Your Excellency, Mr. Peter Thomson, President of the General Assembly,Your Excellency, Mr. Frederick Musiiwa Makamure Shava, President of ECOSOC,Ambassador Macharia Kamau,Dr. Vaughan Turekian,Excellencies,Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have come a long way.
The Rio+20 Conference in 2012 put the issues of science, technology and innovation back on our agenda, breaking a long-standing impasse.
Since Rio+20, the General Assembly has moved the technology agenda forward, including through eight meetings and workshops and other in-depth consultations.
Science, technology and innovation have also become a mainstay of deliberations in the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
My Department has worked with all relevant parts of the UN system to effectively service these efforts.
DESA, together with the UN Environment Programme, has proudly led the operationalization of the UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) after its establishment in Addis and launch in New York in September 2015.
The inter-agency task team (IATT) now brings together 32 UN entities that regularly coordinate work on science, technology and innovation. The team includes experts with technology expertise in all SDG areas. It works closely with the group of ten eminent representatives of science, private sector, and civil society, which was appointed by the Secretary-General at the end of 2015.
With the help of a first tranche of PBI resources for 2016, DESA supported organization of the first multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation for the SDGs (STI) in New York in June 2016.
About 600 participants representing 81 Governments and 350 scientists, innovators, technology specialists, entrepreneurs and civil society representatives participated.
Young innovators were selected on the basis of a global call. They spoke from their own pioneering experiences.
The Forum also featured 12 finalists out of a short-list of 20 innovators, selected from 300 on-line applications. It was a Forum with innovative features and with an emphasis on sharing practical solutions.
The co-chairs’ summary of the STI Forum informed the meetings of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in 2016.
I want to take this opportunity to reiterate our appreciation to Ambassador Kamau and Dr. Turekian for their inspiring leadership as co-chairs of the 2016 STI Forum.
This year the inter-agency task team and the ten-member Group will again work closely together preparing the STI Forum, under the guidance of the ECOSOC Presidency and the 2017 Co-Chairs.
The STI Forum 2017 will take place from 15 to 16 May at UN headquarters in New York.
The 10-Member Group will work out further details of the Forum at a planning meeting in Paris later this month.
I am pleased to report that the two teams will also embark on the operationalization of the mandated online platform.
The assessments are under way and we hope to brief Member States on preliminary results in the spring.
Excellencies,
The Technology Facilitation Mechanism is unprecedented in several ways.
It is a global and multi-stakeholder mechanism.
It serves both developed and developing countries alike.
It allows pragmatic, in-depth discussions of technology issues.
It aims to improve coherence of STI support and capacity building across the UN system and beyond.
Members States, UN system, and many stakeholders have high expectations for the Technology Facilitation Mechanism and the STI Forum in particular.
However, after a successful year of productive work in 2016, the mandates of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism, including the STI Forum, the ten-member Group, the online platform remain unfunded for 2017.
My Department would appreciate funding support from Member States to fulfill these mandates, and will seek extra-budgetary sources to make up for the shortfalls.
Going forward, we will keep you informed on the progress made.
Thank you very much for your support.
We have come a long way.
The Rio+20 Conference in 2012 put the issues of science, technology and innovation back on our agenda, breaking a long-standing impasse.
Since Rio+20, the General Assembly has moved the technology agenda forward, including through eight meetings and workshops and other in-depth consultations.
Science, technology and innovation have also become a mainstay of deliberations in the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
My Department has worked with all relevant parts of the UN system to effectively service these efforts.
DESA, together with the UN Environment Programme, has proudly led the operationalization of the UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) after its establishment in Addis and launch in New York in September 2015.
The inter-agency task team (IATT) now brings together 32 UN entities that regularly coordinate work on science, technology and innovation. The team includes experts with technology expertise in all SDG areas. It works closely with the group of ten eminent representatives of science, private sector, and civil society, which was appointed by the Secretary-General at the end of 2015.
With the help of a first tranche of PBI resources for 2016, DESA supported organization of the first multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation for the SDGs (STI) in New York in June 2016.
About 600 participants representing 81 Governments and 350 scientists, innovators, technology specialists, entrepreneurs and civil society representatives participated.
Young innovators were selected on the basis of a global call. They spoke from their own pioneering experiences.
The Forum also featured 12 finalists out of a short-list of 20 innovators, selected from 300 on-line applications. It was a Forum with innovative features and with an emphasis on sharing practical solutions.
The co-chairs’ summary of the STI Forum informed the meetings of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in 2016.
I want to take this opportunity to reiterate our appreciation to Ambassador Kamau and Dr. Turekian for their inspiring leadership as co-chairs of the 2016 STI Forum.
This year the inter-agency task team and the ten-member Group will again work closely together preparing the STI Forum, under the guidance of the ECOSOC Presidency and the 2017 Co-Chairs.
The STI Forum 2017 will take place from 15 to 16 May at UN headquarters in New York.
The 10-Member Group will work out further details of the Forum at a planning meeting in Paris later this month.
I am pleased to report that the two teams will also embark on the operationalization of the mandated online platform.
The assessments are under way and we hope to brief Member States on preliminary results in the spring.
Excellencies,
The Technology Facilitation Mechanism is unprecedented in several ways.
It is a global and multi-stakeholder mechanism.
It serves both developed and developing countries alike.
It allows pragmatic, in-depth discussions of technology issues.
It aims to improve coherence of STI support and capacity building across the UN system and beyond.
Members States, UN system, and many stakeholders have high expectations for the Technology Facilitation Mechanism and the STI Forum in particular.
However, after a successful year of productive work in 2016, the mandates of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism, including the STI Forum, the ten-member Group, the online platform remain unfunded for 2017.
My Department would appreciate funding support from Member States to fulfill these mandates, and will seek extra-budgetary sources to make up for the shortfalls.
Going forward, we will keep you informed on the progress made.
Thank you very much for your support.
File date:
Thursday, January 12, 2017