United Nations’ high level committee to champion science, technology and innovation for the sustainable development goals |23 February 2024

Mr Estico is a member of the United Nations’ high level committee to champion science, technology and innovation for the sustainable development goals (Photo: Contributed)

Xavier Estico named as committee member  

Xavier Estico, the former director general of the division of Science Technology and Innovation, has been appointed by the United Nations’ Secretary General, Antonio Guterres to sit on the high level committee to champion science, technology and innovation for the sustainable development goals.

Mr Estico is among a chosen group of 10 high-level representatives of civil society, private sector, and scientific community from 10 member state countries to promote science, technology, and innovation for the sustainable development goals (SDGs) (10-member-group) for 2024 to 2025.

The other members are from Brazil, Sweden, Serbia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Kenya, Austria, the United Kingdom and a representative for both Netherlands and India

According to the United Nations (UN), the appointment is a significant move to bolster global efforts towards achieving the SDGs. The pivotal group is a central component of the UN technology facilitation mechanism, designed to harness multi-stakeholder collaboration for sustainable development.

They are eminent experts from diverse geographic and disciplinary backgrounds from both developing and developed countries. The appointment of the committee took place in New York, USA on February 1, 2024.

Speaking to Seychelles NATION, Mr Estico said the appointment came as a surprise.

“I understood it came after a rigorous selection process. Having said that, like many high level calls, instantly, I was thinking how they found me and what a challenge that lies ahead of me. Once I went through this process, I felt a sense of excitement to be part of this advisory team. That’s thumbs up for me and for Seychelles,” said Mr Estico.

He shared that his interest and passion for STI gives him an opportunity to continue nurturing this inner drive but he felt that his potential in the field has not been valued and recognised locally.

“Seychelles is a small island developing state (Sids) and being the sole representative of this group of states, it gives me an opportunity to have a voice for the Sids. Coincidentally, I have also been asked to remain a member of the International Science Council (ISC) for Sids. This combination of my roles and responsibilities to both organisations will no doubt be to the advantage of Sids and naturally Seychelles will benefit from my contributions,” he stated.

The 10-member-group's mandate is to work closely with the UN Inter-agency Task Team (IATT) on science, technology and innovation for the sustainable development goals, providing guidance, ideas, and recommendations on science, technology and innovation issues and their impacts on sustainable development.

Their work will focus on preparing meetings of the multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology, and innovation for the SDGs, supporting the development and operationalisation of the online platform, and engaging in various IATT work streams to facilitate partnerships and mobilise resources for the technology facilitation mechanism.

By leveraging the collective expertise of its members, the group aims to advance proposals for the forum and online platform, assist in the preparation of co-chairs’ summaries and broader outcomes and follow-up to the forum, and provide recommendations and advice on specific technology solutions and partnerships, as well as more broadly on science, technology and innovation issues for the SDGs.

Furthermore, they will consider inputs to the STI forum on emerging technologies and advise on policy and substantive ways forward, including STI roadmaps for the SDGs, capacity building, social inclusion, gender and STI, and the impacts of rapid technology change and digitalisation.

Mr Estico is the founder of the Seychelles Centre for Innovation and Sustainable Development (SCISD), a newly registered not-for-profit organisation aiming at promoting science, technology and innovation with a strong focus on STEM.

He is also the lead consultant for the UNCTAD Technology Assessment (TA) pilot project. A first pilot TA project in Sub-Saharan Africa involving South Africa, Seychelles and Zambia. Seychelles is assessing agrivoltaic for controlled-environment crop production.

He is currently consulting in collaboration with Innovative Partners Incubation (IPI), a US-based consulting firm to develop a marine biotechnology industry strategy for Seychelles.

Compiled by Patrick Joubert