Electronics and Informatics to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

In 2000, the global leaders took a bold and unified stride concerning solving the most crucial challenges that are obstructing human advancement by defining a set of goals recognized as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, in 2015, The United Nations member countries adopted some Agenda to achieve Sustainable Development by 2030. This is a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for the people and the planet, at present and into the future. In this agenda, there are 17 realistic goals designated as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all member countries- developed and developing- in an international corporation. They identified that the poverty and other deficiencies in this world must be solved through cooperation on a shared basis by undertaking some strategies to have sustainable developments and improvements in the health, energy, education, gender inequality, economic growth, environmental and climate changes, social issues, collection and preservation of natural resources, e.g., oceans and forests. These goals were designed as an action plan to address the development challenges that affect mankind and the planet. Besides, these 17 SDGs contain 169 sub-targets that are to be integrated to reach the goals within 2030. One of the greatest vital factors that can enable us to achieve these goals is engineering innovations. Research and innovations in electronics engineering and informatics can play a major role in this endeavor. There are several electronics engineering and informatics-related ventures around the globe that may assist us to reach these SDGs. These ventures have both societal and economic paybacks in the world for their advancement. In this talk, the state-of-the-art research advances in the application of electronics engineering and informatics for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals are presented. Each SDG can be driven by engineering and technology. I will focus on the five areas of SDGs where electronics and informatics can play an important role:  SDG 3 – Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all of all ages  SDG 4 – Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all  SDG 6 – Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all  SDG 7 – Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all  SDG 11 – Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable It is possible to measure each SDG across several dimensions. A few recent research endeavors are presented for the above selected SDGs. Each goal includes several sub-goals in different areas. To quantify the impact of digital infrastructure, for each SDG one or two indicators, or metrics have been identified to measure them. SDGs can unlock significant business opportunities. New product design and development is a great challenge for manufacturers. Product innovation is vital for most organizations to sustain themselves in the marketplace. In fine, it can be concluded that the use of electronics engineering and informatics can help the nations in this world to achieve the SDGs. However, for this purpose, we need to initiate and mobilize more research and innovative works to achieve the goals by generating more through government and private sectors and facilitating training to the faculty members and researchers to develop projects related to SDGs by applying Electronics and Informatics in for its achievement.