(REF SS22) South-South/North Science Capacity Building and Research Collaboration for the SDGs

South-South/North Science Capacity Building and Research Collaboration for the SDGs 

The United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation [UNOSSC] is a knowledge hub providing advisory and consulting services that works to nurture South-South linkages through research and analysis that inform intergovernmental dialogue, leading to policy decisions on strategies and practical programmes essential to the deepening of South-South cooperation.

Guided by the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation, its policy work includes advocating for the adoption of South-South approaches to development globally and in the United Nations system. In this area, the activities of UNOSSC are designed to enable developing countries to effectively face their development challenges and harness opportunities to address them by improved collective problem-solving. Through a better conceptual understanding of the real value of South-South cooperation efforts to achieve internationally agreed development goals such as the Sustainable Development Goals can be met.

The work of UNOSSC in this area also includes technical advice to United Nations Member States and other partners on measures to integrate South-South and triangular cooperation into the operational programmes and policy advisory services of the United Nations Development Programme [UNDP] and United Nations country teams.

The majority of the policy work of UNOSSC is carried out through:

• effective servicing of intergovernmental bodies, including the High-level Committee (HLC) on South-South Cooperation (SSC), enabling policymakers to take informed decisions on issues and strategies relevant to SSC in bilateral, regional, intergovernmental and multilateral processes;
• enhancing the effectiveness of United Nations system support, especially that of UNDP, to SSC for development; and
• assisting developing countries to integrate SSC into their national development policies, strategies, and programmes.

Recognising the enormous scope for the contribution of science and innovation to the SSC process, and the holistic collaboration of the South South with the North Professor Mammo Muchie, Tshwane University of Technology, will lead a roundtable meeting within the context of the UNGA76 Science Summit which will take place virtually from 14 September to 30 November 2021.

Entitled South-South/North Science Capacity Building and Research Collaboration for Advancing the SDGs, the session will contribute to raising awareness of the contribution of science, collaborative research and development and innovation to addressing the challenges set out in the SDGs, and how responses can be developed, in particular, ensuring innovative science capacity building across the South-South and connecting this process to North initiatives for a truly global response. The session will look at the enabling policy and regulatory environment impacting science performance. Regarding themes, the session will be cross-thematic, focusing on environment and health, recognising the interplay between the SDG Sunday science and innovation response mechanisms.

Ensuring access by the South-South community to scientific data at global level, including ongoing research resources, patent data and information, best practice and use cases, as well
as stimulating inclusive collaborations and in particular, promotion South-South actors in North research initiatives, infrastructures and capacity building initiatives which support science at the global level.

DETAILS: 
Date: 22 September 2021 at 15h00 CEST
Title: South-South/North Science Capacity Building and Research Collaboration for Advancing the SDGs

AGENDA [CEST]

15h00 Welcome & Introduction – Professor Mammo Muchie

15h10 Introduction to UNGA76 – Declan Kirrane

15h15 Inclusive science capacity building: [8 mins each]

– Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure [BBMRI]
Kurt Zatloukal, Medical University of Graz, Austria

– LifeWatch Eric Research Infrastructure for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Juan-Miguel Gonzales-Aranda, CTO LifeWatch ERIC, Spain

– Leapfrogging and Diverse Mode of Catch up by Latecomers
Keun Lee, Professor of Economics at the Seoul National University, South Korea

– Externalities of Environmental Degradation: Challenges towards Sustainable Development Goals
Sandeep Kaur, Associate Professor, Central University of Punja, India

15h45 Challenge Scenes from the South-South: [7 mins each]
Presentation of CRIS-IS.org/ASSIST model of South-South STI collaboration

– Geci Karuri-Sebina, Vice President of Africalics Board, South Africa

– Need for South South Cooperation in establishing workable Innovation Systems in the Global South
Rajesh Gopalakrishnan Nair, Member of Africalics Board, India

16h00 How to improve inclusiveness in South-South/North cooperation:
[8 mins each]

– Mother Nature Needs Her Daughters: Intersectionality and the barriers weighing down women in STEMM
Fabian Dattner, Founder Homeward Bound, Australia

– Feed the Agriculture of the Future
Sâadia Lakehal, President Global Women in AgriTech, Canada

– STEMM is Everywhere
Cathy Foley, Chief Scientist, Australia

– TOPIC TO FOLLOW
Scott Beale, Associate Director Peace Corps, United States

– Mission Frameworks for Collaboration
Mariana Mazzucato, UCL, United Kingdom

16h40 Measures to support an enabling inclusive policy and regulatory environment for South-South / Nth Science cooperation:
[8 mins each]

– Local manufacturing for health in Africa in the time of
Covid-19: experience and lessons for policy
Dinar Kale & Maureen Mackintosh

– Capacity Building for Implementation and Evaluation of Policies Advancing SDGs: Environmental Sustainability Practices among the SMEs in the South
Angathevar Baskaran, Associate Professor, University of Malaysia, Malaya

– TOPIC TO FOLLOW
Michiko Iizuka, Director National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Japan

– Development from Below and Digital Innovations: Exploring ‘Frugal Secondary Innovations’ from China
Sheik Fayaz Ahmad, Post-PhD Innovation Researcher, Zhejiang University, China

17h20 Leveraging global science support instruments, including the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme, and the Neighbourhood, Development, and International Cooperation Instrument [NDICI] in addition to the multilateral development finance communities support mechanisms.
[10mins each]

– TOPIC TO FOLLOW
Serey Chea, Director General National Bank of Cambodia, Cambodia

– TOPIC TO FOLLOW
Enrico Ferro, Director Blockchain Innovation Observatory, Italy

– Blockchain, ESG and Innovative Instruments
Lisa Short, Director Hephaestus Collective, United Kingdom.
Kevin Haines, Head of Social Policy Bedford Row Capital, United Kingdom.
Dean Armstrong, Head of Chambers 36 Group, United Kingdom

– TOPIC TO FOLLOW
Abdelkader Djeflat, Professor, University of Lille, France

18h00 Draft policy and regulatory recommendations for UNOSSC
&nb