Technology

Technology plays a central role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), and SDG 13 (Climate Action). The transformative power of technology can accelerate progress towards all the SDGs by driving economic growth, reducing inequalities, enhancing access to basic services, and promoting sustainability.

Under SDG 9, technology, particularly in terms of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), is a key enabler of industrial innovation and infrastructure development. ICT has the potential to drive economic growth by enhancing productivity, creating jobs, and fostering entrepreneurship. Moreover, it can contribute to making industries more sustainable by facilitating the transition towards smart manufacturing and circular economy models.

Regarding SDG 4, technology can greatly enhance access to quality education. Digital technologies, including e-learning platforms, can break down barriers to education, such as geographical distance, socio-economic status, and physical disabilities. They can also enrich the learning process by enabling personalized, student-centered learning experiences.

In the context of SDG 3, technology has a profound impact on health outcomes. Medical technologies, from simple devices like thermometers to complex systems like MRI machines, have revolutionized healthcare delivery. Furthermore, digital health technologies, such as telemedicine and mobile health apps, can enhance access to health services, improve patient outcomes, and reduce healthcare costs.

For SDG 13, technology offers powerful tools for mitigating and adapting to climate change. Renewable energy technologies can help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while climate information services can enhance resilience to climate impacts. Furthermore, digital technologies can facilitate the monitoring and reporting of climate actions, contributing to greater transparency and accountability.

However, the benefits of technology are not automatic, and there are significant challenges to overcome, including the digital divide, cybersecurity threats, and ethical issues related to privacy and data ownership. Thus, policy interventions and multi-stakeholder partnerships are needed to ensure that technology serves as a catalyst for sustainable development and does not exacerbate inequalities.

To show the importance of climate action and to celebrate the more than 5-year collaboration between the Elsevier Chemistry journals department and the Elsevier Foundation, we have compiled this special issue, highlighting top chemistry content related to SDG 13 and providing information on past winners of the Green & Sustainable Chemistry Challenge.

The chemical industry needs to significantly decrease carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in order to meet the 2050 carbon neutrality goal. Utilization of CO2 as a chemical feedstock for bulk products is a promising way to mitigate industrial emissions; however, CO2-based manufacturing is currently not competitive with the established petrochemical methods and its deployment requires creation of a new value chain.

Based on the joint HCPMMP parcellation method we developed before, which divides the cortical brain into 360 regions, the concept of ordered core features (OCF) is first proposed to reveal the functional brain connectivity relationship among different cohorts of Alzheimer's disease (AD), late mild cognitive impairment (LMCI), early mild cognitive impairment (EMCI) and healthy controls (HC). A set of core network features that change significantly under the specifically progressive relationship were extracted and used as supervised machine learning classifiers.
Introduction: Growing demand for mental health services, coupled with funding and resource limitations, creates an opportunity for novel technological solutions including artificial intelligence (AI). This study aims to identify issues in patient flow on mental health units and align them with potential AI solutions, ultimately devising a model for their integration at service level. Method: Following a narrative literature review and pilot interview, 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted with AI and mental health experts.
Elsevier,

Hybrid Energy Systems for Offshore Applications, Hybrid Energy Systems, 2021, Pages 7-18

This book chapter addresses SDG 7 and 9 by explaining the offshore alternative energy options for power production including solutions on synergy between offshore oil and gas production and offshore wind, lending to hybrid energy systems.
Elsevier,

Samuel M. Gorton, Chapter 41 - Integrated agroecological technology networks for food, bioenergy, and biomaterial production, Editor(s): Anju Dahiya, Bioenergy (Second Edition), Academic Press, 2020, Pages 767-788, ISBN 9780128154977, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-815497-7.00041-5.

This book chapter advances SDGs 6, 7 and 11 by discussing how we can create integrated ecological technologies that transform natural resources into anthropocentric goods and services, while restoring the land and reducing pollution by returning beneficial materials or energy to the ecosystem.
Nexis Newsdesk™ has created graphics on the SDGs and the Global Media Landscape, offering charts & insights into global media coverage of the Sustainable Development Goals. View findings for Global Goal 7.
Elsevier, Global Environmental Change, Volume 67, March 2021
Our carbon-intensive economy has led to an average temperature rise of 1 °C since pre-industrial times. As a consequence, the world has seen increasing droughts, significant shrinking of the polar ice caps, and steady sea-level rise. To stall these issues’ worsening further, we must limit global warming to 1.5 °C. In addition to the economy's decarbonization, this endeavour requires the use of negative-emissions technologies (NETs) that remove the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, from the atmosphere.
Food insecurity caused by climate change has become one of the main issues on the global agenda. Worldwide, the importance of digital tools as a means to enhance adaptive capacity and resilience of smallholder farmers (SHFs) in the face of climate variability has long been recognised. Technology-based systems in agriculture frequently neglect to consider the actual context of use and adoption by SHFs in rural and developing contexts.
The National Biogas Policy of Ethiopia introduces plans for the implementation of biogas technologies in rural areas. However, rural households' decision to adopt biogas energy technology has been influenced by different socio-economic and institutional factors. This research was therefore undertaken to determine the actual energy consumption status and factors impacting the adoption of biogas technology by rural households in northwestern Ethiopia. Primary data from 182 randomly chosen households and 15 key informants were obtained.

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