Science, Technology and Innovation for Development

E/RES/2025/19View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A document of the Economic and Social Council, under agenda item 19bScience and technology for development, published in 2025.

What other versions does this mandate have?

13 versions · 2013–2025

2025E/RES/2025/19Science, technology and innovation for developmentLatestCompare with previous version
2024E/RES/2024/14Science, technology and innovation for developmentCompare with previous version
2023E/RES/2023/4Science, technology and innovation for developmentCompare with previous version
2022E/RES/2022/16Science, technology and innovation for developmentCompare with previous version
2021E/RES/2021/29Science, technology and innovation for developmentCompare with previous version

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Who cites this mandate in the budget?

7 entities

Extracted automatically from each entity’s budget submission.

What subjects does this mandate have?

5 topics

Developing Countries Information Technology Science and Technology Sustainable Development Technological Innovations

What does this mandate say?

64 operative paragraphs

Recommends the following for consideration by national Governments, the Commission on Science and Technology for Development and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development:

Governments, individually and collectively, are encouraged to take into account the findings of the Commission and to consider taking the following actions:

To integrate science, technology and innovation into national strategies in countries in vulnerable situations to develop resilient and affordable digital infrastructure to promote access to information and communications technologies, and to conduct specific analysis of the impact of technological change on development and support the development of pilot projects;

To establish a close link between science, technology, innovation and sustainable development strategies, giving a prominent place to institutional, infrastructure and human resource capacity-building in information and communications technologies and science, technology and innovation in the future vision and planning of national development;

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To promote local innovation capabilities for inclusive and sustainable economic development by bringing together local scientific, vocational and engineering knowledge, mobilizing resources from multiple channels, improving core information and communications technology and supporting infrastructure development, including smart infrastructure, through collaboration with and among national programmes;

To encourage and support the science, technology and innovation efforts leading to the development of infrastructure and policies that support the global expansion of information and communications technology infrastructure, products and services, including broadband Internet access, to all people, particularly women, girls, children and youth, and persons with special needs and from remote and rural communities, catalysing multi-stakeholder efforts to accelerate the growth in the number of new Internet users and endeavouring to improve the affordability of such products and services;

To support the development, deployment and sustainable use of emerging and open-source technologies and support policies towards open science and open innovation and know-how for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, especially in developing countries;

To conduct systemic research, including gender-sensitive aspects, for foresight exercises, on new trends in science, technology and innovation, and information and communications technologies and their impact on development, particularly in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

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To work, with input from a variety of stakeholders, including appropriate United Nations agencies and all relevant entities and forums, such as the Commission and the multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, to formulate, adopt and implement science, technology and innovation policies aimed at contributing to the implementation of the Goals;

viii

To continue giving due consideration to the impact of key rapid technological changes on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals within their respective mandates and existent resources, in accordance with General Assembly resolutions 72/242, 73/17, 75/316 and 77/320;

To use strategic foresight exercises to identify potential digital and other gaps or constraints in education for the medium and long terms and address such gaps with a policy mix, including connecting schools to the Internet and taking into account the specific needs of women and girls in the promotion of gender-responsive science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, vocational training and digital and data literacy;

To use strategic foresight as a process to encourage structured debate among all stakeholders, including representatives of government, science, industry and civil society and the private sector, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, towards creating a shared understanding of long-term issues, such as the changing nature of work and building consensus on future policies, and to help to meet current and emerging demands for competence and adaptation to change;

To incorporate the provision of digital competencies, including but not limited to entrepreneurship and complementary soft skills, in technical and vocational education and training and formal education curricula and lifelong learning opportunities, while taking into consideration best practices, local contexts and needs, and ensuring broad and up-to-date technological knowledge and that education is technology-neutral;

xii

To develop responsive and sustainable policies to leverage frontier technologies for inclusive economic diversification, underscoring the important role of digital public infrastructure, open innovation, capacity-building and equitable international cooperation in enabling countries to keep pace with technological advancements and diversify industries with higher value-added production that benefits all sectors of society and promotes climate resilience and social equity;

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To foster an open, fair, inclusive and non-discriminatory environment for scientific and technological development and cooperation;

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To undertake strategic foresight initiatives on global and regional challenges at regular intervals and cooperate with ongoing mapping systems led by United Nations bodies to review and share technology foresight outcomes, including pilot projects, with other Member States, making use of existing regional mechanisms, and in collaboration with relevant stakeholders;

To conduct technology assessment and foresight exercises as a process to encourage structured debate among all stakeholders towards creating a shared understanding of the implications of rapid technological change;

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To encourage the review of progress on integrating science, technology and innovation into the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals;

