The data needs for the 2030 Agenda are great. Geospatial data provide insights for decision-making. And it presents an opportunity to represent the world and its challenges. The rapid pace of geospatial technology advancements, such as increased automation, the internet of things, big data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, improves our knowledge of those challenges.
To achieve the SDGs, we need to understand each Goal and monitor progress toward reaching it.
The Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT) and the Directorate-General for Informatics of the European Commission (DG DIGIT) today announced in an award ceremony (video) the winners of the “Smart Cities” challenges, the second innovation event from the Open Source Software for Sustainable Development Goals (OSS4SDG) initiative.
The United Nations Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT) is pleased to announce that it has joined the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA).
OICT hosted several successful open source-based initiatives in the areas of peace and security, development and human rights. By joining the Alliance, OICT will not only increase its potential to implement and develop digital public goods, but, most importantly, collaborate and share this vision with renowned stakeholders.
Today is GIS (geographic information system) Day, which commemorates geospatial data and technology and promotes awareness of Geographic Information Systems or Geographic Information Sciences (GIS). Geospatial, or location, data can provide insights to challenges the world faces in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For the second straight year, the United Nations Geospatial team is celebrating GIS day by preparing maps on each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
The Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT) supports the United Nations and its partners’ goals of ensuring that no one is left behind, as envisioned in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, by leveraging the power of technology to help solve the world’s problems.
Originally published on the Second Administrative Level Boundaries (SALB) programme website, this story map details how the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) performed a rapid geospatial assessment using earth observation data and the common geographies collected in the context of the SALB programme. Read more.
The Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT), the European Commission Directorate-General for Informatics (EC DG--DIGIT) and OpenStreetMap (OSM) have launched the second series of innovation challenges in the framework of the Open Source Software for Sustainable Development Goals (OSS4SDG) initiative.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is developing at an exceedingly rapid pace, and it is important that we adopt AI intentionally. Young people today will likely live in a future world in which AI will be pervasive. They deserve a say in what this future will look like.
With 322 delegates in attendance, the 6th International Partnership for Technology in Peacekeeping Symposium (6PTPS), held in the City of Tshwane (Pretoria), Republic of South Africa, 21-24 June, was the largest Symposium to date. This annual event is a joint initiative of the Department of Operational Support and the Office of Information and Communications Technology to showcase field-oriented technology initiatives, and to generate feedback and discussion with interested Member States.
The Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT) and the European Commission Directorate-General for Informatics (EC DG--DIGIT) announced the five winners of the Get plugged into Education! hackathon, the first innovation event from the Open Source Software for Sustainable Development Goals (OSS4SDG) initiative, on 30 June.
The Department of Operational Support (DOS) and the Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT), in cooperation with the Government of the Republic of South Africa, will be hosting the Sixth Partnership for Technology in Peacekeeping International Symposium in the City of Tshwane (Pretoria), South Africa, from 21 to 24 June 2022. This event was originally planned for 2020 but was postponed due to COVID-19. This will be the first time the Symposium is held in Africa.
On Wednesday 25 May, the Secretariat of the United Nations was informed that multiple dignitaries received unsolicited messages purporting to originate from UN senior management. These communications took the form of "Signal" messages and fraudulently stated that they were to inform the recipient that a senior management official was reaching out to them using their “personal number”.
Following the successful implementation of the Field Remote Infrastructure Monitoring (FRIM) (Phase 1) in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) last February, UNGSC’s Unite FRIM team organized an awareness workshop at the request of mission leadership.
The Unite FRIM is an innovative, operational planning and oversight platform that enables UN entities to monitor infrastructure systems.
The Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT) is pleased to announce that, in collaboration with the Directorate-General for Informatics of the European Commission (DG DIGIT) and Moodle, it is launching a series of innovation challenges in the framework of the “Open Source Software for Sustainable Development Goals (OSS4SDG)” initiative.
Last November, United Nations Global Service Centre (UNGSC) and the United Nations Regional Service Centre in Entebbe (RSCE) field technology trainers conducted an intensive Micro Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) training course for the Mozambique National Institute of Disaster Management (INGD) and the Associação Moçambicana de Veículos Aéreos Não Tripulados (AMOVANT), among others.
UAS can be used for search- and-rescue operations, to monitor and assess critical infrastructure, to provide disaster relief by transporting emergency medical supplies to remote locations.
The United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine (UNISPAL) website is an online collection of texts of United Nations resolutions, documents and publications concerning the question of Palestine, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and other issues related to the Middle East situation.
With such a high volume of current and historical content, finding information can be challenging.
GIS Day is observed on 17 November to commemorate spatial and geographic technologies and to promote awareness of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) or Geographic Information sciences.
Youth development is a cross-cutting theme in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. With the launch of Youth2030 in 2018, the United Nations strategy on youth, the United Nations has explicitly highlighted the need for expanded global, regional and country-level action to address the needs, build the agency, and advance the rights of youth across the world, ensuring we leave no one behind.
By definition, open source development is collaborative, inclusive and revolutionary—and open software has become ubiquitous. Whenever we are online, we are benefiting from open software. It powers the cloud, and is in supercomputers, blockchain, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence.
The Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT) and the Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) announced the winner of the recent Unite Ideas / Financial Crime Data Challenge, which sought a model for financial crime data correlation. The winning solution titled “Preventing the Financing of Terrorism by Engineering an ML Model with Financial Crime Data” was provided by
During the 78th session of the UN General Assembly High-level Week, delegations debated how to confront global challenges and accelerate action on the 2030 Agenda. A global audience tuned in to watch the meetings and events live and on demand.
The deadline for participants to submit ideas for the third edition of the Open Source Software for Sustainable Development Goals (OSS4SDGs) Hackathon has been extended to 1 October
The United Nations Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT) is developing an AI governance framework and a matrix and guidance note to use generative AI within the UN.
The Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT) is excited to announce the third edition of the Open Source Software for Sustainable Development Goals (OSS4SDGs) Hackathon.
The Seventh Partnership for Technology in Peacekeeping International Symposium was held last week in Kathmandu, Nepal, by the Department of Operational Support (DOS) and the Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT). It was hosted in cooperation with the Government of Nepal and the Department of Peace Operations (DPO).
The Department of Operational Support (DOS) and the Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT), in cooperation with the Government of Nepal, will host the 7th Partnership for Technology in Peacekeeping International Symposium in Kathmandu, Nepal (13-16 June).
The United Nations Digital and Technology Network met in May in Washington, D.C. to discuss hot technology topics among UN System Chief Information Officers.
The Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) sign the Declaration of Intent on development of Digital Transformation and Technology Innovation ecosystems to ensure a more strategic framework for cooperation for a sustainable, reliable and safer world.
Web3 is an emerging technology, a new vision for the web, that promises to shift power from Big Tech to users. Learn more about what Web3 is, and how it is relevant to the United Nations and its goals. The one-hour event is open to all who are interested in learning more about what Web3 is, and how it is relevant to the UN and its goals.
Technology increasingly sits at the intersection of many aspects of our lives: how we work and learn, how we interact with the people in our lives and the world around us, and how we access and consume the products and services we use every day. Diversity in engineering and technology is critical to ensuring different perspectives are considered when we identify and solve problems with technol
