Develop and Implement Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) for the SDGs Roadmaps

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes that the world will achieve the SDGs only by mustering the full power of science, technology and innovation. In all regions of the globe, governments and other decision makers must have access to the latest science and evidence, disaggregated data, and technology solutions, as well as to the resources needed to build capacity and foster innovation—and to bring innovations to scale. In the 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the 2030 Agenda, Member States mandated that the United Nations create a Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) to advance STI for the SDGs.

The fully multi-stakeholder TFM has engaged thousands of scientific and technological stakeholders. Participation in TFM activities has continuously increased and widened, including among policy makers, entrepreneurs, academics and the youth. Through the summary of its STI Forum, the TFM provides formal mandated input in support of the HLPF’s SDG review and its mandated science-policy function.

One critical component of the TFM is Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) for SDGs roadmaps, known as STI4SDGs roadmaps. The work aims to exchange views on a common guidance, principles and possible frameworks/ methodologies for countries preparation of STI roadmaps, and support countries to practice this multi-stakeholder engagement tool to envision, plan, communicate and facilitate actions, track progress, and foster a learning environment to harness STI to achieve the SDGs.

The global work on STI4SDGs roadmaps has been launched, and UN DESA together with the 10 Member Group and the IATT partners is now working to chart the course for the next phase of the work – the PiA.

https://sdgs.un.org/tfm#sti_roadmaps

The primary focus of this work is to support the countries and exchange views on a common guidance, principles and possible frameworks/ methodologies for country and international level STI roadmaps for the SDGs. To these ends, the team led by DESA and the World Bank, supported a collective effort by a group of champion countries and through a multi-stakeholder collaborative approach among the UN Inter-agency Task Team, non-UN partners and stakeholders for the development of the Guidebook for the preparation of STI for SDGs roadmaps.

Following over three years’ preparation and consultations, the final version of the Guidebook for the preparation of Science, Technology and Innovation Roadmaps for the SDGs is available here (En). The Guidebook has been translated into official languages of the UN, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish. It has also been translated into Portuguese, and Japanese. The Guidebook is accompanied by two Background Papers: on available STI roadmapping Methodologies and International Partnerships. These background papers serve as key inputs to the Guidebook, inform IATT partners’ continuous dialogues with national authorities leading roadmap pilots, and prepared grounds for solidifying respective pilot design as well as peer learning.