CONNECTING TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION TO DECISION MAKING FOR SUSTAINABILITY
In 2015, the international community adopted the 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development (thereby setting clear aspirations and goals to
shift the world onto a sustainable development path) and launched the
Technological Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) with its motto “Harnessing the
Contribution of Science, Technology, and Innovation for Achieving the 2030
Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals”.
To reach these global objectives, a deep transition is
needed to more resilient, sustainable and equitable socio-economic development
models. Such a transition is possible despite the magnitude of the challenges
ahead, but the limited time that remains necessitates the near-term deployment
of market-ready transformative technological solutions at scale.
To help shape the transformative technological transitions
that are urgently needed, five independent and not-for-profit technological
research institutes – the co-hosts of G-STIC – have teamed up to organise the
Global Sustainable Technology & Innovation Conference series (G-STIC).
G-STIC aims to:
(1) identify context-specific, integrated, market-ready and
scalable technology solutions that can have a major impact on achieving the
SDGs by 2030, and
(2) raise awareness of such technological solutions within
government, civil society, research, the private sector, non-for profit and
multilateral organisations. Working across national and sectoral boundaries,
G-STIC focuses on integrated technological solutions that are socially
acceptable, economically feasible and affordable, environmentally sound, and
that have proven to work in specific countries or regions of the world.
By communicating G-STIC key findings and messages to
decision makers at local, national and
international level and to industry and
business leaders, it is our ambition to enrich the knowledge base to help set
up the institutional, regulatory, policy, social awareness, and business
frameworks that are favourable for realising a new sustainable development
paradigm and achieving the SDGs. At the same time, we also hope that G-STIC can
contribute to deepening citizen’s engagement, especially from the youth, and
help harness the power of a myriad of organisations and individuals across the
world to shape our future through directed and mindful technological
innovation.
The first edition of G-STIC took place in Brussels, Belgium,
October 2017. Annexe 1 to this co-host statement summarizes the G-STIC 2017 key
findings. of
G-STIC 2018 reconfirmed that the deployment of transformative
technological solutions and innovations at scale is critical and needs to be
accelerated to make major progress toward the achievement of the SDGs.
The challenge to achieve the SDGs by 2030 has certainly not
diminished since G-STIC 2017 took place. Recent geopolitical developments even
seem to move us back towards a narrower and more inward-looking focus, away
from global cooperation and in effect hampering the quest for a better future
for all.
On the other hand, the resolve and ingenuity of those in the
academic, research, NGO, and the private and public sector communities to move
jointly to a more sustainable world continues unabated. G-STIC 2018 echoed this
resolve and contributed in concrete terms to finding practical and feasible
technological solutions to the many challenges that civil society and the
private and public sectors face in realising the SDGs.
G-STIC 2018 brought several of these solutions to the
foreground (relating to water, energy, circular economy, food, health, and
education) and gathered them in one forum, enabling cooperation and innovation
across sectors, and established industrial and governance groups. G-STIC 2018
provided context-specific and real-life examples
of technological transformations that address several sustainable development
challenges simultaneously, discussed what needs to happen to bring them to the
market under different socio-economic conditions and in different regions of
the world, and identified the requirements to make these transformations
sustainable in the long run. G-STIC 2018 further encouraged participants to
evaluate integrated technology solutions from a gender and youth perspective,
with the aim of ensuring both gender and intergenerational equity.
Five key findings have materialised during the G-STIC 2018
Conference:
- Innovative, market-ready integrated technological solutions that can substantially contribute to the achievement of the SDGs already exist. These technologies are however often not sufficiently deployed on a global scale because policy and decision makers are sometimes not aware of their existence, do not fully recognise their potential to contribute to achieving the SDGs or lack the political will to implement them. Policy action is therefore urgently needed to bring them to the market at scale. Market-ready technological innovations should be considered by those constructing STI roadmaps for the SDGs because they offer a possibility to make major progress in the achievement of the SDGs. The deployment of cutting-edge integrated technological solutions at scale can help jumpstart the transition to more sustainable and equitable societies.
- The deployment of integrated technological solutions and innovations at scale requires the identification of (1) suitable technologies that can have a systemic transformative impact, (2) the gaps, hurdles, barriers and opportunities to bring these innovative technologies to the market at scale and (3) the broader conditions and requirements that can facilitate such transformations, while leaving no one behind in the transition to more sustainable and equitable societies and economies.
