Posts tagged Innovation

Post-pandemic Asia Pacific lags on climate SDG – UN

0 Comments read Environment & Development
Impacts of COVID-19, climate change and human-made crises have further disadvantaged vulnerable groups, including rural populations, poorer households, women and people with severe disabilities, says a UN report. Tai O fishing village on Lantau Island in Hong Kong. Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 25.03.2022 (SciDev.Net): The Asia Pacific region has significantly regressed on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets related to climate action and responsible consumption and production, moving the region further away from the 2030 goalpost, according to a UN report.

The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific’s (ESCAP) 2022 Asia-Pacific SDG Progress Report, launched on 17 March, notes that inequality in the region has widened due to impacts of COVID-19, climate change and human-made crises. It says vulnerable groups, including women, rural populations, poorer households and people with severe disabilities, have been disadvantaged the most as a result.

“The sole focus on economic recovery post-pandemic is likely to hinder progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, which was already lagging to begin with,” Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, UN Under-Secretary-General and ESCAP’s executive secretary, tells SciDev.Net. “As the region strives to build back better and recover, the 2030 Agenda can serve as a guiding mechanism for both economic and social development”.

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Innovation vital to kick start economies: GII 2020

0 Comments read Health & Science
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne (Australia). Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 07.09.2020 (SciDev.Net): The innovation landscape is moving towards Asia from the high-income economies of North America and Europe while funding for innovation is drying up globally, according to the Global Innovation Index 2020 (GII).

While the annual rankings, co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialised agency of the UN, continue to be dominated by developed countries led by Switzerland and followed by Sweden, the US, UK and the Netherlands, innovation is becoming more prominent and important in Asia.

There are 131 economies included in the 2020 GII with nine Asian countries in the top 50, up from seven last year. Included this year are Singapore (8th), the Republic of Korea (10th), China (14th), Japan (16th), Malaysia (33rd), Vietnam (42nd), Thailand (44th), India (48th) and the Philippines (50th).

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