Inclusive and sustainable industrialisation means creating a strong, dynamic and competitive economy, capable of supporting a strong financial system, which can generate enough jobs and income to provide an adequate standard of living for its entire society.
Innovation and infrastructure also play a key role in a strong economy, especially with what the pandemic has shown us: businesses must promote investment in information systems and technology, in labour flexibility, and institutions must be committed to facilitate international trade and enable the efficient use of resources.
Today we are far from achieving the targets of SDG 9. The least developed countries still have very high rates of manufacturing labour. They must increase investment in scientific research and innovation, which is what will allow them to have an economic strength capable of sustain their societies in a sustainably and copetitive way.
According to UN data at the global level, investment in research and development (R&D) as a percentage of GDP increased from 1.5% in 2000 to 1.7% in 2015, and continued at almost the same level in 2017. In developing regions, however, it was less than 1%.
The problem is that developing countries' economies need a lot of investment in order to reach the 2030 targets. Indeed, an Asia-Pacific Economic and Social Survey by the Asian Development Bank highlights that making infrastructure in these regions resilient to disasters and climate change will require an additional $434 billion a year. This sum may even need to be higher in some sub-regions.
It is important for governments to come up with plans for economic recoveries that will lead to investments in innovation and technological progress, as this is the only way to ensure dynamic and lasting solutions for a country's economy to be stable and on solid foundations. It is the only way to combat new pandemics or economic cycles in a secure manner.
Moreover, investing in this way, in critical and resilient infrastructure, makes countries strive for measures that reduce the ecological footprint, create jobs for the low-skilled and expand access to goods and services, including basic infrastructure for all.
On the other hand, much work also remains to be done to reduce the digital divide, which the pandemic has only exacerbated, having accelerated the digitisation of many businesses and services, including teleworking, as well as access to health, education and essential goods and services.
This whole new reality has highlighted how far behind (even further) those without access to the Internet have been left behind.
While it is true that much progress has been made in this area in the last ten years and almost the entire world's population now lives in an area covered by a mobile network, nearly half of the world's population still does not have access to the Internet and this is not possible.
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