Collaboration at the regional level is a critical force
for scaling up effective technologies and increasing
innovation capacity in the fight against COVID-19, according
to high-level officials and key stakeholders at the third
session of the Committee on Information and Communications
Technology (ICT), Science, Technology and
Innovation.

Convened by the United Nations Economic
and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the
two-day Committee meeting highlighted how digital inclusion
and resilient digital networks across the entire region have
become the foundation for government measures to effectively
stem the worst impacts of the pandemic.

“Digital has
taken on a compelling new meaning in the region – people,
planet and prosperity are all increasingly dependent on
access to digitally-driven technological innovations and
seamless connectivity,” said United Nations
Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP Ms.
Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana.

She added, “As we are
planning to chart our future in the post-COVID-19 world, we
need to address the digital and technology divide with
urgency. We cannot let this divide drive new forms of
socio-economic inequalities.”

More than half of the
region’s 4.1 billion people remain offline and in least
developed, landlocked developing and Pacific island
countries, less than 5 per cent of the population has access
to high-speed and affordable Internet. Women and girls,
regardless of location, level of income or age, have lower
access than men.

“We need to accelerate
the digital transformation that has happened before the
COVID-19 pandemic. We need to make sure that quality
telecommunications infrastructure is made available,” said
H.E. Mr. Bambang Brodjonegoro, Minister for Research and
Technology and Chairman of the National Agency for Research
and Innovation, Indonesia.

To leave no
one behind, the Committee discussed a set of guidelines for
inclusive technology and innovation policies for sustainable
development, and committed to developing policies that
promote inclusive technology and innovation to ensure that
innovations are accessible, relevant and affordable for
all.

“It is our choice to look at global challenges
such as the Coronavirus pandemic as an international science
and technology competition or as an opportunity for a
generous collaboration to build a better world,” said H.E.
Mr. Sorena Sattari, Vice President for Science and
Technology, Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Committee
also underscored the importance of harnessing the
entrepreneurial spirit of the private sector to focus on
developing innovations to address social and environmental
challenges as well as provide economic opportunities. Social
innovators and entrepreneurs have stepped up in response to
the COVID-19 pandemic. From providing educational technology
and e-health services for the most vulnerable to developing
community tracing initiatives, the work of social innovators
and entrepreneurs is more critical than ever.

In this
regard, the Committee recognized the critical role that
innovative business models – such as social enterprise,
inclusive business and impact investing – play in
accelerating progress on the Sustainable Development Goals,
and recommended that the United Nations support member
States to grow this new and emerging sector.

A
regional launch of the 2020
United Nations E-Government Survey published by the
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
(DESA) was held on the sidelines of the Committee. The
Survey finds that among the world’s least developed
countries, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Cambodia have become
leaders in digital government development, advancing from
the middle to the high E-Government Development Index group
in 2020. At the launch, ESCAP further highlighted the
challenges and opportunities of digital government in the
Asia-Pacific region and emphasized the use of ICT during all
phases of disaster risk management.

“This e-government
development ranking allows us to see the readiness and
capabilities of the country in the use of ICT to provide
citizens with public services,” said H.E. Mr. Ablaykhan
Ospanov, Vice Minister of Digital Development, Innovations
and Aerospace Industry, Kazakhstan. He further called on
countries to actively cooperate on the development of a new
Action Plan for implementation of the Asia-Pacific
Information Superhighway 2022-2026, which will help ensure
that digital government services reach
all.

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