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September 2010

Leaders highlight innovation and science as key principles to achieve the MDGs

September 23, 2010 -- During this week’s United Nations summit on the Millennium Development Goals, several world leaders highlighted how innovation, science, and technology can help make progress toward achieving the global targets. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon opened the summit by calling on the assembled leaders to leverage their power to meet the MDGs. He added that through the goals, "[w]e brought new urgency to an age-old mission. And now, we have real results. New thinking and path-breaking public-private partnerships. Dramatic increases in school enrollment. Expanded access to clean water. Better control of disease. The spread of technology—from mobile to green."

On September 22, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the New York Academy of Sciences held a forum on science and technology (S&T) to spotlight how these principles can solve some of the world’s most pressing development challenges. Following the forum, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah wrote in a blog post that several of the “biggest challenges require solutions that cross borders, sectors, and disciplines. It will take all of our insights and creativity to address them in collaboration with partners around the globe.” He added, “USAID and our partners are intensely focused on harnessing S&T to tackle the toughest development challenges. We’ll double, even triple, our efforts to integrate the agency’s use of S&T for development. We’re thrilled at the growing momentum for S&T in development. It’s great to see the kind of unbridled entrepreneurial spirit that it takes to achieve the changes the world needs and USAID intends to be there leading the way.” See the links below for more details.

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