A/RES/74/229 Science, technology and innovation for sustainable development 5. Underscores the need to adopt science, technology and innovation strategies as integral elements of national sustainable development plans and strategies that help to strengthen knowledge-sharing on mutually agreed terms and collaboration and scale up investment in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, and enhance technical, vocational and tertiary education and training; 6. Recognizes the importance of addressing the gap in capabilities across and between countries, sectors and segments of society so that all parts of society, especially people in vulnerable situations and the poor, can adapt an d benefit from technological changes; 7. Also recognizes the importance of the creation of a conducive environment that attracts and supports private investment, entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility, including an efficient, adequate, balanced and effective intellectual property framework, while encouraging access to science, technology and innovation by developing countries; 8. Encourages Member States to strengthen and foster investment in research and development for environmentally sound technologies and to promote the involvement of the business and financial sectors in the development of those technologies, and invites the international community to support those efforts; 9. Encourages all stakeholders in an effort to prepare for existing and future opportunities and challenges presented by technological change, including the fourth industrial revolution, among others, to explore ways and means of conducting inclusive national, regional and international technology assessment and fores ight exercises on existing, new and emerging technologies to help to evaluate their development potential and mitigate possible negative effects and risks; 10. Encourages Member States, individually and collectively, to support policies that increase financial inclusion, including through making use of financial technology, with a view to deepening and diversifying the sources of financing and of direct investments towards science, technology and innovations that address the Sustainable Development Goals; 11 11. Also encourages Member States 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 information and communications technology and supporting infrastructure development; 12. Further encourages Member States to promote digital inclusion and literacy and to consider incorporating digital competencies into the education system, with a special focus on encouraging girls and enhancing digital skills and competences development, including through investment in digital qualification, specialization in digital technologies, digital infrastructure, public policies and institutional development and multi-stakeholder and international collaboration; 13. Underlines that addressing barriers to equal access for women and girls to science, technology and innovation requires a systematic, comprehensive, integrated, sustainable, multidisciplinary and multisectoral approach, and in this regard urges Member States to mainstream a gender perspective in legislation, policies and programmes, and encourages efforts to mentor, attract and retain women and girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education and research and to support women in leveraging science and technology for entrepreneurship and economic empowerment in the changing world of work; __________________ 11 6/9 See resolution 70/1. 19-22501