Urgent systemic change is needed to overcome barriers blocking science, technology and innovation from driving sustainable development.
THE numbers are staring at us. Numbers do not lie. With just five years until the 2030 deadline, the UN reports that only a fraction of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are on track.
In the meantime, climate change accelerates, biodiversity plummets and inequality deepens. In this race against time, science, technology and innovation (STI) are not just tools; they are our most powerful engine for achieving sustainable development. Yet, this engine is sputtering. It needs more fuel. Significant challenges threaten to derail its potential, demanding urgent attention and systemic change.
Markets and political cycles prioritise immediate returns and quick wins. Sustainable solutions often require long-term R&D (research and development), patient capital and systemic shifts with payoffs decades away.
ALSO READ: Malaysia calls for global water partnerships to boost sustainability
Venture capitals chase software, not carbon capture while governments fund pet projects over foundational research. This misalignment starves crucial sustainable innovation of oxygen.
While overall R&D spending grows, a minuscule fraction targets specific sustainability challenges like clean water access for the poorest or desertification reversal. Funding is often fragmented, risk-averse and concentrated in developed nations, leaving Global South innovators and critical “unsexy” technologies under-resourced.
Bridging the “valley of death” between lab prototype and scalable deployment remains a major hurdle. Even when sustainable technologies emerge, profound inequalities block their deployment.
High costs, intellectual property barriers, lack of local technical capacity and inadequate infrastructure prevent communities most vulnerable to climate change and poverty from accessing life-saving innovations. This risks creating a two-tiered world – one with cutting-edge green tech and another left further behind.
Researchers, engineers, policymakers, entrepreneurs and communities often operate in isolation. Universities focus on publications, startups chase markets, governments regulate reactively and communities lack input. This lack of coordination stifles holistic solutions and slows the translation of knowledge into actionable, context-specific technologies.
Pilots succeed but widespread adoption fails. Scaling sustainable technologies faces immense logistical, regulatory, financial and cultural barriers. Building new supply chains, retraining workforces, updating archaic regulations and shifting consumer behaviour require coordinated efforts far beyond the innovator’s lab.
Innovation isn’t inherently good. New technologies can create new problems like e-waste from renewables, ethical AI dilemmas or bioengineering risks. Insufficient foresight, ethical frameworks and inclusive governance can lead to solutions that solve one problem while creating another or exacerbating existing inequalities.
Effective innovation for complex sustainability challenges requires robust, accessible data on climate impacts, resource flows and social needs. Significant gaps persist, especially in developing regions.
Furthermore, integrating indigenous knowledge and local context with scientific research is often overlooked, leading to ineffective or inappropriate solutions.
Overcoming these challenges requires a paradigm shift, moving beyond incremental fixes to systemic transformation:
Governments should mandate SDG alignment in public R&D funding
Create long-term innovation funds with patient capital and implement carbon pricing and regulations that make unsustainable practices costly, driving market demand for green solutions. The private sector must embrace ESG investing not as PR strategy but as a core strategy. Develop internal “sustainability venture” arms and support open innovation platforms focused on SDG. Increase high-risk, high-reward grants for early-stage sustainability tech and focus on bridging the deployment gap in underserved regions.
Promote open-source hardware and software for sustainability
Negotiate tiered IP licensing for essential tech in low-income countries. Invest massively in STEM education and technical and vocational training globally, with a focus on local problem-solving. Direct significantly more funding to and support research leadership within developing nations. Build robust local innovation ecosystems. Create mandated multistakeholder platforms (government, academia, industry and civil society) for each major SDG challenge.
Establish “living labs” where solutions are co-created and tested with communities
Build open-access global data platforms for sustainability metrics. Integrate indigenous and local knowledge systems formally into research agendas. Make rigorous ethical, social and environmental impact assessments mandatory for publicly funded R&D and major tech deployments. Systematically analyse potential unintended consequences of emerging technologies before they scale.
Develop adaptive governance frameworks
Governments must proactively reform regulations, invest in enabling infrastructure (smart grids and circular economy hubs) and create markets (for example, through green public procurement). De-risking instruments (guarantees, first-loss capital) are crucial for attracting private investment into scaling.
The potential of STI to drive sustainable development is undeniable – from revolutionary clean energy to AI-optimised agriculture and accessible medical breakthroughs – the solutions can exist. But harnessing this potential isn’t automatic; it requires confronting the uncomfortable realities of misaligned incentives, inequitable access, fragmented efforts and unintended risks head-on.
We need nothing short of a global compact for sustainable innovation – one that redefines success, prioritises equity, fosters unprecedented collaboration and invests with unwavering commitment in our shared future.
The crisis is profound but so is our capacity for ingenuity. The time for tinkering is over; the time for transformative action in how we leverage STI for sustainability is now. Our future depends on it.
Datuk Dr Ahmad Ibrahim is affiliated with the Tan Sri Omar Centre for STI Policy Studies at UCSI University and is an adjunct professor at the Ungku Aziz Centre for Development Studies, Universiti Malaya.
Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
