Key messages

• The STRINGS projects’ unprecedented mapping of how different areas of STI relate to SDGs has highlighted the potential misalignments between countries’ research priorities and SDG challenges.
• The mapping and characterisation of published research also highlighted the stark inequalities between where the research capabilities are built and where they are most needed.
• During the side event, it was argued that funders, donors and international organisations should seek to steer research priorities to address this. Recommendations based on experiences in Brazil, Germany and South Africa were discussed.
• Measures that were discussed include: consulting with a wider range of stakeholders and reflecting the views of different communities across different contexts; improving the assessment of research’s (unequal) impact on societies; and introducing new forms of global governance to better analyse R&D allocations and STI strategies.
• STRINGS will publish a full report and recommendations from its research later this year You can receive regular updates on the project’s research and findings by joining the STRINGS mailing list.

Event summary

The STRINGS project’s side event at the UN STI Forum 2021 explored how policymakers, funders and international organisations can harness the power of science,

STRINGS has launched a global survey to gather different views on how science, technology and innovation (STI) can support the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and we want to hear from you.

Billions of dollars are spent every year on STI but our understanding of how that investment supports the SDGs is limited. The survey is part of our work to improve this understanding and provide decision makers with evidence and tools to align STI with the SDGs to create a better, fairer and more sustainable world.

What does the survey involve?

In the survey we ask you to tell us which areas of STI you believe have the most potential to help achieve the SDGs. We ask you to focus on the SDGs you are most familiar with, and the survey will tailor itself to reflect your expertise.

How will it help to achieve a more sustainable world?

By taking part, you will be:

• Building a picture of which STI should be prioritised in the next 10 years to achieve the SDGs
• Making sure that different experiences, areas of expertise, disciplines and contexts are included in debates on what is funded and how, including yours!

Our findings will be shared with

The winter 2020 edition of the STRINGS newsletter is out now, including:

• Spotlight on our mapping work
• An update on our Chagas case study
• Webinar recording – How do evidence-based models contribute to the SDGs?
• Latest blogs
• Recent publications and reading recommendations from the STRINGS team.

Read the newsletter and join our mailing list to have future editions sent straight to your inbox.

Dr Rasheed Sulaiman V, Director of the Centre for Research on Innovation and Science Policy (CRISP) and STRINGS partner, reviews Inclusive Innovation: Evidence and Options in Rural India by Rajeswari S Raina and Keshab Das (eds). Read the full review.

STRINGS partner the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has launched the 30th anniversary edition of the Human Development Report (HDR), The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene.

Thirty years ago, UNDP created a new way to conceive and measure progress. Instead of using growth in GDP as the sole measure of development, they ranked the world’s countries by their human development: by whether people in each country have the freedom and opportunity to live the lives they value.

The 2020 HDR doubles down on the belief that people’s agency and empowerment can bring about the action we need if we are to live in balance with the planet in a fairer world. It shows that we are at an unprecedented moment in history, in which human activity has become a dominant force shaping the planet. These impacts interact with existing inequalities, threatening significant development reversals. Nothing short of a great transformation – in how we live, work and cooperate – is needed to change the path we are on. The Report explores how to jumpstart that transformation.

Explore the Report.

Based on work by STRINGS partner CWTS, we have developed a tool to explore the extent to which research communities (i.e. different areas of research) relate, or not, to SDGs.

Since May, we have worked hard to define the set of search terms we use to identify academic papers that relate to the SDGs. Differently from most exercises like this (such as SIRIS, Dimensions, Elsevier, Aurora Universities, and Bergen), we assess the allocation of publications across research communities that, as a whole, may be working on SDG related topics. This approach acknowledges that what may be contributing to the SDGs is a combination of research outputs, rather than a single paper.

Prof Joanna Chataway talks to Prof Geoff Mulgan CBE and Dr Erica Thompson about the complexities of modelling and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in the first of the STRINGS webinar series.