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To encourage assessments of national innovation systems, including digital ecosystems, taking into account the needs and perspectives of women and girls, and gender-sensitive aspects, drawing from foresight exercises, at regular intervals, to identify weaknesses in the systems and make effective policy interventions to strengthen their weaker components, and share outcomes with other Member States, and, on a voluntary basis, to provide financial support and expertise towards the implementation of the framework for national science, technology and innovation policy reviews in interested developing countries;

xviii

To encourage digital natives to play a key role in a community-based approach, including gender-responsive approaches, to science, technology and innovation capacity-building, and facilitate the use of information and communications technologies in the context of the 2030 Agenda;

xix

To put in place policies that support the development of digital ecosystems, bearing in mind the potential of emerging digital technologies to leapfrog existing technologies for development, that are inclusive and take into account the socioeconomic and political context of countries and attract and support private investment and innovation, as well as public-private partnerships, based on mutually beneficial, equitable and transparent cooperation between public and private entities in the development and deployment of technologies, particularly encouraging the development of local content and entrepreneurship and making available disaggregated data sources for science, technology and innovation;

To implement initiatives and programmes that encourage and facilitate sustainable investment and participation in the digital economy;

xxi

To collaborate with all relevant stakeholders, promote the application of information and communications technologies gradually in all sectors, improve environmental sustainability, encourage the creation, reuse and sharing of suitable facilities to recycle and dispose of e-waste and promote sustainable consumption and production patterns;

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To promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics education and statistical literacy, particularly among female students, while also recognizing the importance of complementary soft skills, such as entrepreneurship, by encouraging mentoring and supporting other efforts to attract and retain women and girls in those fields, as well as mainstreaming a gender perspective when developing and implementing policies that harness science, technology and innovation;

xxiii

To support the policies and activities of developing countries in the fields of science and technology through North-South as well as South-South cooperation, as complementary to but not substituting for each other, by encouraging financial and technical assistance, capacity-building, technology transfer on mutually agreed terms and conditions and technical training programmes or courses;

xxiv

To encourage countries to support education and progressively increase high-quality skilled human resources at all levels by providing an environment for building a critical mass of human resource capacity, harnessing and effectively participating in the application of science, technology and innovation for value addition activities, in different sectors, solving problems and enhancing human welfare, while fostering an enabling environment for improved career prospects and work conditions;

xxv

To increase support for research and development activities on rapid technological change and ensure the coherence of science, technology and innovation policies and strategies on rapid technological change with the broader national development agenda;

xxvi

To consider engaging in an inclusive global discourse about all aspects of rapid technological change and its impact on sustainable development;

xxvii

To promote comprehensive policies that ensure the safety and ethical use of data, and robust cybersecurity practices;

xxviii

To support policies that increase financial inclusion and deepen the sources of financing and direct investments towards innovations that address the Sustainable Development Goals, for which the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, to be held in Seville in 2025, constitutes an excellent opportunity;

xxix

To encourage the inclusiveness of innovation, especially with regard to local communities and those in vulnerable situations, women and girls, youth, older persons and people with special needs, to ensure that the scaling and diffusion of new technologies are inclusive and do not create further divides;

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To support the Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries as a mechanism to improve the scientific research and innovation base of least developed countries, promote networking among researchers and research institutions, help least developed countries to gain access to and utilize technology, draw together bilateral initiatives and support by multilateral institutions and the private sector and implement projects that contribute to the use of science, technology and innovation for economic development in least developed countries;

The Commission is encouraged:

To continue its role as a torch-bearer for science, technology and innovation and to provide high-level advice to the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly on relevant science, technology, engineering and innovation issues, and in this regard to contribute to informing the high-level thematic debate on the topic of the impact of rapid technological change on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and targets, to be convened by the President of the General Assembly at its eightieth session, and to the discussion of progress made in the implementation of General Assembly resolutions 75/316 and 77/320 at its eightieth session;

To help to articulate the important role of information and communications technologies and science, technology and innovation as enablers in the 2030 Agenda by acting as a forum for strategic planning, providing foresight about critical trends in science, technology and innovation in key sectors of the economy and drawing attention to new and emerging technologies;

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To consider how its work aligns with, feeds into and complements other international forums on science, technology and innovation and efforts supporting the implementation of the 2030 Agenda;

To raise awareness and facilitate networking and partnerships among various technology foresight organizations and networks, in collaboration with other stakeholders;

To promote, in the spirit of the 2030 Agenda and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, international cooperation in the field of science and technology for development, including capacity-building and technology transfer on mutually agreed terms and conditions;

To raise awareness among policymakers about the process of innovation and to identify particular opportunities for developing countries to benefit from such innovation, with special attention being placed on new trends in innovation that can offer novel possibilities for developing countries;

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To support multi-stakeholder collaboration in policy learning capacity-building and technology development, including to support the participation of actors in the innovation systems of Member States in international networks and programmes to continue to build their capacity in innovation;

viii

To support efforts to build capacity to develop, use and deploy new and existing technologies, based on needs, in developing countries, particularly the least developed countries, small island developing States and landlocked developing countries;

