INTERVENTION BY FIRST SECRETARY MATTHEW WONG OF SINGAPORE AT THE SEVENTH THEMATIC DEEP DIVE ON THE GLOBAL DIGITAL COMPACT ON THE ISSUE OF ACCELERATING PROGRESS ON THE SDGS, CONFERENCE ROOM 1 AT UNHQ, WEDNESDAY, 14 JUNE 2023, 3.00PM

Co-Facilitators,

1 Thank you for convening today’s discussions and for your guiding questions.

2 Singapore believes that the international community must seize the opportunities afforded by digital technologies to accelerate progress towards the SDGs. To do this, we must make rapid progress towards closing the digital divide to ensure that people throughout the world benefit from the enormous promises that digital technologies offer.  In this regard, Singapore reiterates the call by the G77 and China for the Global Digital Compact (GDC) to outline concrete actions and specific initiatives in order to accelerate progress towards the SDGs.

3 In line with this vision, Singapore proposed multiple concrete initiatives in our previous interventions that the GDC could adopt to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs. Our contribution today should therefore be taken in conjunction with the concrete proposals we have previously made during this consultation process. In this spirit, we propose three additional concrete initiatives that the GDC could adopt to accelerate progress towards the SDGs.

4 First, the GDC should advocate for an urgent increase in capacity-building and capacity-development with the aim of closing the digital divide. On our part, Singapore launched Digital Forum of Small States (Digital FOSS) initiative in 2022 as a platform to support small States on their digital transformation journeys and to work together to create a common digital future. Our aim is for Digital FOSS to serve as a community and a movement that will (a) better enable small States to build capabilities in the area of digital transformation, and (b) ensure that small States are included in platforms and discussions that are shaping our digital future. We look forward to working together here at the UN and at other fora on Digital FOSS as well as on other capacity-development initiatives.

5 Second, the GDC should encourage the development of digital solutions in service of social good and the SDGs. As we previously noted in the deep dive on AI, technological progress alone is not sufficient to deliver social benefits. We must make sure that energy, creativity, and investment is also directed beyond commercial applications towards the development and deployment of digital solutions with broader social and public benefits. In this regard, the GDC could draw on the example of ITU’s AI for Good platform, which seeks to identify practical applications of AI to advance the SDGs and scale those solutions for global impact, and build on this concept to create a broader Tech for Good platform under UN auspices covering all aspects of digital technology.

6 Third, building on the previous point, the GDC could consider the development of a global innovation platform to match real-world problems faced in implementing the SDGs with innovative digital solutions. In Singapore, we have created an Open Innovation Platform (OIP) giving companies in Singapore the ability to share their business challenges with a pool of more than 6,000 technology innovators ready to offer their expertise in the development of innovative solutions. The OIP is supported by a structured innovation process from ideation to deployment, as well as a physical innovation facility that can support rapid prototyping and other innovation activities. A similar platform at the global level with the specific aim of sourcing innovative solutions to address specific SDG-related problems could play an important role in harnessing digital technology to accelerate progress towards the SDGs. We would be happy to share contribute these experiences as a potential model for the development of a global innovation platform.

7 These are some of our initial proposals. We look forward to continuing to develop these ideas within this process. Thank you.

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