Emerging science, frontier technologies, and the SDGs

[Pages:239]Emerging science, frontier technologies, and the SDGs

Perspectives from the UN system and science and technology communities

IATT Report for the STI Forum 2021

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Interagency Task Team on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals

Advance unedited report

Emerging science, frontier technologies, and the SDGs

Perspectives from the UN system and science and technology communities

IATT Report for the Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development

Report 2021

New York, May 2021

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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its senior management. The terms `country' and `economy' as used in this Report also refer, as appropriate, to territories or areas; the designations employed and the presentation of the material do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. In addition, the designations of country groups are intended solely for statistical or analytical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgement about the stage of development reached by a particular country or area in the development process. The major country groupings used in this report follow the classification of the United Nations Statistical Division. Reference to companies and their activities should not be construed as an endorsement by the United Nations of those companies or their activities. The boundaries and names shown and designations used on the maps presented in this publication do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.

Advanced unedited copy: This document is an advanced unedited copy. Following editing and layout a final version will be published. Acknowledgments: The present report was produced by Work Stream 10 of the Interagency Task Team on STI for the SDGs under the leadership of Richard A. Roehrl (DESA) and Bob Bell Jr. (UNCTAD). It was edited by Richard A. Roehrl. Members of the team include: Fouad Mrad (ESCWA), Irmgard Nubler (ILO), Fernando Santiago Rodriguez and Hyunjoo Kim (UNIDO), Clovis Freire Junior and Michael Lim (UNCTAD), Preetam Maloor and Christophe Larouer (ITU), Susan Schneegans (UNESCO), Pierre Henri Boileau and Rachel Kosse (UNEP), Naoto Kanehira (World Bank). The team is also grateful for all anonymous peer-reviewers.

Important inputs for a preparatory expert group meeting were provided by Nebojsa Nakicenovic (TU Vienna), Guo Huadong (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Ada Yonath (Weizmann Institute of Science), Paulo Gadelha (Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, FIOCRUZ), Xiaolan Fu (University of Oxford), Jos? Ram?n L?pez-Portillo Romano (Q Element Ltd.), Michiharu Nakamura (Japan Science and Technology Agency), Vaughan Turekian (US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine), Prof. Romain Murenzi (The World Academy of Sciences), E. William Colglazier (American Association for the Advancement of Science), Myrna Cunningham (FILAC), Bob Watson (formerly IPBES), Ivar Baste, Senior (Norwegian Environment Agency), Akira Homma (formerly Bio-Manguinhos, FIOCRUZ), Fadia Homeidan (American University of Beirut), Carolina Boterno Cabrera (Karisma Foundation), Paolo Laterni (WIPO), and Rachel Kosse (UNEP).

The team is very grateful to the high-quality authored contributions that have been included in this report, see table on page 4ff.

Contact/editor: R.A. Roehrl, roehrl@

Suggested citation: IATT (2021). Emerging science, frontier technologies, and the SDGs - Perspectives from the UN system and science and technology communities. New York: United Nations Interagency Task Team on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals. May 2021.

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Contents

Executive Summary................................................................................................................................................................................. 7 I. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................................................10 II. TFM findings 2021 ........................................................................................................................................................................11

A. Context and objective .................................................................................................................................................................................. 11 B. Previous TFM findings ................................................................................................................................................................................ 12 C. New elements in 2021 TFM findings and looking ahead.............................................................................................................. 14 III. Achievements and failures of emerging science and frontier technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic

22 A. Overview ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 22 B. Lessons from COVID-19 for policy and the science-policy-society interface....................................................................... 23 C. Specific technology applications and case studies .......................................................................................................................... 47 D. Country experiences, updates on activities and news ................................................................................................................... 58 IV. Emerging science and frontier technologies for the SDGs .........................................................................................82 A. Overview ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 82 B. The big picture- science and technology policy issues .................................................................................................................. 86 C. Digitalisation, artificial intelligence and robotics ......................................................................................................................... 115 D. Big Earth Data, satellites and remote sensing ................................................................................................................................ 144 E. Environmentally compatible frontier technologies..................................................................................................................... 159 F. Specific solutions and updates on country experiences and activities ................................................................................ 211 G. Findings and recommendations from selected UN flagship publications .......................................................................... 229 V. Conclusion..................................................................................................................................................................................... 238

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Science-policy briefs and news updates presented related to COVID-19

III.B. B. Lessons from COVID-19 for policy and the science-policy-society

interface

Section

Author

Prof. Dominique Foray, Chair of Economics and Management of Innovation, Ecole Polytechnique F?d?rale de Lausanne, Switzerland

