Building on Imperial College London’s direct involvement in various initiatives to counteract Covid-19, this talk will aim to share concrete case studies and best practices in extracting social benefit and driving social transformation from collaborative research and innovation initiatives. More specifically, it will show different perspectives at the interface of academia and business on how research and innovation can effectively support the pathway to SDG implementation in a post-pandemic world, by fostering resilient health systems, assuring global health and wellbeing and supporting global prosperity, education and food security.
It will do so by offering broader insights on the links between policy and the socio-economic implications of the novel coronavirus from an experienced professor of Economics and Public Policy, expanding on the use of data modelling and interdisciplinary medical research to tackle the pandemic and support further recovery and sharing practical contributions from the founder and CEO of a tech start up focused on affordable, simple, and rapid tests for detecting surface transmission of pathogens.
Finally, this talk will touch on how to set up data and information management processes in the context of science partnerships with strong links to policy making and delivering social impact, and expand on the notion of place-based innovation districts. The latter has driven the vision behind Imperial College’s White City Campus, a platform for innovation, entrepreneurship and multidisciplinary research between health, industry, and government partners which contributed actively and in real-time to the UK’s Covid-19 preparedness and response.
Wrapping up, we expect to extract key recommendations links on how science and innovation can help achieve SDGs in a reality of pandemic recovery, to support the policy summary from the 2023 Partnership Forum of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
The Global Development Hub is an academic strategy flagship project that brings together Imperial’s community to develop, amplify and support research and education impact in Lower Middle Income Countries (LMICs) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The Hub supports Imperial’s contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Agenda 2030.