Her Excellency, Ms. Marie Chatardová, President of ECOSOC,Her Excellency, Ms. Viotti, Chef de Cabinet for the Secretary-General,Mr. Co-Chairs, Ambassador Hoshino and Ambassador Sandoval,Excellencies,Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am pleased to address this Third Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals.
This Forum is unique - it brings together all stakeholders to discuss how we can fast-track the SDGs through science, technology and innovation.
This Forum encourages a discussion based on practical ideas and applications, but where the transformative vision of the 2030 Agenda is never out of sight.
Now just in its third year, this Forum serves as a collaborative space for networking, discussion, demonstration and partnerships – all with the objective of harnessing and disseminating STI for the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Member States created the UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism - or the TFM - in a reaffirmation of their commitment towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.
Through this, Member States recognized the seminal importance of Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs, and the need for a forum where searches for solutions can be broadly discussed, lessons shared, and new partnerships formed.
This very meeting of the Forum is part of the UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism. The exhibition hub, the expert speakers, the practitioners, the researchers and you, our esteemed participants, all serve to demonstrate that the spirit of innovation and cooperation is alive and well!
Indeed, as part of this endeavour, 36 UN-system entities are working together, known as the UN Interagency Task Team supporting the Technology Facilitation Mechanism.
As USG for DESA, one of my priorities is to strengthen the coordination, cooperation and coherence within the UN System itself for the SDGs. I hope to count on the Interagency Task Team continuing its broad and systematic cooperation.
I commend the task team for their efforts, and for moving forward with concrete cross-agency partnerships to achieve joint objectives.
Also, I must recognise the important role of the 10-Member Group, who are appointed by the Secretary-General and who have been working closely with the Inter-agency Task Team, providing expertise on the TFM’s development and achievement of its missions.
I am grateful to the ten experts and their predecessors for their dedication and commitment.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Another component of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism is an on-line platform, which will serve as a gateway for information on existing STI initiatives, mechanisms and programs.
Obviously, the development of such a platform is of great importance.
It will help connect providers of technology solutions to those who seek them. We are making steady progress on this front.
On this note, I am glad to inform you that the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, along with the UN Office of Information and Communication Technology and several other members of the IATT, will present a demonstration using technology databases from different sources to illustrate the services that such a platform could provide.
It takes forward the recommendations from an Independent Technical Assessment.
You will see how the TFM Online Platform can bring together and serve different stakeholders such as entrepreneurs, researchers, policy makers, financiers and service providers.
You will also see how the online platform can add value by integrating the resources and capabilities of many different actors. It can be a single entry-point to all these efforts, building upon and multiplying the impact of investments made in both the public and private sectors.
The demonstration – which will be held during lunchtime today in Conference Room B – will highlight how existing networks of service and knowledge providers can bring additional value to their own members by connecting with a wider audience and other collaborators.
I believe this is an important milestone in realizing the aspirations member states have of the TFM.
We have developed this online platform based on partnerships within the IATT and the resources we have mobilised for the purpose.
But for it to reach its true potential, we need sustainable funding and more partners. Your support is both urgent and critical.
Our joint commitments towards this end will have an outsize impact.
Excellencies,Ladies and Gentlemen,
This is our third annual meeting and I am pleased to report that the Forum grows from strength to strength.
Our global calls for innovation and posters this year received many more submissions than last year, you can see them displayed in the Visitor’s Lobby. Many side events are also taking place, within and outside these premises.
We are developing closer links to regional and thematic STI events, and using our convening mandate to bring them together.
Thus, we have not just the two days of the STI forum, but an entire week of associated events and activities.
I congratulate the organizers of all these events and trust that you, dear participants, will find them valuable and enriching.
Excellencies,Ladies and Gentlemen,
We all believe that the SDGs cannot be achieved without STI.
STI co-evolves with and shapes society. These effects can be both positive and negative.
We must work consciously to magnify benefits and eliminate or limit negative impacts.
This is no easy task. It requires the active engagement of all stakeholders. It requires that we stay abreast of the transformative changes under way and work continually to harness them for our common good.
I believe that we are in the right place and at the right time to accelerate implementation.
The discussions and activities here will inform the High Level Political Forum – the apex global body for the review of the implementation of the SDGs – next month.
I am confident that you will find new ideas, fresh energy and novel partnerships to aid and sustain your efforts to advance the SDGs through science, technology and innovation.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Through our collective endeavour, we will be able to eradicate poverty, ensure balanced well-being for all our peoples, and protect the richness of life and nature on our planet, the only home we have.