Members of the COVID-19 Advisory Team to the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Prof. Giovanni Dosi, Institute of Economics, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy

III.C. Specific technology applications and case studies

Joint submission by ISC and INGSA: Kristiann Allen, University of Auckland, New Zealand and International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA) Shivani Nayyar and Carolina Rivera V?zquez, UNDP Fouad Mrad, Patrick Saoud, Raphaelle Akhras, Youssef Chaitani, and Juraj Riecan, UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) Imad H. Elhajj (AUB, MSFEA), Lina Abou Mrad (MoPH), Aline Germani (AUB, FHS), Marco Bardus (AUB, FHS), Heinrich Dohna (AUB, FAS), Hala Ghattas (AUB, FHS), Zaher Dawy (AUB, MSFEA), Noel Maalouf (AUB, MSFEA), Amina Kamar (AUB, MSFEA) UN Office for Outer Space Affairs

MORIMOTO Koichi, HARAYAMA Yuko, and NAGAI Ryozo, Engineering Academy of Japan (EAJ)

Department of Science and Technology, the Philippines

Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Republic of Korea

LEE Hanjin and MOON Aree, National Research Foundation, Republic of Korea

III.D. Country experiences

Title The phenomenal speed of innovation during the COVID pandemic ? explanations and lessons learned from the crisis Lessons from the pandemic: strengthen health care, invest in science and education, and build trust Some policy lessons from medical/therapeutic responses to the COVID-19 Crisis: A rich research system for knowledge generation and dysfunctional institutions for its exploitation Lessons learned from Covid-19 for the SciencePolicy Society Interface

COVID-19 exposes the Gender Digital Divide Can Big Data Support Assessment of Policy Effectiveness Amidst Crises?

Ma3an-Together Against Corona, The Official Lebanese Contact Tracing App: Experience and Lessons Learned

Addressing COVID-19 pandemic: Space technology for global health Mobilizing Science, Technology and Innovation

for the Post-COVID Era in Japan and beyond

The Philippines' STI solutions to combat pressing issues and the COVID-19 pandemic

Implications of COVID-19 for science and technology-based emergency response in the Republic of Korea COVID-19 responses and their implications in the Republic of Korea compared to Japan, New Zealand, Germany, Sweden, and the U.K.

Page 24 27 30

35 39 47 51

55 58 62 66 69

III.E. News section

International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB)

75Update from ICGEB: SARS-CoV-2 surveillance,

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developing alternative diagnostic tools, and

providing technical expertise

Milind Pimprikar, Canada-Europe-US-Asia-Africa

Update from CANEUS, FILAC and OOSA: Lessons

78

Organization on Emerging Space and Micro-

from COVID-19 and adapting frontier

Nanotechnologies for Societal Applications (CANEUS); technologies with indigenous knowledge

Myrna Cunningham and Gabriel Muyuy, Fund for the

Development of Indigenous Peoples of Latin America

and the Caribbean (FILAC); Simonetta Di Pippo, Shirish

Ravan, Luc St-Pierre, and Markus Woltran, UN Office for

Outer Space Affairs (OOSA)

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Science-policy briefs and news updates on emerging science and frontier technologies

IV.C. Digitalisation, artificial intelligence and robotics

IV.B. The big picture ? science and technology policy

Section

Author

Rasmus Lema (University of Aalborg); Xiaolan Fu (University of Oxford); Roberta Rabellotti (University of Pavia)

Tommaso Ciarli (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht, and SPRU, University of Sussex Business School); Hugo Confraria (Research Unit on Complexity and Economics (UECE), University of Lisbon, and SPRU, University of Sussex Business School); Ismael Rafols (CWTS, University of Leiden, and SPRU, University of Sussex Business School), Joanna Chataway (STEaPP, UCL, London), and Andy Stirling (SPRU, University of Sussex Business School)

Mathieu Denis, David Kaplan, Katsia Paulavets, Anda Popovici and Anne-Sophie Stevance (International Science Council)

William E. Kelly (Scientific and Technological Community Major Group; World Federation of Engineering Organizations; American Society of Civil Engineers)

Jonathan Tsuen Yip Wong and Tengfei Wang (United Nations ESCAP)

Kibae Kim, Korea Policy Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, KAIST

Kevin Mallinger, Alexander Schatten, Gerald Sendera,

Markus Klemen, and A Min Tjoa

Olivier Combe (UNCTAD, Tanya Smith (Blockchain Infrastructure Research), Chantal Line Carpentier (UNCTAD).

