10th Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals

Background

The tenth annual Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs (STI Forum) will be held from Wednesday, 7 May, to Thursday, 8 May 2025. The Forum will be convened by the President of ECOSOC His Excellency Mr. Bob Rae, who had appointed two co-chairs - H.E. Mr. Omar Hilale, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United Nations and H.E. Ms. Elina Kalkku, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations. As per its mandate, the Forum will be organized by the UN interagency task team on STI for the SDGs (IATT), convened by UN-DESA and UNCTAD, and the 10-Member Group of high-level representatives appointed by the Secretary General.

As in previous years, the theme of the STI Forum will be closely aligned with that of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), to be held from Monday, 14 July, to Wednesday, 23 July 2025, under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council. The STI Forum will have an exclusive focus on the role and contributions of science, technology and innovation to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. The 2025 HLPF will hold in-depth reviews of five SDGs: Goal 3. Ensure health and well-being for all; Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls; Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all; Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development; and Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.

Accordingly, the theme for the STI Forum 2025 is: “Advancing sustainable, inclusive, and evidence-based, science and technology solutions and innovations for the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs for leaving no one behind”.

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Announcements

Programme

Guidelines

Pre-Conference Activities

Background Notes

Background Note for the 10th STI Forum 2025

Letters

Concept Note

Draft STI Forum concept note

Statements

Side events

The STI Forum has worked cumulatively since its inception. An important part in this process is the intersessional work of the UN system, its Interagency Task Team on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs (IATT), and of the 10-Member-Group of High-level Representatives. Here we will cross-link selected intersessional work since the last Forum in May 2024, for ease of reference.

Conferences, meetings and workshops

AI for Good Summit, ITU, Geneva, 29-31 May 2024
Summit of the Future, New York, USA, September 2024
Workshop on Building Capacity and Exploring Resources for implementing STI4SDGs Roadmaps, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 8- 9 October 2024
SIF Theme 2024: Inclusive Science and Innovation for Agrifood Systems Transformation, Leaving No One Behind, FAO headquarters, Rome, Italy, 14-18 October 2024
Meeting of the 10-Member Group of High-level Representatives of Civil Society, Private Sector and Scientific Community to Promote Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs (10-Member-Group) in preparation for the STI Forum 2025, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland, 22-23 October 2024
7th G-STIC Conference, India, 22-23 October 2024
Strengthening Science, Technology and Innovation for Achieving the SDGs: Drawing Lessons from the UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism and Innovative Financing Models - Side Event to the Multi-stakeholder Hearing for FfD4, 29 October 2024
43rd session of UN-Space, New York, 31 October 2024
UN IATT Webinar on Space for SDGs, 19 November 2024
UN IATT Webinar on The Joint SDG Fund, 11 February 2025
African Regional Science, Technology and Innovation Forum, Kampala, Uganda, 9-11 April 2025
28th session of the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD), Geneva, Switzerland, 7-11 April 2025
Expert Consultations on leveraging synergies between the UN's Online Platform (2030Connect) and EC-OECD's STIP Compass, New York, USA, 6 May 2025
STI Forum Special Event by UN IATT: Celebrating a Decade of STI for the SDGs – Progress and Future Opportunities, New York, USA, 8 May 2025
WSIS+20 High-Level Event 2025, Geneva, Switzerland, hosted by ITU, 7-11 July 2025

Publications

Global Foresight Report: Navigating New Horizons, UNEP, September 2024. The report calls for the world to pay heed and respond to a range of emerging challenges that could disrupt planetary health and human wellbeing.

Capacity building

UNIDO launches SDG 9 Learning Academy to strengthen global industrial knowledge and training.

The STI Action Day

6 May 2025 | 10:00

Venue: ECOSOC Chamber

This year’s STI Forum marks a milestone as the first gathering since the adoption of the Global Digital Compact (GDC) by UN Member States. The Action Day will kick off the week with a dynamic, high-level event focused on translating the commitments of the GDC into concrete actions for science, technology, and innovation in support of the SDGs. For more details, see: STI Forum Action Day | 6 May | Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies

Join high-level policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs, and advocates in their discussion on the future of inclusive and responsible digital development. For registration of the Action Day event, please click here.

