[Istanbul, 2023] - On December 1st, 2023, the OSDG initiative took the spotlight, celebrating its recognition by UNESCO IRCAI Top 100 AI initiatives for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) together with its researcher and volunteer community. This collaborative achievement, led by UNDP ICPSD SDG AI Lab and PPMI, solidified OSDG as a trailblazing AI solution for SDG research. 

Fueled by a vision for advancing SDGs with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), OSDG has evolved into a benchmark open-source tool, offering a robust SDG classifier in 17 languages. Along with the tool, the OSDG team has built the unique OSDG Community Dataset, featuring 42,065 vetted text excerpts, supports diverse research, and significantly contributes to academic publications, downloaded over 4,000 times. 

OSDG's versatility extends to academic and practical applications, with universities globally leveraging it to align their curriculum and research with the SDGs. The dataset and tool are featured in publications covering diverse topics, demonstrating OSDG's broad application in diverse fields. OSDG can effectively support government planning and SDGs implementation. For instance, the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye has collaborated with the SDG AI Lab, using the OSDG tool to align the 11th Development Plan with the SDGs. This not only identified common goals but also highlighted less-explored ones. It is a helpful template for nations worldwide to integrate technology into more informed policymaking. The results of this study will be published as an academic article in collaboration with Koç University and Middle East Technical University researchers. In addition, the UNDP SDG Integration team developed an online tool based on the approach. 

ICPSD Director Mr. Sahba Sobhani reflected on OSDG's potential: " We are excited that the success of the OSDG has sparked the development of new tools and research initiatives.” OSDG initiative and researchers around the world will continue to explore the OSDG tool and dataset for SDGs research. 

OSDG would not be able to evolve so fast without the continuous support of online volunteers. Over 2600 online volunteers have played a pivotal role in building the OSDG Community dataset. The large-scale volunteer mobilization has been supported by UN Volunteers and its Unified Volunteer Platform (UVP) recruiting over half of the OSDG volunteers. UNV Deputy Coordinator Ms. Kyoko Yokosuka highlighted the importance of online volunteerism for digital transformation: “We are glad to witness the larger engagement of online UN Volunteers in digital transformation, data, and information technology-related tasks.” 

In an era of technology-driven progress, OSDG stands out for its unique perspectives, displaying the collective efforts of individuals and organizations in advancing the SDGs. The celebration of OSDG marks a milestone in the power of AI and volunteerism, shaping a more sustainable future for all.

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For media inquiries, please contact:

Gokhan Dikmener, Technical Specialist, UNDP ICPSD