Dominik B.O. Boesl (Hochschule der Bayerischen Wirtschaft, Germany), Tamas Haidegger (Obuda University and EKIK, Hungary), Alaa Khamis (General Motors and University of Toronto, Canada), Vincent Mai (Algora Lab, Universit? de Montr?al, Canada), Carl M?rch (FARI and UQAM, Canada), Bhavani Rao (AMRITA, India), An Jacobs and Bram Vanderborght (Brubotics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and imec, Belgium)

Taro Arikawa, Ikuo Sugiyama, Yoshikazu Nakajima, Hideaki Koizumi and Taikan Oki (STI 2050 Committee, the Engineering Academy of Japan)

Koupparis, K. ; Huang, F. ; Bourke, E.; Codastefano, M; Ching, N; Wadland, E; and Bauer, JM. (World Food Programme)

G?zde Akarsu, Eeke Bastiaansen, Marieke Holownia, Katharina Seper (Wageningen University, the Netherlands)

Title Latecomer Development in The Global Green Economy Research priorities may not align with the SDGs: policy suggestions to steer them

Transforming science systems to effectively respond to 21st century global challenges Engineering Standards for a Changing Climate

Policy approaches to direct frontier technologies towards inclusive and sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific Principles for the Inclusive Data Governance Potential Threats of Human Digital Twins for Digital Sovereignty and the Sustainable Development Goals Digital Currencies: a definitive push to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in Developing Countries? Automating the Achievement of SDGs: Robotics Enabling & Inhibiting the Accomplishment of the SDGs

The Future of Urban Design

Machine learning to improve disaster assessment

Virtual reality to strengthen natural disaster management

Page 86 90

99 102 108 112 115 119 122

127 131 135

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Edward Lorenz (Aalborg Business School, Denmark),

The Adoption of New Digital Technologies in

140

Erika Kraemer-Mbula (University of Johannesburg,

Micro and Small Enterprises in South Africa

South Africa)

IV.D. Big Earth data, satellites

and remote sensin g

Ryuichi Maruyama and Michiharu Nakamura (Japan Science and Technology Agency)

Utilizing advanced sensing technologies for SDGs 144

Huadong Guo, International Research Center of Big Data Big Earth Data for Sustainable Development Goals 150 for Sustainable Development Goals, China

UN Office for Outer Space Affairs

Mega-constellations: Benefits and implications of 155 the new era in spaceflight

Joshua M. Pearce, Michigan Tech Open Sustainability Technology Lab

Distributed Recycling and Additive Manufacturing 159 for Sustainable Development Goals

Richard Alexander Roehrl, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs

Impacts of new Internet applications and artificial 165 intelligence on global energy demand ? an issue of concern?

IV.E. Environmentally compatible frontier technologies

Nicholas Harrison, Carnegie Climate Governance initiative (C2G)

Solar Radiation Modification and its implications 172 for the Sustainable Development Goals

Ahmad Ardiansyah, Josephine Geurts, Anna Rosa Juurlink, Bob-Jan Kreiken, and Stephanie Sargeant (Wageningen University, the Netherlands)

Biomimicry to tackle air pollution in urban areas 177

Laura Kim Doan, Jay Marisca Gietzelt, Samantha Gan

Robotics for monitoring marine ecosystems

182

Kristensen, Isa van Malenstein, Nistia Sekar Ningati

(Wageningen University, the Netherlands)

Son Bum Suk, Green Technology Center, Republic of Korea

Power digital IT technology to realize distributed 188 power

Mukhammad Faisol Amir, Sam Dijsselbloem, Alexis

5G in irrigation: exploring pathways for

190

Romain Dunand, Sofie Grande Y Rodriguez, Risky Fauzi implementation

Widodo (Wageningen University, the Netherlands)

Isabelle Haddad, Dakota Bailey, Amy Shaw, and Sophie Ablative pyrolysis for sustainable energy

196

Padilla (State University of New York, USA)

production

Siddhant Bansal and Erin Morris (State University of

Saltwater greenhouses

201

New York, USA)

Le Nguyen Quang Thinh, VoThuDiem Chi, Phan Chi

Chemical technology for the future of plastic

206

Tuong, LiThHong Duyen, LamTruc Thanh (Van Lang recycling

University, Viet Nam)

IV.F Specific solutions, news and updates on activities

Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Belgium

Integrated technological solutions for the SDGs ? 211 Two case studies

Thomas Basikolo, ITU

Solving real problems with real data: The ITU AI 214 and Machine Learning in 5G Challenge

Xiaolan Fu, and Elvis Korku Avenyo (University of

The Inclusive Digital Model (IDMODEL) Project

217

Oxford), Pervez Ghauri (University of Birmingham),

Xiaoqiang Xing, (University of International Business &

Economics, China)

Browne, L., Quaye, W., Essegbey, O.G., Akon-Yamga, G., Asafu-Adjaye N.Y., Addo-Yobo, F.

