The event, A Conversation with Great Minds, kicks off the 22nd annual session of the CSTD and will be moderated by award-winning journalist and Reuters Business correspondent Didi Akinyelure. This year’s Conversation with Great Minds follows a similar debate between Nobel Laureate chemist Professor Jacques Dubochet and renowned mathematician and physicist Sir Roger Penrose in 2018.
 
“I am delighted to welcome such eminent thinkers on science and technology to this year’s CTSD,” Shamika N. Sirimanne, UNCTAD’s director of technology and logistics, and organizer of the CSTD said. “Their reflections will set the tone for a week of deliberations on the urgent science policy questions facing developing countries in 2019.”
 
The CSTD is the United Nation’s foremost body for analyzing how science, technology and innovation (STI), including information and communications technologies (ICTs), serve as enablers of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
 
The commission is a forum for strategic planning, sharing lessons learned and best practices, providing foresight about critical trends in STI in critical sectors of the economy, the environment and society, and drawing attention to emerging and disruptive technologies.
 
UNCTAD will also present its national science, technology and innovation policy (STIP) reviews of Ethiopia, Panama, and Uganda during the CSTD session. Leading experts are also set to share their insights on UNCTAD’s renewed STIP Framework for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
 
The ceremonial opening of the commission takes place at the Palais des Nations at 10:00 am on Monday 13 May, followed by two high-level roundtables on:

• The contribution of the CTSD to the theme taken up in 2019 by the UN Economic and Social Council and High-level Political Forum – the role of STI in empowering people and in ensuring inclusiveness and equality
• The impact of rapid technological change on sustainable development, moderated by FRANCE24 journalist Julia Sieger, presenter of Tech24

 
The commission’s second day will include a high-level roundtable on the progress made in the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) at the regional and international level.
 
On the third day, a discussion will be held on the role of STI in building resilient communities – including through “citizen science” – moderated by award-winning journalist Andrew Revkin of the National Geographic Society.
 
Participants include ministers and representatives of governments, civil society, the business community, academia, and international and regional organizations. High-level delegations in STI policymaking will represent most nations.