By Justin Caso, Public Affairs Senior Manager
IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA) participated in the annual United Nation’s Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science Technology and Innovation (STI) for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on 14-15 May 2019. The STI Forum provides a venue for facilitating interaction, matchmaking, and the establishment of networks between relevant stakeholders and multi-stakeholder partnerships in order to identify and examine technology needs and gaps with regard to scientific cooperation, innovation and capacity-building, and also in order to help facilitate development, transfer and dissemination of relevant technologies for the Sustainable Development Goals.
The STI Forum discussed science, technology, and innovation cooperation around thematic areas for the implementation of the sustainable development goals, congregating all relevant stakeholders to actively contribute in their area of expertise. The theme of the STI Forum 2019 was “STI for ensuring inclusiveness and equality, with a special focus on SDGs 4, 8, 10, 13 and 16”.
At the STI Forum, IEEE SA participated as a collaborator of a Special Event presented by the Permanent Mission of Finland to the United Nations, titled “Data Matters: Bridging the Digital Divide for Inclusive and Sustainable Development” focusing on fair and effective use of data as a key driver behind the implementation of each of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). John C. Havens, the Executive Director of The IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics in Autonomous and Intelligent Systems, provided a keynote address where he addressed the three pillars of Ethically Aligned Design, First Edition: A Vision for Prioritizing Human Well-being with Autonomous and Intelligent Systems. These pillars are:
- Universal Human Values where autonomous and intelligent systems (A/IS) can be an enormous force for good in society provided they are designed to respect human rights, align with human values, and holistically increase well-being while empowering as many people as possible
- Political Self-Determination and Data Agency where A/IS—if designed and implemented properly— have a great potential to nurture political freedom and democracy, in accordance with the cultural precepts of individual societies, when people have access to and control over the data constituting and representing their identity
- Technical Dependability where A/IS should deliver services that can be trusted. This trust means that A/IS will reliably, safely, and actively accomplish the objectives for which they were designed while advancing the human-driven values they were intended to reflect
In addition, the IEEE Power & Energy Society, along with ComEd, National Grid US, Quanta Technology, Southern California Edison and VELCO, hosted an event at the STI Forum titled “SDG 13 and Success Factors for Sustainable Electrical Energy Delivery” focusing on integrating renewable energy resources and energy storage, together with electrification of transportation and innovative approaches to electrifying off grid and near grid communities to assist in setting a path towards decarbonization to address climate change.
The interactive session, moderated by Damir Novosel, Quanta Technologies, brought together renowned experts from the power engineering community to discuss success factors for sustainable electrical energy delivery in the context of climate change that is negatively impacting nations and their citizens. The panelists included Shay Bahramirad, ComEd; Bill Chiu, Southern California Energy; Babak Enayati, National Grid US; and Chris Root, VELCO.
Learn more about IEEE SA Global Engagement program today.