- Identifying transformative technological solutions alone will not bring the paradigm shift that is needed to move the world to more sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development models that are in line with the SDGs. Therefore, G-STIC 2018 identified critical levers of change and the necessary enabling environments to deploy these new transformative technologies at scale. G-STIC 2018 reconfirmed the urgency of the systemic and disruptive changes needed to achieve the SDGs by 2030 - break down institutional barriers, revisit established concepts, change laws, regulations and habits, promote new business models and value chains, rethink local, national and global patterns of development, develop new visions of the future we want, and how we will get there. While major technological innovations and integrated approaches are at the heart of these systemic and disruptive changes, it is crucial however to acknowledge that different clusters of technological innovations have different impact and repercussions on society and have different policy-setting requirements. Hence, there is an urgent need to define technological innovation clusters and to classify technologies of relevance (including digital technologies, societal technologies, biotechnology, soft and hard technologies, nanotechnology, at different stages of readiness), into such clusters.
- Real-world solutions are based on combining policy, behavioural, financing, capacity building, social empowerment, institutional changes, and innovative business models with the introduction of innovative technological solutions while keeping an eye on local circumstances. These “human” changes, social acceptance, uptake, marketing, are often the hardest to achieve and require a lot of time and energy (and some financial. Therefore, G-STIC 2018 drew attention to - Intelligent decision platforms, - Innovative forms of cooperation across national borders and among a variety of actors, - Fostering open science and open innovation- The governance of the technological transition processes, particularly with the view of the speed and magnitude at which they need to happen, - The need to consider soft technologies besides hard technologies, - The cross-sectoral, whole-of-government changes that need to occur to arrive at integrated, transformative, technological solutions, often demanding the close cooperation between line ministries, - The changing world of South-South and Triangular cooperation.
- The many challenges that civil society and the private and public sectors face in helping to realise the SDGs are complex and multifaceted, and therefore need a particularly thoughtful approach. G-STIC 2018 recognised that the deep technological transitions that are needed to achieve the SDGs cannot be realised easily and quickly and cannot be dealt with in one single forum such as G-STIC, as comprehensive as it might aspire to be. Perhaps the most critical condition for successful transitions to more resilient, sustainable and equitable socio-economic development models, is a change in the mindset of policy and decision-makers as well as citizens. Policy and decision-makers must recognise that deep transitions are needed and that sustained and consistent policy attention and governance actions are required to make them happen. In addition, inroads into technological transformations made for one or more SDGs will positively reflect on the other SDGs, and thus have a catalytic effect on transitioning socio-economic development paths to more sustainable futures.
G-STIC 2018 also identified several
dimensions of technological innovation that need to be addressed in future
G-STIC sessions as a matter of priority
These include: - Governance of STI
for SDGs and technological transition processes, - Impact of the integrated
technological solutions on the macro-economy, - Global financial mechanisms in
support of the technological transformations, - Promoting intellectual property
rights and capacity building as enablers for innovation, technology transfer
and diffusion, - Convergence of technologies, - Assessment of the ethical and
long-term societal, economic, and environmental implications of the
technological transitions, - Nature-based solutions, - Social technologies, -
Verifiable sustainable technological transition targets for the industry and
governments to monitor progress, - Education on how to use technologies for
“the world we want”, especially to ensure decent jobs and sustainable
livelihoods, - Developing local manufacturing capabilities, confirmed a
concrete engagement toward international processes that forward Science,
G-STIC confirmed a concreate
engagement toward international processes that forward Science Technology and
Innovation for the SDGs.
In striving to catalyse a process
of better harnessing sustainable technologies and innovation to achieve the
SDGs by 2030, and improve human well-being and prosperity broadly, G-STIC
pledges its support to the international processes that aim at providing STI
support to the SDGs
I
n particular, G-STIC promises to
support the IATT Expert Group Meeting on STI Roadmaps for the SDGs process
under the Technology Facilitation Mechanism and its Annual Multi-Stakeholder
STI Forum, by providing for specific targets of a selected number of SDGs: -
Concrete, context-specific, scalable examples of integrated technological
solutions that cut across sectors and disciplines and that promise to have a
significant impact on the achievement of the SDGs in specific regions and under
certain circumstances; - Easy-to-use checklists for public and private decision
makers to assess the applicability and usefulness of emerging and alternative
(not BAU) market-ready innovative technological solutions in a selected number
of industrial/economic areas. - A non-exhaustive listing of the fundamental
conceptual shifts that are needed, - Identification of major gaps and barriers
to – and levers and policy changes required for – scaling up market-ready
innovative technological solutions - A list of critical areas that need further
research, discussion and consensus building. - The creation of thematic clusters
on STI Roadmaps for the SDGs.
We, the 5 G-STIC 2018 co-hosts,
thank the numerous experts and all conference participants that contributed
their knowledge, expertise, and insights to G-STIC 2018. We hope to welcome
them again at G-STIC 2019, November 27-29, Brussels, Belgium.
