Beirut, 11 April 2018 (Communication and Information Unit) – How innovation policies can support the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is set to be a core focus of a five-day capacity building course organized by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) from 15 to 19 April in Amman, Jordan, in partnership with the UN-Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT).
Top level experts from UN entities including ESCWA, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the United Nations University - Merit (UNU-Merit) are collaborating to deliver the course.
The workshop will welcome mid to high-level government representatives who have been nominated by their respective ministries, as well as experts involved in STI from regional organizations, academia, research institutes, and chambers of commerce and industry.
The workshop is being held within the framework of the Work Stream 6 (WS6) of the UN-Inter-Agency Task Team on Science, Technology and Innovation (IATT-STI). It aims to introduce participants to the five aspects of innovation: policies, conceptual framework of the STI for SDGs, design and implementation, as well as monitoring and evaluation.
The workshop will focus on the systemic nature of innovation and innovation policy; various components of an innovation policy, especially the distinction between financial and non-financial instruments and their impacts; the importance of policies for increasing the supply of technically trained human resources for R&D and other innovation activities; the collection and presentation of conventional indicators, which will be used to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of specific instruments of innovation policies; new innovation indicators, such as community innovation surveys, while understanding the limitations of replicating such efforts in developing countries; and the integration of evaluation into the actual design of innovation policies.
This foundational course, which is taking place for the first time globally in the Arab region, is considered the first specialized training programme in terms of its structure, content and duration.
For more information:
Nabil Abu-Dargham +961-70-99 31 44; email: dargham@un.org
Ms Rania Harb: +961-70-008879 harb1@un.org
Ms Mirna Mahfouz: +961-70-827372 mahfouz@un.org
Mr Haidar Fahs: +961-70-079021 haydar.fahs@un.org