JSPG and the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth Partner for Special Issue on Emerging Technologies

"Emerging technologies are transforming economies and communities around the world from artificial intelligence to the internet of things to advances in genetic engineering and big data. These technologies bring a great deal of promise for economic prosperity productivity gains, but they also come with new questions around sustainable, inclusive growth. It's an imperative for multi-stakeholder groups to think carefully about the policy and governance implications of these new technologies. I applaud JSPG and UNMGCY's efforts to substantively engage the next generation in this issue through writing and research."

- Hon. Deborah L. Wince Smith, President & CEO, Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils; JSPG Advisory Board member

 CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:
 
​The United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth (UNMGCY) and the Journal of Science Policy and Governance (JSPG) are pleased to launch a joint call for submissions for a special issue around the “implications of emerging technologies on inequalities and sustainable development.”
 
Students, policy fellows, and early career scientists or professionals (within 3 years of earning their last degree or with lead author 30 years or below) from diverse academic backgrounds are encouraged to submit. UNMGCY and JSPG seek to engage a wide range of young voices, including but not limited to researchers, practitioners, NGOs, and industry representatives.
 
Background: Resolutions passed by the UN General Assembly in 2017 and 2018 called for more serious discussion around the impact of rapid technological change on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, part of a 15-year framework to address poverty in all its forms and leave no one behind. We live in a time of growing prosperity alongside growing concerns about inequality across various social, economic, and environmental dimensions.
 
This resolution was followed by two reports from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Building on this work, in 2018, UN Secretary General launched a UN-system wide strategy on emerging technologies to better align them with the values enshrined in the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the norms and standards of international law (link).
 
 The United Nations has tasked the UNMGCY to elevate the voices of young researchers as it prepares the 2020 Technology and Innovation Report (TIR) to be launched at the 23rd Session of the Commission on Science & Technology for Development  in March 2020. The submissions to this issue will be used to inform the UN report’s writing process. The TIR 2020 will examine the possibility of frontier technologies widening existing inequalities and creating new ones, and will address what policies, instruments, and institutional reforms are needed at national and international levels, so we do not have a world which is a more unequal than today.
 
Guiding questions:

• Who benefits from frontier technologies? How do we make the benefits of frontier technologies more widespread? What measures should be put in place to counteract the possibility of frontier technologies to reinforce existing or create new inequalities?
• What are trends observed with emerging and frontier technologies?
• What implications do these emerging technologies have on social inclusion, equity, and empowerment? What implications do they have on planetary boundaries and climate change?
• How can technologies be designed, developed, commercialized, used, and discarded in a more sustainable way?
• What new skills, data, tools, and strategies are needed today to steer technology change towards the world we want?

 
Guidelines:

• Please review submission guidelines found at this link.
• Submissions have now closed.
• For any additional questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at sdgsspi@unmgcy.org and editors@sciencepolicyjournal.org with "UNMGCY-JSPG " in the subject line.

 
Learn more about the UNMGCY at www.unmgcy.org | @UNMGCY
Learn more about JSPG at www.sciencepolicyjournal.org | @SciPolJournal