Wow, what a packed week it was! So many events in New York dedicated to the SDGs (the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals) and the solutions and pathways to achieve them. The sense of urgency certainly was there with just a bit more than 5.000 days left to make the vision for a better world in 2030 a reality. It came as no surprise that during the UN Global Compact Leaders’ Summit that I attended (and more of the other events) the key role that technology could play – when applied in a responsible way – was consistently highlighted.
From whom I would not have expected this message though was Nobel prize winner Prof. Muhammad Yunus. From my very personal point of view, he was one of the speakers I had listened to in the past days who touched me most.
During the Global Goals event with makesense.org at the SAP Leonardo Center in Hudson Yards, he was not quite as enthusiastic maybe as other speakers at the UN Global Compact, but he too expressed his hopes for technology to help as an enabler to especially address poverty, climate change and decent work.
While promising solutions seem to be there, the challenge is especially about scale. Getting more onboard to contribute and amplify will be key. The new edition of the free massive open online course
“Sustainability through Digital Transformation” that SAP is offering starting Oct 16 is one step in that direction. It will allow learners to explore the opportunities digitization offers to further drive sustainability and find out more about how technology power can help companies become more successful while contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
I really look forward to seeing many join and continuing the discussions I had with many people from very diverse backgrounds in the online forums was we share views and ideas on the latest trends, ideas as well as challenges on our road to 2030.
Check out the course content, structure and logistics
here.
