UNCTAD - Tech Innovation Report 2023

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has released its Technology Innovation Report for 2023 with a focus on technological opportunities for a low-carbon world. It advocates for a renewable energy revolution as the world needs to keep the 1.5-degree limit alive to secure a liveable future. This requires global cooperation, sharing knowledge, and technology for innovation in renewable energy in all countries, especially the developing ones. The report emphasizes the need for adequate regulations, incentives, and investment to support renewable energy innovation and technology. The report acknowledges that the world is facing multiple challenges, including global poverty, inequality, hunger, conflicts, and climate change, which require collective action to address. The report’s theme is opening green windows, which refers to creating new or improved goods and services that leave a lighter carbon footprint and open up green windows of opportunity. The report stresses that technological innovation, when guided by the Sustainable Development Goals, can be used to drive the world along more sustainable and equitable pathways. Developing countries have opportunities to catch up, reduce poverty, and tackle climate change while helping set the world on a more sustainable course. To achieve this, creative adaptation and innovation are necessary through experimenting with new ideas and technologies and adapting these to local circumstances, supported by appropriate infrastructure and public goods.