How much do you know about Goal 9?

Infrastructure is a key component of a functioning economy and is fundamental to the livelihoods of billions of people throughout the world. It has long been recognised that growth in productivity and incomes, and improvements in health and education, require investments in infrastructure.

The term “infrastructure” refers to structures, systems and facilities serving the economy of a business, industry, country, city, town or other area, including the services and facilities necessary for its economy to function. The term is typically used in relation to the existence or condition of costly “technical structures” such as roads, bridges, tunnels or other constructed facilities such as loading docks, cold storage chambers, electrical capacity, fuel tanks, cranes, overhead clearances, or components of water supply, sewers, electrical grids and telecommunications. Infrastructure thus comprises improvements that require significant expense to develop or install, but that return an important value over time. There are various types of infrastructure:

• “Hard” infrastructure refers to the large physical networks necessary for the functioning of a modern industrial nation. Engineers generally limit the use of the term to describe fixed assets. Urban or municipal infrastructure comprises hard infrastructure systems generally owned and operated by municipalities, such as streets, water supply systems and sewers. It may also include some of the facilities associated with soft infrastructure, such as parks, public pools, schools, hospitals and libraries.
• “Soft” infrastructure refers to all the institutions that are required in order to maintain the economy, health, and cultural and social standards of a country, such as the financial, education, health care, government and law enforcement systems, as well as the emergency services.
• “Green” infrastructure is a concept that highlights the importance of the natural environment in decisions about land-use planning. In particular, it refers to the “life support” functions provided by networks of natural ecosystems, with an emphasis on interconnectivity to support long-term sustainability. Examples include clean water and healthy soils, as well as more anthropocentric functions such as recreation and providing shade and shelter in and around towns and cities.
• In other applications, the term infrastructure may refer to information technology (IT), informal and formal channels of communication, software development tools, political and social networks, or beliefs held by members of particular groups. Nevertheless, underlying these more conceptual uses is the idea that infrastructure provides organising structure and support for the system or organisation it serves, be it a city, a nation, a corporation, or a collection of people with common interests. Examples include IT, research, terrorist, employment and tourism infrastructure.

Investments in infrastructure — transport, irrigation, energy, and information and communication technology — are crucial to achieving sustainable development and empowering communities in many countries:

• The sustainability of an infrastructure system refers to its ability to meet service needs in a manner that does not make wasteful use of resources, minimises or reverses environmental damage, and improves social equality. Sustainable infrastructure systems are those that: preserve natural capital, including diversity; reduce environmental impact(s); increase service value; advance social inclusiveness and equality; promote transparency and accountability; and strengthen human and labour rights and improve working conditions.
• The resilience of an infrastructure system refers to its ability to maintain and recover functionality in the face of stresses and shocks, whether these can be anticipated or not. For an infrastructure system to be resilient, it must: be cognizant of change and uncertainty; be robust and designed to anticipate potential failures; be flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances; be resourceful in order to maintain or restore functionality when faced with shock or stress; include redundancy and build spare capacity to support continuity and accommodate pressures and changes in demand; be inclusive and broad in scope to favour social acceptance; and be integrated with other societal systems to support the achievement of common outcomes.

With the dramatic rise in natural disasters caused by the negative impacts of climate change, the importance of sustainable and resilient infrastructure is becoming increasingly clear to cities, financers and project developers around the world. Although 75 percent of the infrastructure that needs to be in place by 2050 does not exist today, momentum is building in relation to international objectives such as the SDGs, and the importance of integrating best practice into infrastructure design has never been greater.

Industrialisation refers to the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one, involving the extensive reorganisation of an economy for the purposes of manufacturing.

The first Industrial Revolution took place between the mid-18th and early 19th centuries in certain parts of Europe and North America. During this period, many people abandoned agricultural work in order to take higher-paid jobs in factories in towns and cities.

The second Industrial Revolution refers to changes in the mid-19th century, following the refinement of the steam engine, the invention of the internal combustion engine, the harnessing of electricity, and the construction of canals, railways and electric power lines. The invention of the assembly line gave the phase further momentum, and coal mines, steelworks and textile factories replaced homes as the place of work.

The term “inclusive industrialisation” refers to industrial development that includes all countries and all peoples, and offers equal opportunities and an equitable distribution of the benefits of industrialisation to all stakeholders. The term “sustainable industrialisation” addresses the need to decouple the prosperity generated from industrial activities from excessive natural resource use and negative environmental impacts.

In general, industrialisation is part of a process where people adopt easier and cheaper ways to make things. Using better technology, it becomes possible to produce more goods in a shorter time, and a single individual can produce more things. Since industrialisation, people have also done more specialised jobs.

The impact of industry on poverty eradication, environmental sustainability and food security is ultimately defined by the pattern of industrialisation that a country chooses to follow:

• Today, with poverty as the central challenge for our world, industrial activities continue to be a crucially important source of employment, accounting for almost 500 million jobs worldwide, representing about a fifth of the world’s workforce. Manufacturing industries and their related service sectors can absorb large numbers of workers, provide them with stable jobs, and increase the prosperity of their families and communities. An efficient agro-industry enhances economic stability for rural households, increases food security and helps achieve economic transformation.
• Experience shows that environmentally sound production methods in industry can significantly reduce environmental degradation. We now have the capabilities for cleaner industrial production: green industries can deliver environmental goods and services.
• Committing to sustainable production patterns makes business sense. It reduces the waste of costly resources and contributes to increased competitiveness. Similarly, since energy inputs represent an important area of expense for industries, clean energy and energy efficiency have progressively become core determinants of economic competitiveness and sustained growth.