Esteemed speakers include:

H.E. Amal El Fallah Seghrouchni, Minister Delegate for Digital Transition and Administration Reform for Morocco
Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Laureate & CEO of Rappler
Peter Vetter, President of Bell Labs at Nokia
Ambassador M.O. Kah, Permanent Representative of The Gambia to the UN in Geneva
Baroness Beeban Kidron Founder, 5Rights Foundation

The tenth annual Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs (STI Forum) will be held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 7 to 8 May 2025. It will be convened by the President of ECOSOC, His Excellency Mr. Bob Rae, and the meetings of the Forum will be co-chaired by H.E. Mr. Omar Hilale, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations and H.E. Ms. Elina Kalkku, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations.

The overall theme of the 2025 STI Forum is: “Advancing sustainable, inclusive, and evidence-based, science and technology solutions and innovations for the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs for leaving no one behind”. Special focus will be given to the Sustainable Development Goals under review in 2025, namely SDG3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages), SDG 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls), SDG 8 (Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainbale economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all), SDG 14 (Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development), and SDG 17 (Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development).

In connection with the 2025 STI Forum, a limited number of in-person, virtual and off-site side events will be organized by Member States, UN entities, Intergovernmental Organizations and accredited non-governmental stakeholders, and selected representatives of universities, laboratories, scientific and engineering organizations.

An open call for side event applications was issued in mid-February. Applications received by 10 March were considered in the selection process. Selection of side events was guided by the following criteria:

Side events must be closely related to the theme of the 2025 STI Forum;
Side events should ensure gender and geographic balance and strive for meaningful participation of stakeholders, including civil society, women, youth, indigenous peoples, academic and scientific communities, among others;
Side events should highlight concrete success stories and examples of innovations, solutions and technologies that support the implementation of one or more SDGs, especially those under in-depth review in 2025 (SDGs 3, 5, 8, 14 and 17).
Preference was given to side events organized by coalitions of actors including UN Member States, UN entities, Intergovernmental Organizations and recognized stakeholder networks, associations, Major Groups and Other Stakeholder constituencies.

Side-event organizers all committed to the responsibilities outlined in the Side Events Guidelines. Further logistical guidance for side event organizers could be found in the FAQs for Side Event Organizers.

In-Person Side Events Inside UNHQ:

21 in-person side events included in the programme below are open to all STI Forum participants on a first-come-first-served basis, up to the capacity of the conference rooms. Participants need to register for the access to UNHQ.

Virtual Side Events:

28 virtual side events will be convened in connection with the 2025 STI Forum, many of which required registration to access their respective virtual platforms. Please check the programme below for further details:

Off-Site Side Events:

5 off-site side events will be convened in connection with the 2025 STI Forum. Please check the programme below for further details:

All side events at the 2025 STI Forum are organized independently by their respective organizers. The UN bears no responsibility for their content, participants, or presentations, and inclusion in the official side events programme does not imply endorsement by the UN.

References to any organization, service, or website do not constitute endorsement and shall not be used for promotional purposes. The UN is not responsible nor legally liable for the content and external hyperlinks used for user convenience. The UN reserves the right to remove any content from its platforms that is inconsistent with the UN Charter or the principles and purposes of the Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs.

Call for Innovations for the Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs (STI Forum) is offering an exciting opportunity to showcase groundbreaking innovations that address critical sustainable development challenges in low-resource settings. This year, the search for innovations is organized in collaboration with Engineering for Change, focusing on advancing specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
SDG 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainbale economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
SDG 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
SDG 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and reviltalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

The UN STI Forum Call for Innovations aims to spotlight promising technology solutions for addressing SDG challenges while forstering collaboration among innovators, communities, and global stakeholders. Selected innovations will have the unique opportunity to be highlighted at the STI Forum, with a global audience of policymakers, experts, and innovators.

The 2025 Call for Innovations received 338 high-quality submissions from all regions of the world, reflecting a strong global commitment to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals through science, technology, and innovation. Following a thorough review process, 28 innovations were selected for their demonstrated creativity, scalability, and relevance to addressing challenges in low-resource settings. Of these, 10 innovations were identified by the United Nations 10-Member Group of High-level Representatives to be featured in person at the STI Forum. These selected initiatives exemplify the potential of inclusive and context-responsive technological solutions to accelerate progress towards sustainable development.