I wish you all a very successful STI Forum.Thank you.
I am pleased to address this Third Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals.
This Forum is unique - it brings together all stakeholders to discuss how we can fast-track the SDGs through science, technology and innovation.
This Forum encourages a discussion based on practical ideas and applications, but where the transformative vision of the 2030 Agenda is never out of sight.
Now just in its third year, this Forum serves as a collaborative space for networking, discussion, demonstration and partnerships – all with the objective of harnessing and disseminating STI for the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Member States created the UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism - or the TFM - in a reaffirmation of their commitment towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.
Through this, Member States recognized the seminal importance of Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs, and the need for a forum where searches for solutions can be broadly discussed, lessons shared, and new partnerships formed.
This very meeting of the Forum is part of the UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism. The exhibition hub, the expert speakers, the practitioners, the researchers and you, our esteemed participants, all serve to demonstrate that the spirit of innovation and cooperation is alive and well!
Indeed, as part of this endeavour, 36 UN-system entities are working together, known as the UN Interagency Task Team supporting the Technology Facilitation Mechanism.
As USG for DESA, one of my priorities is to strengthen the coordination, cooperation and coherence within the UN System itself for the SDGs. I hope to count on the Interagency Task Team continuing its broad and systematic cooperation.
I commend the task team for their efforts, and for moving forward with concrete cross-agency partnerships to achieve joint objectives.
Also, I must recognise the important role of the 10-Member Group, who are appointed by the Secretary-General and who have been working closely with the Inter-agency Task Team, providing expertise on the TFM’s development and achievement of its missions.
I am grateful to the ten experts and their predecessors for their dedication and commitment.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Another component of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism is an on-line platform, which will serve as a gateway for information on existing STI initiatives, mechanisms and programs.
Obviously, the development of such a platform is of great importance.
It will help connect providers of technology solutions to those who seek them. We are making steady progress on this front.
On this note, I am glad to inform you that the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, along with the UN Office of Information and Communication Technology and several other members of the IATT, will present a demonstration using technology databases from different sources to illustrate the services that such a platform could provide.
It takes forward the recommendations from an Independent Technical Assessment.
You will see how the TFM Online Platform can bring together and serve different stakeholders such as entrepreneurs, researchers, policy makers, financiers and service providers.
You will also see how the online platform can add value by integrating the resources and capabilities of many different actors. It can be a single entry-point to all these efforts, building upon and multiplying the impact of investments made in both the public and private sectors.
The demonstration – which will be held during lunchtime today in Conference Room B – will highlight how existing networks of service and knowledge providers can bring additional value to their own members by connecting with a wider audience and other collaborators.
I believe this is an important milestone in realizing the aspirations member states have of the TFM.
We have developed this online platform based on partnerships within the IATT and the resources we have mobilised for the purpose.
But for it to reach its true potential, we need sustainable funding and more partners. Your support is both urgent and critical.
Our joint commitments towards this end will have an outsize impact.
Excellencies,Ladies and Gentlemen,
This is our third annual meeting and I am pleased to report that the Forum grows from strength to strength.
Our global calls for innovation and posters this year received many more submissions than last year, you can see them displayed in the Visitor’s Lobby. Many side events are also taking place, within and outside these premises.
We are developing closer links to regional and thematic STI events, and using our convening mandate to bring them together.
Thus, we have not just the two days of the STI forum, but an entire week of associated events and activities.
I congratulate the organizers of all these events and trust that you, dear participants, will find them valuable and enriching.
Excellencies,Ladies and Gentlemen,
We all believe that the SDGs cannot be achieved without STI.
STI co-evolves with and shapes society. These effects can be both positive and negative.
We must work consciously to magnify benefits and eliminate or limit negative impacts.
This is no easy task. It requires the active engagement of all stakeholders. It requires that we stay abreast of the transformative changes under way and work continually to harness them for our common good.
I believe that we are in the right place and at the right time to accelerate implementation.
The discussions and activities here will inform the High Level Political Forum – the apex global body for the review of the implementation of the SDGs – next month.
I am confident that you will find new ideas, fresh energy and novel partnerships to aid and sustain your efforts to advance the SDGs through science, technology and innovation.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Through our collective endeavour, we will be able to eradicate poverty, ensure balanced well-being for all our peoples, and protect the richness of life and nature on our planet, the only home we have.
I wish you all a very successful STI Forum.Thank you.
File date:
Tuesday, June 5, 2018