A long-term strategy can put into place a framework for stable industry. It can also create incentives for investments in the necessary education, infrastructure, product quality, agribusiness solutions, innovation and entrepreneurial skills.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 60 to 70 percent of jobs in most OECD countries, with a particularly large share in Italy and Japan and a relatively smaller share in the United States. They also account for a disproportionately large share of new jobs. Some evidence also points to the importance of age, rather than size, in job creation: recently established firms generate more than their share of employment. However:

• fewer than half of start-ups survive for more than five years, and only a fraction develop into high-growth firms that make important contributions to job creation;
• high job turnover poses problems for employment security;
• small establishments are often exempt from the requirement to give notice to their employees; and
• small firms tend to invest less in training and rely relatively more on external recruitment for raising competence.

Small and medium-sized enterprises face the following specific problems:

• Greater variance in the profitability, survival and growth of SMEs, compared to larger firms, gives rise to particular problems in financing: SMEs tend to face higher interest rates, as well as credit rationing due to shortage of collateral. Financing-related issues differ considerably between existing and new firms, as well as between those that grow slowly and those that grow rapidly. The expansion of private equity markets, including informal markets, has greatly improved access to venture capital for start-ups and SMEs, although considerable differences remain among countries.
• Regulatory burdens remain a major obstacle for SMEs, as these firms tend to be poorly equipped to deal with problems arising from regulations. Access to information about regulations should be made available to SMEs at minimum cost. Policy makers must ensure that the compliance procedures associated with, for example, research and development and new technologies, are not unnecessarily costly, complex or lengthy.
• Transparency is of particular importance to SMEs, and information technology has great potential to narrow the information gap. It would be very helpful to set up a “one-stop-shop system”, where all the necessary information that affects a firm’s strategies and decisions is made available in one place — as is already the case in some countries.

Many countries have programmes to support SMEs. A quarter of all public support programmes reported to the OECD target SMEs primarily. Germany, Iceland, Japan and New Zealand dedicate more than 50 percent of their entire public support programmes to SMEs. However, governments need to intensify their efforts to disseminate information, eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy, and make programmes more responsive to the changing needs of SMEs.

Between 30 and 60 percent of SMEs can be characterised as innovative. Innovative SMEs tend to be market driven rather than research driven, and quicker to respond to new opportunities than large firms. They play a key role in pioneering and developing new markets.

However, governments need to reduce uncertainties in the tax, regulatory and macroeconomic environment; ensure that business framework conditions do not impact unfavourably on the risk/reward ratio; and encourage the mobility of human resources and markets for specialised services. Although important for the economy as a whole, such actions will be of particular benefit to SMEs.

To ensure the success of SMEs, the following should be borne in mind:

• In the early stages, management capabilities are crucial to survival.
• As the firm matures, the importance of human resources and innovation strategies increases.
• By the time the firm has become established, innovation is crucial for growth.
• The fastest growing entrants are those that: translate strategy into action in the form of research and development, innovation and training; emphasise the hiring of skilled employees and employee motivation; and contribute to enhancing their capabilities in different areas — the last being particularly important in knowledge-intensive sectors.

The main barriers to the development of high-growth SMEs are market failures in capital markets; government regulations; indirect labour costs; lack of access to foreign markets; and difficulties in recruiting qualified staff and skilled workers.

Small and medium-sized enterprises owned by women are growing at a faster rate than the economy as a whole in several countries, making possible the capitalisation of the skills of educated and trained women, whose advancement might otherwise be blocked by the “glass ceiling”. The increased flexibility inherent in owning one’s own business allows women to contribute to the household income while balancing work and family responsibilities.

Environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) protect the environment; are less polluting; use resources in a more sustainable manner; result in higher rates of product and waste recycling; and involve the handling of residual wastes in a more acceptable manner than the technologies they substitute. In the context of pollution, ESTs generate little or no waste. In addition, they are not simply individual technologies, but integrated systems that include know-how, procedures, goods, services and equipment, as well as organisational and managerial procedures. This implies that when discussing the transfer of technologies, it is also important to address the human resources development and local capacity building aspects of technology choices, including gender-relevant aspects. At the same time, ESTs should be compatible with nationally determined socioeconomic, cultural and environmental priorities.

Favourable access to, and the transfer of, ESTs, in particular to developing countries, should be facilitated by supportive measures that promote technology cooperation. This support should also enable the transfer of the necessary technological know-how and build economic, technical and managerial capacities for the efficient use and further development of the transferred technology. Technology cooperation involves joint efforts by enterprises and governments — that is, by both the suppliers and recipients of the technology. Successful long-term partnerships for technology cooperation require ongoing systematic training and capacity building at all levels.

