The International Joint Initiative for Research Harnessing Disruptive Technologies to Address Global Challenges represents a collaboration among research funders from the Åland Islands, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom to support international, interdisciplinary and transformative research aimed at harnessing disruptive technology to address major global societal challenges.
Description
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by all member states of the United Nations in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. They are a call to action for all countries to work together to tackle major and interlinked global challenges to ensure long-term peace and prosperity. There has been global recognition that the world is behind on achieving the SDGs by their 2030 target date. Indeed, the challenges facing humanity instead seem to be intensifying. Concurrently, advances in science, communication and disruptive technology are changing the world around us.
This call aims to harness the potential of disruptive technology to offer novel solutions to global challenges and accelerate progress towards achieving the SDGs. More research is needed on how disruptive technologies can be used in contextually appropriate interventions to have transformative economic or societal impacts to improve the lives of people and the planet.
In this call, “disruptive technology” is defined as “an innovation whose application replaces or radically alters systems, processes and/or behaviours to have transformative economic or societal impacts. The impact may be localized or far-reaching. Disruptive technology may include cutting-edge and novel innovations, or the application of an existing innovation in a new context, bringing about substantial change or paradigm shifts.”
Research harnessing disruptive technologies to address global challenges requires an interdisciplinary approach involving expertise across disciplines—including the natural sciences, engineering, health sciences, social sciences and humanities—and across sectors, including academia, government, not-for-profit organizations, community organizations and private industry. Co-development of research and solutions in partnership with affected stakeholders is essential for long-term success.
This interdisciplinary and stakeholder-oriented approach is instrumental to pushing forward change at an international scale to help make progress towards achieving the SDGs. Projects in this call must directly address at least one of the SDGs.