent of Jamaicans of eligible age had access to any tertiary education. UCC is now the largest independent private accredited university in Jamaica and the Caribbean, built on the same logic that has driven every decision since: find the learner the system was not designed to serve and build around them. What UCC is now attempting is the same logic at a different scale. "The market, the technology, and the regional need have now converged. That convergence is not accidental, and it will not wait," says Dr Adams. In a region where tertiary enrolment is falling short of national targets, a digital skills deficit is widening, and AI is restructuring