The 8th Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals (STI Forum) was held on 2nd May at the UN Headquarters in New York. Professor Xiaolan Fu, the Director of the Oxford Technology and Management Centre for Development (TMCD) and Principal Investigator of the Inclusive Digital Model (IDMODEL) project, along with Professor Pervez Ghauri, the IDMODEL Co-Investigator from the University of Birmingham Business School, participated in the "Creating Resilience and Sustainable Innovations through Emerging Technologies" side event. Prof. Fu delivered the opening and concluding remarks and participated with Prof. Ghauri in the panel discussion.

This side event was co-organized by the Ministry of ICT of Bangladesh, Technology and Management Centre for Development, University of Oxford, SBK Foundation, UNCTAD, and the UN Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries. With only seven years left to achieve the 2030 sustainable development goals (SDGs), the event aimed to generate greater knowledge on how emerging technologies can provide innovative solutions to the implementation of SDGs and accelerate the development of least developed countries.

At the side event, examples such as the IDMODEL project were presented, which successfully adopted emerging technologies for SDGs in developing and least developed countries. Panellists, including Prof. Fu and Prof. Ghauri, also discussed the role of appropriate policy, regulatory, and infrastructural frameworks to enhance the absorption of emerging technologies.

Professor Xiaolan Fu also participated in the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in Africa Day on 2nd May, which was a special event of the STI Forum. During the panel discussion with the theme of “Role of Youth and the African Continental Free Trade Area in STI”, Prof. Fu showcased how digital platform technology, which has been used in the IDMODEL project, could empower African youths to contribute to the development of Africa. 

Please find more about the IDMODEL project here