Changing Directions: Steering science, technology and innovation towards the Sustainable Development Goals

Science, technology and innovation are failing to address the world’s most urgent sustainability challenges, according to a major new report from the STRINGS project. ‘Changing Directions: Steering science, technology and innovation towards the Sustainable Development Goals’ is the final report of an in-depth study involving collaborators from across the globe. It highlights a glaring mismatch between the priorities of the world’s scientific communities and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which were set up to drive change across all areas of social justice and environmental issues

Countries' research priorities in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals

We analyse the extent to which countries' research priorities align with their performance in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our central assumption is that a misalignment between the investment in research areas and the socio-economic challenges may reduce the effectiveness of the investments in research to address those challenges. We develop a new method to identify research that is related to an SDG by examining which research areas in WoS have more publications that contain text that is related to SDG policy outlets. Then we propose a new method that combines all SDG indicators available, to measure the performance of countries in certain SDGs in relation to the top performers. Overall, we find that the SDGs' research priorities in which researchers in low and middle-income countries publish most in international journals, are not necessarily the research areas where those countries perform worst when analysing SDG indicators. SDG2 (Zero hunger) and SDG3 (Good health and well-being) are exceptions where we can find a degree of alignment, but in other challenges such as SDG12 (Responsible consumption and production) and SDG13 (Climate action), higher income countries perform worst and are not specialised in those research areas.</p

Countries' research priorities in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals

We analyse the extent to which countries' research priorities align with their performance in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our central assumption is that a misalignment between the investment in research areas and the socio-economic challenges may reduce the effectiveness of the investments in research to address those challenges. We develop a new method to identify research that is related to an SDG by examining which research areas in WoS have more publications that contain text that is related to SDG policy outlets. Then we propose a new method that combines all SDG indicators available, to measure the performance of countries in certain SDGs in relation to the top performers. Overall, we find that the SDGs' research priorities in which researchers in low and middle-income countries publish most in international journals, are not necessarily the research areas where those countries perform worst when analysing SDG indicators. SDG2 (Zero hunger) and SDG3 (Good health and well-being) are exceptions where we can find a degree of alignment, but in other challenges such as SDG12 (Responsible consumption and production) and SDG13 (Climate action), higher income countries perform worst and are not specialised in those research areas

Changing Directions: Steering science, technology and innovation towards the Sustainable Development Goals

This report presents the results of the Steering Research and Innovation for Global Goals (STRINGS) project – a major global study into the alignment between science, technology and innovation (STI) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It highlights a glaring mismatch between STI and the SDGs; warns that, if this mismatch is not addressed, it will undermine progress on the SDGs; and makes recommendations about how to tackle this imbalance. To help understand and better address the challenges of investing in STI for the SDGs, while embracing the complex relationship between STI and the SDGs, we make use of multiple analytical tools to examine STI-SDG relations for different types of actors, across geographical settings and time horizons. By combining methods from a range of disciplines, we provide complementary mappings, characterizations and understandings of the complex relations between STI and the SDGs. We are then able to build on these mappings and characterizations to illustrate and explain misalignments between STI activities and the SDGs. By combining these analyses, we gained deep insights into the way that particular STI priorities emerge both locally and globally, and how STI can be steered to improve alignment with the SDGs. Our results can help policymakers, research funders, academics, international organizations (INGOs) and aid organizations to make informed decisions about investing in research and innovation that will address the SDGs and ultimately create a positive impact on society.</p

Data from: The rise of health biotechnology research in Latin America: a scientometric analysis of health biotechnology production and impact in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba and Mexico.

This paper analyzes the patterns of health biotechnology publications in six Latin American countries from 2001 to 2015. The countries studied were Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba and Mexico. Before our study, there were no data available on HBT development in half of the Latin-American countries we studied, i.e., Argentina, Colombia and Chile. To include these countries in a scientometric analysis of HBT provides fuller coverage of HBT development in Latin America. The scientometric study used the Web of Science database to identify health biotechnology publications. The total amount of health biotechnology production in the world during the period studied was about 400,000 papers. A total of 1.2% of these papers, were authored by the six Latin American countries in this study. The results show a significant growth in health biotechnology publications in Latin America despite some of the countries having social and political instability, fluctuations in their gross domestic expenditure in research and development or a trade embargo that limits opportunities for scientific development. The growth in the field of some of the Latin American countries studied was larger than the growth of most industrialized nations. Still, the visibility of the Latin American research (measured in the number of citations) did not reach the world average, with the exception of Colombia. The main producers of health biotechnology papers in Latin America were universities, except in Cuba were governmental institutions were the most frequent producers. The countries studied were active in international research collaboration with Colombia being the most active (64% of papers co-authored internationally), whereas Brazil was the least active (35% of papers). Still, the domestic collaboration was even more prevalent, with Chile being the most active in such collaboration (85% of papers co-authored domestically) and Argentina the least active (49% of papers). We conclude that the Latin American countries studied are increasing their health biotechnology publishing. This strategy could contribute to the development of innovations that may solve local health problems in the region