On May 13, the United Nations held a meeting to encourage a new wave of technological innovation to meet the UN’s current goals in sustainable development.
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) gathered officials, representatives and leaders at the UN Headquarters in New York to discuss the need to encourage innovation in the sciences to help, “promote health, increase productivity, improve the efficiency of resource use, and reduce negative human impacts on the environment,” according to Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Wu Hongbo.
The meeting is a more practical, detailed extension of the Rio+20 summit held last year to encourage global discussion on sustainable development and environmental goals. ECOSOC is bringing the focus toward policy changes at every level to help maximize the potential of technology innovation.
It is a common chord these days, heard throughout the Western world, as 2013 initiatives for sustainable business and innovation gather momentum. The UN meeting in New York City matches well with a Geneva forum on the same day that gathered 1,500 public and private participants to discuss ways to improve information technologies. Meanwhile, a late April ECOSOC initiative encouraged UN youth to use their unique perspectives to start changing the world through new innovations in science, technology and similar fields — a primary result from the ECOSOC Youth forum, which was also held in New York City.
The UN is far from the only organization taking steps to fuel innovation. In the United States, government departments have taken steps to connect private businesses with government research and statistics in efforts to help private-sector entrepreneurs find new solutions.
Key organizations making their data more available to U.S. innovators include the SEC, the Department of Labor and, most recently, the National Science Foundation. The United Kingdom government, meanwhile, recently made news by backing a new program that supports incorporating new technology in fashion design, awarding innovators through their combinations of clothing and digital applications. This is part of the Technology Strategy Board program, which saw its largest-ever budget in 2013 amidst British efforts to support private innovation and cross-industry ideas, according to a government news release.
Common themes in these strategies include a greater focus on technology, a recognized need for widespread innovation, a new willingness to work with youth and increased connections with the private sector. While the focus may be on long-term sustainability and meeting such large objectives as the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, the results also promise industrial growth. Fortunately, even internal improvements are often economically reciprocating.
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