Substantive background materials for the various STI Forum sessions prepared by expert from UN, academia, private sector, and civil society: science policy briefs and UN documents

We thank all authors of science-policy briefs for their submissions and congratulate those who successfully passed the peer-review organized by IATT. The 10-Member-Group prepared an overall substantive background note for the STI Forum 2025 together with briefs that are provided here as well. This was the original call for science-policy briefs for the STI Forum 2025 (English | Francais).

Please note that some briefs may still be missing as we have just finished processing them and are now uploading them here. Thank you for your patience!!!

Note: The views expressed in the briefs are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its senior management. The UN reserves the right to remove any briefs from this site.

Session 1. Making artificial intelligence (AI) accessible, inclusive and beneficial for all

Science-policy briefs (more to come soon... currently uploading)
UN documents:
- ILO, Revolutionizing health and safety: The role of AI and digitalization at work, forthcoming (the report will be launched end April, in the context of the 2025 World Day for Safety and Health at Work Campaign, see: Revolutionizing health and safety: the role of AI and digitalization at work)
- UN and ILO, Mind the AI Divide: Shaping a Global Perspective on the Future of Work.
- ILO: Preventing and reducing inequalities within and between countries-- A call for decisive multilateral action; ILO Policy Brief.
- UN and ILO, Mind the AI Divide: Shaping a Global Perspective on the Future of Work
- Revolutionizing health and safety: the role of AI and digitalization at work, forthcoming (the report will be launched end April, in the context of the 2025 World Day for Safety and Health at Work Campaign)
- Generative AI and the media and culture industry: Research Brief Media and AI, and the conclusions of the sectoral meeting on arts and entertainment
- Digitalization and the future of work in the financial services sector, and the Conclusions (wcms_836276.pdf)
- The future of work in retail: Digitalization as an engine for sustainable economic recovery and decent work, and the tripartite Conclusions
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) end-to-end: The Environmental Impact of the Full AI Lifecycle Needs to be Comprehensively Assessed - Issue Note

Session 2. Advancing science, technology and innovation for gender equality

Science-policy briefs (more to come soon... currently uploading)
- Moon, A., Seyun Ji, S., (2025). Advancing Women’s Scientific Leadership in Achieving SDGs
- Ngila, C. (2025). STI for Gender Equality in Africa towards SDG 5: Challenges and Achievement

Session 3. Leveraging science to conserve, restore and sustainably use the ocean and coastal ecosystems

Session 4: Scaling up STI financing and capacity building and strengthening research infrastructures for sustainable development

Additional science-policy briefs:

Science-policy interface (more to come soon... currently uploading)
- Ishii, K., (2025). Haste makes waste: an old vaccine works for Mpox saving the children at risk in 100 days
- Verma, P. (2025). Strengthening the Science-Policy-Society Interface: Seven Key Lessons from India’s Experience
Emerging science (more to come soon... currently uploading)
- Jimenez, S.J.A et al (2025). Bridging Neuroscience Research and Policy: Lessons Learned from the Philippine Brain Research Agenda Setting

Attending the STI Forum

The 2025 STI Forum will be open to all those in possession of valid UN Grounds Passes for the UNHQ in New York.

Deadline for registration to other participants was 18 April 2025 - Registration is now closed.

Participants are responsible for their own travel and accommodation costs, including visas. The United Nations does not charge a fee for participation in any of its official events.

Access to the UNHQ and Special Events Ticket (SET)

All in-person participants MUST have either a valid UN Grounds pass for the UNHQ in NY or a Special Events Ticket issued by the United Nations to access the meeting.

If you have a valid UN grounds pass: no action is needed. You could use your pass to enter the UNHQ.

If you do not have a UN grounds pass AND you have requested a Special Events Ticket in your registration, please bring your original government-issued photo ID (must be from a UN Member State) and present a copy of your registration confirmation letter (printed of virtual) to collect your ticket at the following location/time:

When:

06 May – 9:00– 10AM

07 May - 9:00 – 10AM

08 May - 9:30 – 10AM

Where: UN Visitors Entrance, East side of 1^st Avenue between 45^th and 46^th streets, by the steps next to the UN Security Officers on duty, New York, NY 10017.

You can only collect your Special Event Ticket during the above time window the Secretariat will not be able to facilitate any latecomers/requests.