To harness emerging technologies for the acceleration of achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, raise awareness and deepen understanding of potential risks of emerging technologies and take actions to mitigate these risks, and enhance the skills and competencies necessary as well as international cooperation to address them;

To proactively strengthen and revitalize global science, technology and innovation partnerships for sustainable development, which would entail the engagement of the Commission in (a) translating technology foresight into elaborating the scope of specific international projects for targeted research, technology development and deployment and initiatives for building human resource capacity for science, technology and innovation; and (b) exploring innovative financing models and other resources contributing to enhancing the capacities of developing countries in collaborative projects and initiatives in science, technology and innovation;

To explore ways and means of conducting international technology assessments and foresight exercises on existing, new and emerging technologies and their implications for sustainable development and building resilient communities;

xii

To support countries in their efforts to identify future trends in terms of capacity-building needs, including through foresight exercises;

xiii

To scale up the means of implementation to developing countries to strengthen their science, technology and innovation capacities, including by harnessing technologies and scientific knowledge as a global public good through the enhancement of the use of open science and affordable open-source technology;

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To discuss and explore innovative financing models, such as impact investment, as a means to attract new stakeholders, innovators and sources of investment capital for science, technology, engineering and innovation-based solutions, in collaboration with other organizations, where appropriate;

To promote cooperation through the conduct of capacity-building and research and development initiatives among Member States, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, including appropriate United Nations agencies, working to facilitate the strengthening of innovation systems that support innovators, particularly in developing countries, to boost their efforts to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development;

xvi

To provide a forum for sharing not only success stories and best practices, but also failures, key challenges and learning from the results of foresight exercises, successful local innovation models, case studies and experience on the use of science, technology and engineering for innovation, including the application of new emerging technologies, in symbiotic relationship with information and communications technologies, for inclusive and sustainable development, and to share findings with all relevant United Nations entities, including through the Technology Facilitation Mechanism and its multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals;

xvii

To continue to play an active role in creating awareness of the potential contribution of science, technology and innovation to the 2030 Agenda through substantive inputs, as appropriate, to relevant processes and bodies of the United Nations, and to share findings and good practices on science, technology and innovation among Member States and beyond;

xviii

To highlight the importance of the work of the Commission related to the implementation of and follow-up to the areas of information and communications technologies and science, technology and innovation related to the Sustainable Development Goals, with the Chair of the Commission to report at appropriate reviews and meetings of the Economic and Social Council, the high-level political forum on sustainable development and other relevant forums;

xix

To strengthen and deepen collaboration between the Commission on Science and Technology for Development and the Commission on the Status of Women, including sharing good practices and lessons learned in integrating a gender perspective into science, technology and innovation policymaking and implementation;

To play an active role in creating awareness in support of the Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries;

xxi

To report to the General Assembly, by no later than the eighty-first session, on the progress made by the Commission on Science and Technology for Development Multi-stakeholder Working Group on Data Governance at All Levels, as Relevant for Development;

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development is encouraged:

To seek funding proactively for the expansion of science, technology and innovation policy reviews, with an emphasis on the critical role of information and communications technologies in empowering science, technology and innovation and engineering capacity-building and utilization, and the implementation of the recommendations on those reviews, as appropriate, in close cooperation with United Nations agencies and international organizations;

To look into the feasibility of including elements of strategic foresight and digital ecosystem assessment in policy reviews of science, technology and innovation and information and communications technologies, possibly by including a chapter dedicated to these themes;

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To implement as widely as possible its framework for national science, technology and innovation policy reviews in order to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals, including a specific focus on bottom-of-the-pyramid approaches to innovation and on social inclusion;

To plan for periodic updates on progress made in countries for which science, technology and innovation policy reviews have been performed and to invite those countries to report to the Commission on Science and Technology for Development on progress made, lessons learned and challenges encountered in implementing recommendations;

To request the Gender Advisory Board of the Commission to provide inputs to the policy deliberations and documentation of the Commission, to report on progress at the annual sessions of the Commission and to better integrate a gender perspective into science, technology and innovation policy reviews;

To note the appreciation of the Commission for the contribution of the Gender Advisory Board to the discussions of the twenty-eighth session of the Commission, in particular at the high-level panel on technology foresight and technology assessment for sustainable development;

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To encourage Governments to use the Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries as a mechanism to support science, technology and innovation in least developed countries and to assist least developed countries to further develop their own technologies;

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To continue to provide support for the States members of the Commission in their joint initiatives aimed at promoting science, technology and innovation in line with the achievement of the 2030 Agenda;

Recommends that the Commission consider initiating an informal process of consultations among member States, ahead of its twenty-ninth session, in order to improve the efficiency of the resolution on science, technology and innovation, bearing in mind the goal of the Commission to foster science, technology and innovation for development, respecting the Sustainable Development Goals, and taking into account that this process will include the interests of all member States, especially developing countries, in a balanced and comprehensive manner on the basis of the present resolution, retaining the equilibrium reached in previous years.

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