Join the Permanent Missions of Israel, Ghana, Mexico, Singapore, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Barbados, Japan, Rwanda and Kenya to the United Nations, as well as the Office of the Special Advisor to the Secretary-General working on Digital Cooperation, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, for an online conference on Sustainable Development Goals in the COVID-19 Era: The Role of Science, Technology and Innovation.
Thursday, May 14, 2020
10:00 AM – 1:00PM EST (New York)
Friday May 15, 2020
10:00 AM – 12:15PM EST (New York)
The world today is faced with one of the most serious challenges of
our time, the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic is a grave human
security crisis that stretches well beyond the immediate health
emergency. It encompasses enormous socio-economic impacts to
people and governments all around the world. As Secretary-General
António Guterres emphasizes, we need “all hands on deck to fight a
once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.”
It is evident that Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) have the
potential to provide immense and indispensable tools to help us
overcome the current plague, as well as to prepare ourselves against—or
even prevent—future pandemics. To realize this potential, we must
pursue and apply STI wisely, in combination with cohesive and
mutually reinforcing actions among relevant stakeholders, including
governments, civil society, academic community and the private-sector.
We must ensure that STI is aligned with our efforts to build resilient,
inclusive, and sustainable societies where human security and
individual well-being are enhanced, inequalities are reduced, and
nations are put on-track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs).
As the numbers of infections and deaths worldwide continue to
increase, it is urgent for us to concretely identify what kinds of
international STI collaboration and cooperation can mitigate and
overcome the ongoing pandemic, as well as to discuss what the next
steps to effectively enhance our global pandemic preparedness should
be.
This online conference will therefore analyze and review the current
scientific knowledge and understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic,
explore both existing and innovative measures to effectively respond
the disease, discuss the challenges and opportunities offered by STI to
advance the SDGs given major disruptions caused by the COVID-19
pandemic, and look toward the future of STI cooperation in the postCOVID-19 world in way that can enhance global pandemic
preparedness.