Access to ECOSOC Chamber

Stakeholders should proceed to the 3^rd floor to access the ECOSOC Chamber (ECO) using the escalators that are located near the UN guided tours area. Participants with mobility issues may pass the security door at the end of visitors’ hall and take elevator to second floor, provided they have communicated it to the secretariat in advance. (Click on map).

STI Forum Action Day

The STI Forum Action Day will be held on 6 May from 10AM – 1PM in the ECOSOC Chamber. Participants registered to attend the STI Forum can also attend this event up to the capacity of the room. For more information, please, check here.

ECOSOC Special Meeting on Artificial Intelligence

A Special Meeting of the Economic and Social Council on Artificial Intelligence (AI) will take place on Tuesday, 6 May 2025 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the ECOSOC Chamber. Participants registered to attend the STI Forum can also attend this event up to the capacity of the room.

Side Events

Side Events will be held in person, off-site and in virtual formats on the margins of the 2025 STI Forum from 6 – 8 May. Side events are organized by Member States, UN entities and stakeholders. A full list of side events and contact details is available on the Forum’s website. Participants registered to attend the STI Forum can also attend side events hosted inside UNHQ.

Please Note

The United Nations is delighted to welcome stakeholders to attend the STI Forum. While we strive to accommodate all registered participants, due to limited space in the Conference Rooms, security and safety measures may be implemented to manage access to the venue.

Within United Nations premises, all persons are required to comply with safety and security regulations, as well as the rules and procedures of the organization. Any act that disrupts the normal functioning of the organization’s programmatic activities, such as public displays of any form, including, but not limited to, clothing, banners, placards or other written or visual means, as well as vocal/audio sounds, gatherings or demonstrations of any kind, including passive, is not allowed.

All individuals present on the United Nations premises are expected to fully cooperate with United Nations Security Officers at all times. Refusal to comply with applicable regulations may result in temporary detention or removal from or denial of access to the premises in accordance with Section 10 of the United Nations Headquarters Agreement and ST/AI/2019/5, entitled “Authority of United Nations Security Officers”.

Please bring your own water bottle! Participants are encouraged to bring their own water bottle and to enjoy the fresh water from the fountains inside the UNHQ.

Please, be mindful that, by attending the 10th Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals (STI Forum) at UNHQ, you will be entering an area where photography, as well as audio and video recording, may occur. By joining the event, participants consent to appearing in images and recordings and for the release, publication, exhibition and reproduction of such images and recordings.

The United Nations Headquarters is a workplace for delegates and staff. Participants are reminded to behave appropriately, to keep noise levels down, and to dress in a way that respects the professional working environment of the United Nations.

Please note that backpacks and bags larger than 14” (35 cm) x 13” (33cm) high x 4” (10 Cm) deep are not permitted and that there are no luggage storage facilities available.

United Nations Security reserves the right to deny entry or remove from the premises anyone not behaving or dressed appropriately.

The United Nations Headquarters is accessible for disabled visitors and persons with limited mobility.

Anyone under 18 must be accompanied by a duly registered chaperone.

All visitors to United Nations Headquarters must go through security screening (airport-style). Food and beverages cannot be brought into the United Nations. Only accredited media can bring professional cameras or other media equipment into UNHQ.

If you still have questions, please email: [email protected]

Briefing to Member States and Stakeholders

3 March 2025, 3:00pm-4:00pm, CR 2, UN Headquarters, New York

The co-chairs of the 10th Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals held a briefing for Member States and STI stakeholders on Monday, 3 March 2025, from 3 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Conference Room 2, UN HQ, New York.

The briefing was organized by DESA in collaboration with DGACM. The co-chairs, Ambassador Kalkku and Ambassador Hilale delivered introductory remarks. They highlighted opportunities for participation and contributions, including details on the ministerial session, thematic sessions, and side events. DESA ASG Hanif provided welcome remarks and moderated the session. A representative from the Executive Office of the Secretary-General (EOSG) also provided an updated on preparations for the STI Action Day, which will take place on the margins of the STI Forum. Representatives from Member States, stakeholder groups, and the UN Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT) on STI for the SDGs expressed their appreciation and support for the ongoing preparations for the Forum.

To learn more about the priorities for the 2025 STI Forum, please visit the following statements made during the briefing: