Welcome to the United Nations
Mandate and background
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development launched a Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM), which had been established by the Addis Ababa Action Agenda in order to support the Sustainable Development Goals. Member States agreed that it would “… be based on a multi-stakeholder collaboration between Member States, civil society, the private sector, the scientific community, United Nations entities and other stakeholders and will be composed of a United Nations inter-agency task team on science, technology and innovation for the sustainable development goals, a collaborative multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation for the sustainable development goals and an online platform.”
The collaborative Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals (“STI Forum”) is convened annually by the President of ECOSOC and expected to “discuss science, technology and innovation cooperation around thematic areas for the implementation of the sustainable development goals, congregating all relevant stakeholders to actively contribute in their area of expertise.” It will “provide a venue for facilitating interaction, matchmaking and the establishment of networks between relevant stakeholders and multi-stakeholder partnerships in order to identify and examine technology needs and gaps, including with regard to scientific cooperation, innovation and capacity-building, and also in order to help facilitate development, transfer and dissemination of relevant technologies for the sustainable development goals”.
Objectives and functions
The Forum brings together a wide range of stakeholders from Member States, UN system, civil society, academia, private sector and various science and technology communities to help harness STI for the SDGs. Inter alia, the STI Forum provides formal inputs to the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development and its review of SDGs. More specifically, the STI Forum will pursue the following objectives and functions, as per General Assembly resolutions 70/1, 72/242 and 74/229, while keeping in mind overarching considerations such the COVID-19 pandemic, and rapid technological change.
(1) STI cooperation: “Discuss science, technology and innovation cooperation around thematic areas for the implementation of the sustainable development goals”: The Forum will bring together a wide range of stakeholders, share success stories, discuss solutions towards overcoming challenges in scientific and technological collaboration, especially for the SDGs in focus at the HLPF, as well as opening up new areas such as the creative economy2, towards the attainment of the SDGs and as part of the COVID-19 recovery efforts.
(2) Needs and gaps analysis: “Identify and examine technology needs and gaps, including with regard to scientific cooperation, innovation and capacity-building”: The Forum will explore STI needs, gaps and divides. It will bring together existing analyses and build on related findings from previous STI Forums, related meetings, and the IATT work on STI4SDG roadmaps. This will also be an opportunity to take stock of the progress made in harnessing STI for the SDGs.
(3) Networking: “Facilitate interaction, matchmaking and the establishment of networks between relevant stakeholders and multi-stakeholder partnerships”: The Forum will discuss and call for new initiatives and partnerships on STI for the SDGs at various levels. It will discuss inter-disciplinary approaches and new open and collaborative innovation models. The Forum will also provide an opportunity for winners of a UN innovation competition for the SDGs to network with other innovators, funders and the wider STI community through pitches and other interactions.
(4) Harnessing technologies for the SDGs: “Facilitate development, transfer and dissemination of relevant technologies for the sustainable development goals”: The Forum will be an opportunity to identify and showcase high-impact technologies for sustainable development, particularly those that could address difficult trade-offs, or accelerate inclusion. This could include discussions of practical, innovative solutions, good practices and case studies for scaling up; enabling environments for technology development, deployment and access; innovative financing of STI; and to explore ways of promoting the use of technologies and know-how that are freely available in the public domain.
(5) Examining the impact of rapid technological change on the SDGs in the light of COVID-19: GA resolutions 72/242 and 73/17 requested the TFM and the CSTD to consider “the impact of rapid technological change … on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals” and to report their findings at the STI Forum. These discussions on the impacts of digitalization, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and other technologies are expected to continue, which as in previous years will also be supported by a brief presentation of the latest TFM findings by the Secretariat. The COVID-19 pandemic in the past year has amplified and accelerated some of these trends, as was discussed at the June 2020 Session of the CSTD and at its January 2021 Intersessional panel, and in other multi-stakeholder meetings and events. As in previous years, the STI Forum will build on related discussions convened by the President of the General Assembly, in particular the High-level Thematic Debate on Digital Cooperation and Connectivity on 27 April 2021.
