Global Sustainable Technology and Innovation Community (G-STIC) special session: Catching technological waves – innovation with equity
Dear participants,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am delighted to address this special session of the Global Sustainable Technology and Innovation Community, and discuss the importance of catching technological waves and how we can ensure more equitable outcomes.
Technological change is one of the main forces which defines today’s world.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a clear example, especially of how frontier technologies can accelerate positive change. Artificial intelligence and big data have been used for monitoring the outbreaks, tracking and tracing disease cases, or fast-tracking the development of vaccines.
But rapid technological change is not only a story of winners. It also bears the risk of leaving many people behind. In many countries the use of these technologies is constrained by a lack of capacity to absorb new technologies, lack of skills, infrastructure, and financing. Without technological scaling, we cannot ensure that everyone, including the most vulnerable in our global community, can benefit from affordable and unrestricted access to these technologies.
We are now at the early stage of a new wave of technological change. This wave can have implications of historic proportions. Therefore, countries need to understand what is happening, be prepared to catch this wave of change, and ride it forward.
Some undesirable effects are already visible. The concern over inequality and the causal relationship with technology is at the forefront.
In many parts of the world, within country-inequality has increased over the past 40 years, reaching alarming levels and undermining societal cohesion in several countries. This concerns developed countries such as the United States and several countries in Europe, as well as developing countries such as China and India. But technology is not the only factor fostering within-country inequality. Also choices in trade and fiscal policy, education, labour markets, health services play an important role.
In terms of inequality across countries, since the Industrial Revolution every wave of technological progress has been associated with sharper inequality. Prior to 1800, there was very little income disparity across countries. Inequality was mainly a matter of domestic class divides. Today, the average gap in per capita income between developed and developing countries is over 40,000 US dollars. This has fostered economic, social and political tensions. Clearly, where one is born is critical for the opportunities one will have.
Disparities are also seen in education. In 2018, in low-income countries, only 41% of the population in the relevant age group were enrolled in secondary education. In upper-middle-income and high-income countries, it was 90%. This is important because inequality in education perpetuates income and other forms of inequality.
What these points show is that past technological revolutions have exacerbated inequalities, and, therefore, we need to understand how developing countries can get ready to deal with the new wave of technological change.
To support countries in this area, we developed a Technology Readiness Index. This index assesses national capabilities to use, adopt and adapt frontier technologies in an equitable manner.
It is no surprise that on the top we have developed countries. The top five are the United States of America, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Singapore.
Large economies from the South are also well ranked: China in 25th position, Brazil 41, India 43, and South Africa 54.
It is interesting that several countries perform much better than could be expected on the basis of their GDP per capita. The best overperformer is India, which ranks 43, that is 65 positions above its expected ranking. It is followed by the Philippines, which ranks 57 positions higher than expected.
The common factor of overperforming countries is that they have invested in innovation and technological learning, thus focusing on technological upgrading and diversifying their economies.
Our analysis also shows that the developing countries as a group, including the top overperforming developing countries, have lower rankings for ICT connectivity and skills. This is concerning given that ICT connectivity and skills are crucial for using and driving frontier technologies. Frontier technologies are closely interwoven with digitalization.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Technology does not need to be deterministic. But neither can it be the only solution to multidimensional problems like inequality.
Proactive policy interventions can help steer the direction of technological change towards more equitable outcomes within and across countries.
But this requires strong leadership.
At the domestic level, governments need to build stronger national science, technology and innovation capabilities, address gender gaps in science and technology, adopt redistributive fiscal policies, secure equitable access to education and life-long training, and provide a more level playing field for workers.
We also need international cooperation. International cooperation and an inclusive dialogue are indispensable to address concerns of frontier technologies, such as the lack of consistent ethical frameworks for technologies like artificial intelligence and gene editing, to give an equal voice to developing countries in governing the impact of technological change on societies and the planet, or to devise policies to smooth technological transfer.
At UNCTAD, we are doing our part.
The recent UNCTAD Ministerial Conference - UNCTAD15, held in early October - offered an opportunity to rethink development solutions and build new solidarity among States, including on science and technology.
UNCTAD also serves as the secretariat of the UN’s Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD). This body offers an impartial and trusted platform where the international community can deliberate contentious issues and share experiences and lessons learned on different policy approaches.
UNCTAD also helps countries better understand the impact of rapid technological change in economies and societies, and how to harness technology for sustainable development. For example, our Technology and Innovation Report 2021 focused on frontier technologies and inequalities, and provided a balanced account of the opportunities and threats of technological revolutions for people in developing countries.
Through our Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Reviews, UNCTAD helps countries design and set STI policies aligned with their development strategies and the SDGs. We help bring together all actors of the national innovation system (government, private sector, academia and civil society organization) to facilitate exchange and collaboration and strengthen their capacities for innovation. We also provide training for policymakers on science, technology and innovation for the SDGs.
Dear participants,
Our responsibility is to mobilize the international community to have an inclusive global dialogue on all aspects of fast technological change and its impact on society, including addressing ethical and normative dimensions.
With this special session, we want to ensure that all countries and groups within societies have an equal voice in facilitating that these changes will ultimately be a game-changer for people’s lives.
Thank you for your attention.