Harnessing Ghana youth innovation potential for 219 the SDGs

IV.G

Spela Stres, Innovation and Technology Transfer Center, A response to the UN Technology and Innovation 236

Jozef Stefan Institute, Slovenia

Report 2021

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Executive Summary

The present report, entitled "Emerging science, frontier

The pandemic financial stimulus has been enormous,

technologies, and the SDGs - Perspectives from the UN

but not yet focused on longer term measures for a

system and science and technology communities"

human-centred, green, sustainable, R&D- and

presents the updated 2021 TFM findings on the impact

technology-focused

recovery.

The

R&D

of rapid technology change on the achievement of the

underinvestment is puzzling: surely the crisis has

SDGs, together with science-policy briefs, updates and

demonstrated its importance.

other materials upon which the findings are based.

Public funding for basic research needs to be greatly

The TFM findings represent a collaborative, multi-

expanded and sustained even beyond these times as a

stakeholder achievement. Experts from within the UN

vital part of our resilience strategy. Consider this: the

and outside have contributed, including through virtual

fundamental biotechnology knowledge that made rapid

meetings and over 40 dedicated science-policy briefs.

COVID-19 vaccine development possible was due to

A special thank you for their substantial contributions

years of public funding for basic research.

goes to the TFM 10-Member-Group, colleagues from

Frontier technologies have made a real difference in

DESA, UNCTAD, ITU, ILO, ESCWA, UNEP, UNIDO,

COVID-19 responses. Examples include contact tracing

UNESCO, ESCAP, UNU, WFP, OOSA, UNDP, WIPO, and

apps; space science; viral spread simulations on

World Bank, as well as the many external experts.

supercomputers; PCR testing; mRNA-based vaccines;

We must ask: how are things different in the face of our experience with COVID-19? What does it mean for the

synthetic nano-scale antibodies; 3D printing of PPE; and big data to support policy effectiveness.

way forward? The 2021 TFM findings provide partial

Massive drive for COVID vaccines must be replicated for

answers.

the 20 neglected tropical diseases which continue to

New elements of TFM findings

affect one billion people. At the same time, questions of access can no longer be put on the back burner. The task

The 2019 TFM findings remain valid, but new elements are needed.

COVID-19 has greatly amplified the importance of STI for our well-being, even for our survival. But it has also exposed weak interfaces with policy and society, and ineffective institutions, often victims of underfunding.

COVID-19 has accelerated digitalisation, along with its now well-recognized impacts, both positive and negative. Vitally, 3 billion unconnected are still excluded. This has worsened existing technology divides.

team brought together proponents of open science on the one hand and of strict intellectual property rights on the other. Interestingly, they agreed that there is no fundamental contradiction between the two and that there are constructive ways forward for addressing the great global challenges.

A worldwide, profound techno-economic paradigm transition is under way towards a greener global economy. It creates new windows of opportunity for innovations, productive transformation, and new jobs and employment opportunities. This transition needs to be managed in a process of social dialogue in order to

The crisis has accelerated innovation in medicines,

generate a just, fair and inclusive transition process.

vaccines, biotechnology, digital technologies and artificial intelligence. Scientific discovery and collaborations have sped up, new ways of delivering services have proliferated.

Science systems must be transformed. The pandemic revealed deficiencies in the capacity of science systems to respond to new priorities in a timely manner, while limiting the disruption to ongoing research.

Our pre-pandemic innovation system had operated well below its real potential, but we can supercharge it in times of crisis. However, we should not forget that mission-oriented innovation of this type has benefitted from international R&D cooperation and billions in public funding for "vaccine platforms", mRNA technology and massive online learning. Therefore, the returns from these must also be broadly available to the public.

The new governance around data makes it complex to re-balance human dignity with economic benefits, thereby putting fundamental human rights at risk in the new economy. Fair data, transparent algorithms, and trustworthy architecture are essential.

Digitalisation leads to entirely new products and services with new characteristics that require specific regulatory and policy solutions. For example, human

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