The following reflections were inspired by the workshop titled “Harnessing Technology in a Globalized World”,1 which gathered experts and practitioners from International Organisations and Government Departments to discuss AI advancement, digital gaps, and responsible frameworks for sustainable development. The workshop was funded via the kind support of the Global Engagement Fund and the European Institute at UCL.
AI is already changing the way we live and work. Yet, several conundrums remain unresolved. Issues such as novel digital divides and AI governance are occupying a growing space in contemporary policy discourse. How are policy actors addressing these questions, and what visions and frameworks can be operationalized to support sustainable development?
Multilateral Development banks appear to be increasingly attentive to issues related to the digital divide, sustainable development, and the advancement of AI technologies. A significant part of this discourse centres on the need to ensure more equitable access to technology, propel sustainable development, and empower communities.
In this context, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has undertaken a series of projects aimed at addressing barriers to AI deployment and use. These include issues such as limited access to computational power, restricted data availability, and demand for low-resource language models.
For example, EBRD has embarked in an ongoing equity project in a cloud and edge computing infrastructure provider to improve access to computational power. Another EBRD-supported initiative is Yola Fresh, a Moroccan start-up, which provides a platform to digitally connect smallholder farmers with traditional retailers. By leveraging AI, the platform delivers actionable insights on crop demand and optimal harvest timing, offering valuable data and support to farmers. Additionally, EBRD has played a role in informing Kyrgyz start-up AkylAI’s development and growth. Currently, AkylAI is also the world’s first AI system designed to fully support and operate in the Kyrgyz language.2 These examples highlight how targeted projects may offer solutions to newly emerging digital divides while equally endeavouring to create new opportunities.
Technology can support sustainable development – yet it needs to be carefully managed and safeguarded. This discourse projects a vision of sustainable development rooted in the Economics for the Future, which critique conventional economic models for treating ecosystems and economic systems as separate domains. Initiatives such as the Future Balance at the Beyond Lab (UN Geneva) emphasize the need to re-evaluate the relationship between short-term priorities and long-term objectives within the context of regenerative development (RD).
RD, according to Plaut and co-authors, focuses on building “the capacity and capability in people, communities and natural systems to renew, sustain and thrive”, it goes beyond restoration and net-zero-approaches, “co-creating systems and places that have the capacity to evolve toward increasing states of health and vitality” (p.2). RD, as highlighted by Gibbons, promotes a stronger focus on “holistic thriving living systems” (p.8). In doing so, it introduces a paradigm for envisioning technological advancement – one that highlights the need to think more boldly about ecosystem impacts, restoration, potential benefits, and unintended consequences.
To reduce future liabilities and inform policymaking, responsible foresight can represent an addendum to nourish policy reflections and tools to assess unintended and accounted consequences. Foresight can be broadly defined as analytical, multidisciplinary process aimed at reflecting on what may occur in the future, to support preparedness and shape the future we intend to realize.3
Trend analysis and horizon scanning – common elements of foresight – can offer insights into how policies may perform in a changing environment and their capacity to deliver both social and natural capital. Foresight scenarios can serve as stress tests for these policies, while tools like the Futures Wheel – often grounded in frameworks such as STEEPED (i.e. Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Ethical, and Demographic factors) – help guide a 360-degree view of the ecosystem. Specifically, existing versions of the STEEPED framework offer detailed reflections on the subcomponents of each thematic issue (e.g., social, technological, etc.), which can further guide policy design rooted in ecosystem thinking. These insights can also be embedded within generative frameworks such as LENSES (Living Environments in Natural, Social and Economic Systems) by, for instance, breaking down references to social and economic systems into additional components.4 Moreover, policy reflections aimed at enhancing intergenerational awareness and regenerative development can be further explored through existing frameworks for stakeholder engagement developed for foresight dialogues. After all, new collective processes involving a wide range of stakeholders are at the core of regenerative sustainability. Foresight frameworks for stakeholder selection and engagement that emphasize multi-voice consultations can play a role in contributing to these processes, enabling multilayered frameworks for knowledge exchange.
Foresight can sustain generative development in several meaningful ways. The UNESCO Chair on Responsible Foresight for Sustainable Development (University of Lincoln) engages in a wide range of projects focused on responsible futures, leveraging foresight methods to explore, among other goals, capacity building, food security, and sustainability. Identifying and extrapolating best practices from these efforts can inform how foresight might be harnessed to support pathways to positive-gains and intergenerational fairness.
Increasing attention toward AI has opened new questions about the digital divide. Several actors are exploring ways to reduce emerging forms of digital inequality. Harnessing technological advancement for sustainable development requires a stronger focus on holistic approaches and generative development. In the context of policy design, foresight methods offer valuable tools to anticipate and address unintended consequences for future generations.
Valentina Amuso is a Lecturer (Teaching)in the Department of Political Science and the School of Public Policy at UCL. She earned her PhD in Government and International Affairs from Durham University. She holds an MSc in International Political Economy from London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her research focuses on the role of government agencies in shaping regulatory approaches to innovation, as well as the decision-making mechanisms that underpin these approaches.
Note: The views expressed in this post are those of the author, and not of the UCL European Institute, nor of UCL.
Image: by BoliviaInteligente via Unsplash
