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United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development
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United Nations Secretary-General Appoints New Members to the High-level Group to Champion Science, Technology, and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals

1 Feb 2024
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New York, 1 February 2024– In a significant move to bolster global efforts towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the United Nations Secretary-General has announced the appointment of the United Nations Group of Ten High-level Representatives of Civil Society, Private Sector, and Scientific Community to Promote Science, Technology, and Innovation for the SDGs (10-Member-Group) for 2024 to 2025. This pivotal group is a central component of the UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism, designed to harness multi-stakeholder collaboration for sustainable development.

The 10-Member-Group comprises eminent experts from diverse geographic and disciplinary backgrounds from both developing and developed countries. Each member, recognized for their international excellence in science or technology, brings a wealth of experience and insight from civil society, the private sector, and the scientific community, underscoring the inclusive and comprehensive approach the UN is taking towards sustainable development.

The new members of the Group are:

  • Mr. Carlos Henrique Brito Cruz OBE (Brazil), Senior Vice-President, Research Networks, Elsevier (co-chair).
  • Ms. Joyeeta Gupta (Netherlands and India), Professor of Environment and Development, Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Amsterdam; and Professor on Sustainability, IHE Delft Institute for Water Education (co-chair).
  • Mr. Magnus Andersson (Sweden), Associate Professor of Economic Geography, Department for Urban Studies, Malmö University, Sweden
  • Mr. Vladimir Crnojević (Serbia), Founder and Director of BioSense Institute; Professor in Computer Science, University of Novi Sad, Serbia.
  • Mr. Xavier Estico (Seychelles), Founder of the Seychelles Centre for Innovation, and Sustainable Development, Seychelles.
  • Ms. Motoko Kotani (Japan), Executive Vice President for Research, Professor and Principal Investigator, Advanced Institute for Materials Research & Mathematics Institute, Tohoku University, Japan, and Vice President, International Science Council.
  • Ms. Aree Moon (Republic of Korea), President, Korea Foundation for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology; and Vice President, The Korean Academy of Science and Technology
  • Ms. Catherine Ngila (Kenya), Executive Director, African Foundation for Women & Youth in Education, Sciences, Technology and Innovation, Kenya; former Executive Director, African Academy of Sciences.
  • Mr. Keywan Riahi (Austria), Program Director, Energy, Climate, and Environment Programme, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austria.
  • Ms. Karen Scrivener (UK), Professor, Laboratory of Construction Materials, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland; founder Nanocem.

The Secretary-General appointed as co-chairs of the Group, Mr. Carlos Henrique Brito Cruz OBE from Brazil, Senior Vice-President of Research Networks at Elsevier, and Ms. Joyeeta Gupta, a distinguished Professor of Environment and Development from the Netherlands and India, representing academia and the private sector's critical role in this endeavor.

The 10-Member-Group's mandate is to work closely with the UN Inter-agency Task Team on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals (IATT), providing guidance, ideas, and recommendations on science, technology and innovation issues and their impacts on sustainable development. Their work will focus on preparing meetings of the Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology, and Innovation for the SDGs, supporting the development and operationalization of the online platform, and engaging in various IATT work streams to facilitate partnerships and mobilize resources for the Technology Facilitation Mechanism.

By leveraging the collective expertise of its members, the group aims to advance proposals for the forum and online platform, assist in the preparation of co-chairs’ summaries and broader outcomes and follow-up to the Forum, and provide recommendations and advice on specific technology solutions and partnerships, as well as more broadly on science, technology and innovation issues for the SDGs. Furthermore, they will consider inputs to the STI Forum on emerging technologies and advise on policy and substantive ways forward, including STI roadmaps for the SDGs, capacity building, social inclusion, gender and STI, and the impacts of rapid technology change and digitalisation.

The Secretary-General's decision underscores the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration among science and technology leaders across disciplines, sectors and countries. It acknowledges that science and technology knowledge is generated ever more broadly in universities, national laboratories, private sector corporations, and even the citizen science. The 10-Member-Group provides an important link to this pulse of technological progress.

The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs will serve as the Secretariat for the 10-Member Group, facilitating communication and collaboration among the members and with the IATT and other stakeholders.

As the world strives towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the formation of the 10-Member-Group represents a significant step forward in the global partnership for sustainable development, highlighting the critical role of science, technology, and innovation in achieving the SDGs.

For more information, please contact the Secretariat: https://sdgs.un.org/tfm/ten-member-group