Impact of rapid technological change on the achievement
of the Sustainable Development Goals
A/RES/72/242
continue to require international and multi-stakeholder cooperation in order to benefit
from opportunities and address challenges in this regard, taking into account different
national realities, capacities and levels of development, and respecting national
policies and priorities,
Recognizing also the vital role that science, technology and innovation,
including environmentally sound technologies, can play in development and in
facilitating efforts to address global challenges, such as efforts to eradicate poverty,
achieve food security and nutrition, improve agriculture, enhance access to energy
and increase energy efficiency, fight diseases, improve education, protect the
environment, accelerate the pace of economic diversification and transformation,
improve productivity and competitiveness and ultimately support sustainable
development,
Noting with concern that, recent progress notwithstanding, important and
growing divides with regard to science and technolo gy remain between and within
developed and developing countries, all of which need to be addressed, inter alia, by
encouraging access to science and technology for developing countries, addressing
challenges to close the digital divides, ensuring an inclusive and gender-sensitive
approach and promoting the empowerment of women and girls,
Recognizing that the creation, development and diffusion of innovations and
new technologies and associated know-how are powerful drivers of economic growth
and sustainable development, acknowledging both the transformative and disruptive
potential of new technologies, particularly advances in automation, on labour markets
and on the jobs of the future, and in this regard seeking to prepare societies and
economies for these effects,
Recognizing also the central role that the Commission on Science and
Technology for Development plays, as the United Nations focal point for science,
technology and innovation for development, in analysing how science, technology
and innovation, including information and communications technologies, serve as
enablers of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 3 and in acting as a forum
for strategic planning, sharing lessons learned and best practices, providing foresight
about critical trends in science, technology and innovation in key sectors of the
economy, the environment and society, and drawing attention to emerging and
disruptive technologies,
1.
Encourages Member States to continue considering the impact of key
rapid technological changes on the achievement of the Sustainable Development
Goals, 3 in order to benefit from opportunities and address challenges in this regard,
and to promote the development of national strategies and public policies, capacity building and scientific engagement;
2.
Requests the Technology Facilitation Mechanism, including its
multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation for the Sustainable
Development Goals and its inter-agency task team on science, technology and
innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the Commission on
Science and Technology for Development, through the Economic and Social Council,
to give due consideration to the impact of key rapid technological changes on the
achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals within their respective mandates
and existing resources;
3.
Also requests the Technology Facilitation Mechanism to present its
findings, with an evidence-based approach, in this regard at its third multi-stakeholder
forum on science, technology and innovation, in June 2018;
__________________
3
2/3
Resolution 70/1.
17-23324