The following should be borne in mind in relation to the successful promotion of ESTs:

• The availability of scientific and technological information is essential for sustainable development. The primary goal of improved access to technology information is to enable informed choices, which will lead to access to, and the transfer of, ESTs and the strengthening of countries’ own technological capabilities.
• A large body of useful technological knowledge lies in the public domain. Less-developed countries need to have access to technologies that are not covered by patents and that lie in the public domain.
• Consideration must be given to the role of patent protection and intellectual property rights, along with an examination of their impact on access to, and the transfer of, ESTs.
• Proprietary technology is available through commercial channels, and international business is an important vehicle for technology transfer. This pool of knowledge should be tapped and combined with local innovations to generate alternative technologies.
• Recipient countries require technology and support to help further develop their scientific, technological, professional and related capacities. Such support would enable countries to make more rational technology choices.
• A critical mass of research and development capacity is crucial to the effective dissemination and use of ESTs and their local generation. Education and training programmes should help to nurture EST specialists. The transfer of ESTs also involves their innovative adaptation and incorporation into local or national cultures.

The main activities to promote ESTs should include:

• the development of international information networks linking national, regional and international systems;
• support to technology transfer from governments and international organisations, in particular from the private sector to developing countries, via policies and programmes and by creating favourable conditions to encourage the private and public sectors to market and use ESTs;
• capacity building for the development and management of ESTs, including the strengthening of existing institutions, the training of personnel, and the educating of end users;
• the establishment of a collaborative network of research centres; and
• support to cooperation and assistance programmes.

One role of the sciences should be to provide information to better enable the formulation and selection of environment and development policies. It is therefore essential to enhance scientific understanding, improve long-term scientific assessments, strengthen scientific capacities in all countries and ensure that the sciences are responsive to emerging needs.

Scientific knowledge is growing in areas such as climate change, resource consumption, demographic trends and environmental degradation. These and other areas need to be taken into account when working out long-term strategies for development. A better understanding of land, oceans, atmosphere and their interlocking water, nutrient and biogeochemical cycles and energy flows is essential if a more accurate estimate is to be provided of the carrying capacity of the Earth and its resilience to the stresses placed on it by human activities. This can be achieved through the application of modern, effective and efficient tools, such as remote-sensing devices, robotic monitoring instruments and computing and modelling capabilities.

The sciences should continue to play a role in improving the efficiency of resource utilisation and in identifying new development practices, resources and alternatives, including the less intensive utilisation of energy in industry, agriculture, and transportation.

Through scientific assessments, scientific knowledge should be applied to articulate and support the goals of sustainable development. Such assessments should contribute to the decision-making process, and to the interactions between the sciences and policy making. An increase in scientific capacities and capabilities is also required. It is particularly important for scientists from developing countries to participate fully in international scientific research programmes that address the global problems of environment and development, so that all countries are able to participate on an equal footing in the related negotiations. Faced with the threat of irreversible damage to the environment, lack of scientific understanding should not be used as an excuse for postponing action. The precautionary approach should be the basis for policies related to complex systems that are not yet fully understood, and the consequences of which cannot yet be predicted.

In this context, the role of science in promoting sustainable development requires strong support in four main areas:

1. Strengthening the scientific basis for sustainable management — The primary objective is for each country to identify the state of its scientific knowledge and its research needs and priorities in order to achieve, as soon as possible:

• the widening of the scientific base and the strengthening of scientific and research capacities and capabilities in areas relevant to environment and development;
• the improvement of environment and development policy formulation;
• greater interaction between the sciences and decision making;
• the generation and application of indigenous and local knowledge in order to achieve sustained levels of development;
• better cooperation between scientists by promoting interdisciplinary research programmes and activities; and
• public participation in setting priorities, and in decision making related to sustainable development.

1. Enhancing scientific understanding — One key objective is to improve awareness of the links between human and natural systems and to create the analytical and predictive tools required to achieve a better understanding of the environmental impacts of development options by:

• carrying out research into the carrying capacity of the Earth and its natural systems;
• developing and applying new analytical and predictive tools in order to assess more accurately the ways in which the Earth’s natural systems are being increasingly influenced by human actions; and
• integrating the physical, economic and social sciences in order to understand the impacts of economic and social behaviour on the environment, and of environmental degradation on local and global economies.

1. Improving long-term scientific assessment — The primary objective is to provide assessments of the current status and trends in major development and environment issues at the national, sub-regional, regional and global levels on the basis of the best available scientific knowledge in order to develop alternative strategies, including indigenous approaches, for long-term policy formulation.
2. Building scientific capacity and capability — The primary objective is to improve the scientific capacities of all countries with specific regard to:

• providing education, training, and facilities for local research and development and human resources in basic scientific disciplines and environment-related sciences, making use of traditional and local knowledge where appropriate;
• increasing the number of scientists — in particular women — in developing countries;
• significantly reducing the exodus of scientists from developing countries and encouraging those who have left to return;
• improving access to relevant information with the aim of improving public awareness and public participation in decision making;
• involving scientists in national, regional and global environment and development research programmes; and
• updating scientists from developing countries in their respective fields of knowledge.