Dirk Fransaer Managing Director,
VITO
Tom Ogada Executive Director, ACS
Paulo Gadelha President, Fiocruz
Ambuj Sagar Vipula and Mahesh
Chaturvedi Professor of Policy Studies, IITD
Ajay Mathur Director-General, TERI
KEY FINDINGS OF G-STIC 2017
CONFERENCE
- 1. Many technologies needed to achieve many SDG-related targets are readily available. Following the demonstration to show effectiveness under real-life conditions, we need to develop strategies for deployment at scale to a level necessary to achieve the SDGs. For this, suitable policy and institutional environments, models, targeted incentives and partnerships are needed, which themselves are underpinned and strengthened by deep and sustained business, political and citizen engagement.
- 2. Widely distributed and bottom-up technological solutions that are appropriate for communities’ needs and circumstances are to drive the realisation of the energy and food SDGs, two key SDGs for achieving the 2030 Agenda.
- 3. Circular economy is an essential element of the new narrative, with Industry 4.0 a key enabler to achieve it and resource recovery and use from waste streams, such as wastewater and CO2, the new normal.
- 4. ICTs are an indispensable tool to enable the achievement of the SDGs.
KEY FINDINGS OF G-STIC 2017
THEMATIC CLUSTERS
AGROECOLOGY FOR SUSTAINABLE FOOD
SYSTEMS
A paradigm shift is needed from
input-intensive crop monoculture and industrial-scale animal feedlots towards
more resilient and diversified agroecological practices. G-STIC 2017 provided
evidence that such diversified agroecological systems can work in delivering
nutrition and secure livelihoods, in the places where needed most and to people
who need these most.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND THE ROLE OF
INDUSTRY 4.0
Industry 4.0 provides the
technological driver for circular innovation, while circular economy is
considered a driver for envisioning the industrial framework in 2030. We can’t
have a circular economy without the 4th industrial revolution, nor can we have
socially useful and doable transitions to more sustainable economic development
models without advancing the circular economy.
ENERGY POSITIVE COMMUNITIES
G-STIC calls for an energy access
agenda that is driven by decentralized systems that are affordable,
appropriate, and allow for bottom-up distribution. Ownership of customers in
the energy positive communities transition is essential in the energy access
debate.
SMART WATER
The digital revolution is
providing a huge potential to manage our water resources more efficiently. The
Smart Water session illustrated how Instrumentation, Control and Automation
(ICA) technologies, combined with information derived from remote sensing, are
already revolutionizing how water resources are managed. Three components are
required to move from digital technology to smart solutions: (1) the creation
of data platforms, (2) the availability of open data, and (3) citizen
participation.
URBAN DESIGN AND SUSTAINABLE
BUILDING
A systemic and integrated approach
is needed, in which design, construction, operation and use come together, with
ICTs and the Internet of Things as major enablers. Much of the needed technology
already exists, but moving forward will require new voluntary and mandatory
measures and more demonstration projects that will create the required public
and political awareness.
ELECTRIC MOBILITY
A mere technological shift without
changes in mobility behaviour is insufficient, and the importance of urban
planning, fuel efficiency, and prioritising system electrification was
underscored. Meanwhile, managing the growth of the global vehicle fleet along
with efforts to reduce the carbon intensity of the fleet are vital
interventions.
WASTEWATER AS A RESOURCE
There is a need to not think of
wastewater as a burden, but rather as a provider of energy, nutrients and clean
water for irrigation and human use. Again, much of the needed technology
exists, and there is an immediate need for more demonstration efforts and new
business models to ensure economic viability.
BAMBOO
Bamboo fibre and poles are
successfully used in an increasing number of applications, from textiles and
furniture, wood panels, laminates, biofuels, pulp & paper, up to
prosthetics and water pipes. GSTIC 2017 illustrated how bamboo can also be an
alternative resource in many commercial applications, supporting the creation
of new jobs and extra income for local people, and acting as a significant
carbon sink.
CO2 AS A RESOURCE
Feasible solutions to harness CO2
as a resource by transforming CO2 into chemicals, fuels and materials were
highlighted at G-STIC 2027. Although further research and innovation efforts
are needed in several applications, some of the technologies are ready for the
market. INNOVATIVE BUILDING MATERIALS
Innovations in the production and use of
building materials play a key role in the development of a more sustainable
built environment around the world. At the same time, there is a growing focus
on whether and how building materials may affect the environment and the health
of building occupants. G-STIC 2017 showcased feasible innovations in the
production and use of building materials.
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