Stockholm joins the global Social Good conversation
The spotlight was clearly focused on sustainability and ICT innovation for the Stockholm Global Conversation, part of the 2013 Social Good Summit.
More than 50 of us in the Ericsson Studio, along plenty of others following the live webcast, enjoyed a presentation by Jan Wäreby, two panel discussions and then a get-together afterwards connected digitally with the main Social Good Summit event in New York.
The first panel – comprising Marie Baumgarts, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Tele2; Katarina M Eriksson, Senior Project and Partnership Development Manager, TetraLaval; Henrik Riby, Senior Adviser, SIDA; and me – discussed the Swedish Leadership in Sustainable Development initiative led by SIDA and around 20 Swedish and Swedish-origin companies.
All the participants recognize a changing global landscape and the solid case it brings for investing in sustainable development. And everyone emphasizes that we can build on our experiences of sustainable business practices, and show real global leadership now as the Millennium Development Goals are soon to be succeeded by new, more ambitious Sustainable Development Goals.
I shared the work that Ericsson has been doing as the leaders of a task force within the Broadband Commission. The resulting Post-2015 report identifies what governments can do to ensure their people reap the full benefits of broadband and sustainable development.
Other discussions as part of our panel discussion included TetraLaval and SIDA announcing a joint partnership and project to provide milk for schools, while Tele2 described the work it is doing to fight corruption, one of the priority areas identified within the Swedish Leadership for Sustainable Development initiative.
The second Social Good panel addressed Technology and Sustainable Development, with the panelists giving specific examples from their own experience on the different roles for business and public sector, as well as how technology can be used in public-private partnerships.
Kanni Wignaraja, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Representative for Zambia, explained how ICT and technology have changed life in Zambia, and how technological advances can help citizens interact with government. More transparent voting, for example, gives a big boost to democracy.
Anna Karin Stoltz Ehn, Manager for Innovation at Stockholm Royal Seaport, reported on how ICT is helping improve life for citizens in a high-tech developed country, in areas such as smart energy usage and electrical vehicles
There was a challenge for cities from Mattias Höijer, Director at the Center for Sustainable Communications, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, who questioned whether they have enough ICT knowledge to place the right demands on their projects.
And Ericsson’s own Paul Landers, Director of the Connect to Learn Program, looked at the connection between learning and the role of technology.
Paul explained how there has been a major shift recently in both focus and investment in global education, moving from basic access to access plus learning. In many areas of the world where there are major infrastructural issues in education – such as a lack of teachers, or poor standards for teacher training – ICT can transform learning by enabling access for students to quality educational content and solutions.
The whole day really confirmed my conviction that we need sustainability-driven innovation in ICT. There are so many opportunities for ICT to be an enabling technology when addressing global challenges such as climate change, and better access and quality for education and health care. But our industry needs to work actively and invite other industries and sectors of society to spread this very positive message, doing large-scale projects and business together.
Written by Matilda Gennvi-Gustafsson
Matilda worked with environmental and production management within the food industry in the early 1990s and joined Ericsson in 1997. She has focused, over the years, on sustainability, business and change management. She is, since the beginning of 2009, working at group level as Sustainability Director, where Ericsson’s sustainability strategy is one of her main areas of responsibility.
