UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- A United Nations report released on Monday said that frontier technologies have huge potential to drive prosperity and protect the planet.
"New frontier technologies -- everything from renewable energy technologies to biodegradable plastics, artificial intelligence and electric vehicles -- hold immense potential to improve people's lives and significantly accelerate efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and address climate change," said the World Economic and Social Survey 2018.
The report, launched by the UN's Department of Economic and Social Affairs, found that renewable energy technologies and efficient energy storage systems are already enhancing environmental sustainability, allowing countries to "leapfrog" over existing technological solutions.
New technologies have enhanced access to medicines and improved the wellbeing of the most vulnerable as mobile technologies and innovations in digital finance have made financial services accessible to millions in developing countries, the report said.
But without appropriate policies, they can also "drive greater inequality and increase social dislocations," the report warned.
The report also found that while technological change has the potential to bring considerable benefits to people, the economy and the environment, when "left unmanaged or mismanaged," new technologies will likely "widen inequality within and between countries."
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics automation, among other technologies, can enhance economic efficiency but at the same time "create winners and losers," according to the report.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that "good health and longevity, prosperity for all and environmental sustainability are within our reach if we harness the full power of these innovations."
"Clearly, we need policies that can ensure frontier technologies, which increasingly transcend sectoral, geographic and generational boundaries, are not only commercially viable but also equitable and ethical," he added.
"This will require a rigorous, objective and transparent ongoing assessment, involving all stakeholders," Guterres added, pointing to the concerns found in the survey.
"There is great urgency in accelerating our efforts to address climate change and to advance progress on the Sustainable Development Goals," said Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Liu Zhenmin, stressing that "new technologies can offer impactful solutions."
"It is not a given that frontier technologies will make life better," he said, adding that "while they have the potential to deliver huge dividends, new technologies, if mismanaged, can have serious adverse effects on societies."
Many developing countries are yet to fully utilize the technological breakthroughs of the past, said the report.
Increasingly, innovations in frontier technologies "are concentrated in a few firms and countries," it said, noting that those who fall behind technologically will "find it increasingly difficult to achieve equitable and sustainable development."
According to the report, countries can address many of the pitfalls presented by new technologies by adopting "proactive and effective policies" to minimize economic and social costs of adjustment.
They need regulatory environment and institutional infrastructure to promote innovation, diffusion and use new technologies most needed for sustainable development, the report said.
The report contended that "international cooperation is an imperative" to facilitate technology transfers and national innovation, promoting greater flexibility of the intellectual property rights regime and harmonizing technology standards.
It also must address the issue of growing market concentration in order to ease access to many frontier technologies.
According to the report, the UN can provide "an objective assessment of the impact" that emerging technologies have on sustainable development outcomes, including their effects on employment, wages and income distribution.
This would enable member states to steer the pace and sequence of technological breakthroughs towards sustainable development, according to the report.
The World Economic and Social Survey 2018 reviews the advances in frontier technologies -- automation, robotics, electric vehicles, renewable energy technologies, biotechnologies and artificial intelligence -- and analyses their economic, social and environmental impact.
The World Economic and Social Survey was first issued in 1994, evolving in response to a 1947 mandate by the General Assembly which requested the secretary-general to submit annual reports on current world economic conditions and trends to the Economic and Social Council. Enditem
