About Global Pilot Programme on STI for SDGs
India played an important role in the negotiations for introduction of a UN driven global Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) as part of the SDGs. Accordingly, the proposal was first acknowledged in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA). Thereafter Paragraph 70 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development announced the launch of a “Technology Facilitation Mechanism” (TFM) in order to support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). TFM was expected to facilitate multi-stakeholder collaboration and partnerships through the sharing of information, experiences, best practices and policy advice among Member States, civil society, the private sector, the scientific community, United Nations entities and other stakeholders. While the initial steps taken in this direction since 2016 were mostly deliberative in the form of the annual STI Forum and the constitution of the UN-Inter-agency Task Team (IATT) along with a global advisory body (the 10-Member group), concrete operational steps have now started to emerge as is evident from the adoption of the Global Pilot Programmes on STI for SDGs Roadmaps in 2019.
About the Workshop
As part of this exercise, the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) and the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS – the knowledge partner with PSA), jointly with the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan (CAO) and the UN-Interagency Task Team (UN-IATT) on STI for SDGs, organised a virtual workshop on “Developing STI Partnerships for Sustainable Development: Accelerating International Cooperation and Actions through the Global Pilot Programme on STI for SDGs Roadmaps” on 29 June 2020. This workshop has been recognised as an official work programme of the TFM ahead of the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) in July 2020. Senior policymakers and experts from the pilot countries, India, Japan and UN/partner agencies, joined the workshop. The bilateral dialogue between India and Japan focusing on leveraging frontier technologies in implementation of the four aforementioned SDGs was hosted on 23 June 2020.
The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India nominated RIS for hosting this endeavour as the knowledge partner.