PÕ¾ÊÓƵ

Author: Asja Prohic

Head of Academic Affairs, France, Southern Europe and Middle East

SDG 17, the last of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is dedicated to partnerships. How do these partnerships work and what can they help us achieve in our efforts to reach sustainable development? The latest event in PÕ¾ÊÓƵ¡¯s SDG Talks series explained what kind of collaboration is needed in order to tackle the complex and interconnected challenges covered by the SDGs, and how partnerships and research can support them. 

Have you ever asked yourself how many people it takes to achieve a Sustainable Development Goal? If you answered "everyone", you¡¯re right. 

The invitation to partner and collaborate is at the heart of SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals. It is probably one of the less discussed Goals of the SDGs, but it is at the heart of any hope we have of achieving them.  

¡°In order to implement the SDGs in their holistic, integrated, very synergistic framework, you really need to bring around the table the scientists, the technology, the developers, the politicians, the policymakers, the businessmen, the financiers, the civil society.¡± Dr Phoebe Koundouri 

Uniting for a Sustainable Future: SDG ??Talks event on collaboration for sustainable development 

SDG 17 was the topic of the recent event in PÕ¾ÊÓƵ¡¯s

The event featured Prof. Phoebe Koundouri, a leading expert in fostering impactful collaborations, who shared from her work and expertise in uniting diverse stakeholders to address global issues. Koundouri, professor of environmental economics at Athens University and research professor at the Technical University of Denmark, is a renowned pioneer in innovative, human-centric interdisciplinary systems for the sustainable interaction between nature, society, and the economy.

In her presentation, Koundouri aimed to make explicit why it is important to create partnerships for the Goals, in accordance with SDG 17. Partnerships not only between countries and stakeholders and communities, but also with and within research, and interfaces between research and policy and other stakeholders. ¡°In order to implement the SDGs in their holistic, integrated, very synergistic framework, you really need to bring around the table the scientists, the technology, the developers, the politicians, the policymakers, the businessmen, the financiers, the civil society. All together in order to understand this very complicated framework and work together to co-design solution pathways for the implementation,¡± Koundouri said. 

¡°You need research and innovation, you need to make sure that science is also talking to policy and helping policy design.¡± Dr Phoebe Koundouri

How research and partnerships support the SDGs: Insights from hands-on experience

Koundouri discussed the need to understand and design pathways towards sustainability, which require an optimal mixture of technologies, economic, social, and industrial policies, as well as the fiscal and financial instruments that enable the implementation of the SDGs as a holistic network. And in order to do this, said Koundouri, ¡°you need research and innovation, you need to make sure that science is also talking to policy and helping policy design. You need to make sure that the innovations that are produced from research and science are accelerated towards the market.¡±

The SDGs, Koundouri explained, can be transposed into a policy framework and give a framework for assessment: ¡°The SDGs allow you to assess policy frameworks and make sure that newly designed policy includes all aspects of the SDGs, so that we really have a holistic approach, an approach that cares equally about nature, society, and economy.¡±

Using the example of the Alliance of Excellence for Research and Innovation on Aephoria (AE4RIA), an initiative for collaboration between research institutions, innovation accelerators, and science-technology-policy interface networks, Koundouri showed how SDG 13: Climate Action and SDG 14: Life Below Water can be successfully achieved through cross-sector partnerships and community-based approaches. 

PÕ¾ÊÓƵ¡¯s commitment to collaboration in support of the SDGs 

As a publisher, it was interesting to hear that science and research can't contribute to the achievement of the SDGs without a strong and solid bridge to policy. For this dialogue between scientists, policymakers, legislators, and practitioners to take place, research needs to be visible and accessible (which is why, for instance, PÕ¾ÊÓƵ supports the publication of SDG-related research in open access format).  

SDG 17 aligns closely with PÕ¾ÊÓƵ¡¯s mission as a global publisher dedicated to fostering responsible partnerships and supporting global sustainability efforts. Forging connections between research communities and broader audiences is also the driving force behind PÕ¾ÊÓƵ¡¯s SDG Programme, which supports and amplifies the SDGs and research on these global challenges.

Indeed, publishers have a critical role to play in improving the interaction between researchers and policymakers. But also, as made clear in another takeaway from the event that felt especially relevant to our work at PÕ¾ÊÓƵ, publishers are uniquely positioned to catalyse and accelerate trans- and interdisciplinary research, which is key to holistically addressing the SDGs. 

Through various programmes and initiatives, PÕ¾ÊÓƵ is engaged on these fronts and is committed to them. Examples include its joint initiative with the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), Science for a Sustainable Future, which brings together key stakeholders, policymakers, and researchers to discuss and advance the SDGs; or the PÕ¾ÊÓƵ SDG Book Series, which publishes interdisciplinary, policy-relevant research.

Koundouri¡¯s presentation clearly signalled the importance of, and need for, these efforts, and how collaborations across a broad landscape and between various actors is essential to achieving the SDGs.  

What is certain is that we can't achieve much without other actors. As the African maxim goes: "Alone we may go faster, but together we go further."

Want to learn more about SDG 17 and partnerships for the Goals? Visit the SDG 17 hub for insights, collaborative networks, and events and courses (including the SDG Talks event with Professor Koundouri). 

Professor Phoebe Koundouri is Professor of Economics at Athens University of Economics and Business & Technical University of Denmark; Chair World Council of Environmental Resource Economists Associations; Chair SDSN Global Climate Hub; Co-chair SDSN Europe; Director AE4RIA.