尊敬的 姜增 伟理事长，(jiāng zēng wěi) (GATIS Chairperson) 

尊敬的 蔡奇 书记，(cài qí) (Secretary of the Beijing CPC Municipal Committee) 

尊敬的 王文涛 部长，(wáng wén tāo) (Minister of Commerce) 

Excellency Ann Derwin, Ambassador of Ireland 

Distinguished Guests, Good morning, 早上好。 

It is my pleasure to join you for the Power of Innovation session at the Global Entrepreneurs Summit on Trade in Services.  

In 2015, world leaders from 193 nations universally adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals as humanity’s joint plan to end poverty and save the planet by 2030.  

However today, with just eight years left, we are far from achieving these goals. 

The COVID-19 pandemic - exacerbated by the spiraling triple planetary crises of climate change, pollution and unprecedented biodiversity loss - has reversed decades of development progress. And food and energy shortages and resulting price hikes present an additional array of challenges.  

Crisis, though, is one of the fundamental drivers for innovation. From Isaac Newton’s discovery of gravity whilst isolating from a plague that killed a quarter of London’s population, to the first mass production of antibiotics during World War Two, emergencies have often sparked incredible innovations.  

Today, given the dire trajectory the world is currently on, we need innovation more than ever. 21st century challenges, require 21st century solutions. 

New technologies can help accelerate sustainable development and safeguard the future of both people and the planet. We have already seen how during the height of the pandemic e-commerce apps helped enterprises to stay in business; e-learning allowed children to continue studying, and telehealth platforms supported contactless medical consultations.  

However, the pandemic also highlighted the extent of the digital divide – around 500 million children lacked the resources for online learning, missing out on vital months, and in some cases years, of school.  

For the digital future we aspire to, where many innovations will take place online in a rapidly expanding digital economy, we must ensure that everyone has the right skills to participate in it.  

This is why UNDP takes a whole-of-society approach to ensure that no one is left behind in the new digital world.  

Our SPARK lab in Chengdu - the first UN-led Innovation Lab for the SDGs in China – strives to find answers to these challenges. And its annual flagship Re:Think Conference features the newest thinking and emerging trends in innovating for the SDGs, such as tech-enabled solutions for poverty alleviation or the role of hi-tech zones in advancing pathways to net-zero.  

But for innovation to translate into impact, it must go beyond concepts and discussions. That is where entrepreneurship is so important. We need entrepreneurial minds that can take these ideas and technologies forward, turn them into scalable solutions, and share them with the world. 

To this end, last year together with our partners, UNDP launched the Inspiro fellowship bringing together 50 outstanding tech entrepreneurs from China and Europe, to share insights on growing startups and developing technologies that can generate positive social impact.  

And with our Youth Co:Lab initiative, UNDP is empowering young people to achieve the SDGs through social entrepreneurship and helping them learn vital skills along the way. Their startups are developing digital solutions to address key social, economic and environmental issues, such as Clear Plate, founded by Liu Jichen – who was named China’s first SDG Young Leader for creating a mobile app to reduce food waste and promoting a low-carbon lifestyle among the youth.  

Investing in today’s youth is critical if we are to adequately support the entrepreneurs of the future. Indeed, moving forward, we must look to all stakeholders, including the government and private sector, to work together in developing an enabling ecosystem for entrepreneurs and innovators to flourish.  This includes regulatory environments that can help foster the development of technologies and businesses with potential to advance the SDGs, and equipping all groups with the right digital literacy skills so everyone can participate in the new digital economy. 

In closing I’d like to thank the Global Alliance for Trade in Services for organizing this important conference. By bringing us altogether, I hope we can spur new ideas and conversations on powering the twin engines of innovation and entrepreneurship. 

Together we can not only respond to some of the world’s most pressing challenges, but also create new and sustainable ways of living to achieve the SDGs. 

创新 引领 未来。期待更多 创业者 矢志 创新，让 明天 更美好、更绿色。 

(Innovation will shape the future. With more entrepreneurs committed to advancing innovation, we can make tomorrow greener and more sustainable) 

Thank you!