The Road to the SDGs

PURPOSE X With more than 100 million people joining the job market every year, MCs have an unmatched challenge and opportunity at the same time. This supply of labour, which would be a challenge under current conditions, is also a huge source of opportunity for entrepreneurship and innovation. X By providing an alternative opportunity to raise funds for innovative projects, the IsDB Science, Technology and Innovation Transform Fund (IsDB-STIF, also referred to as the Transform Fund), run by IsDB Innovate, combines a grant scheme with a dedicated crowdfunding platform to raise funds for innovators around the world. It is targeted towards MCs’ development programmes, as defined in the MCPS. METHOD X The Fund was established in 2017 with an initial capital of US$ 500 million. Its main objectives are to: – Provide financial and technical support to scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs – Facilitate the commercialisation of technology – Promote the capacity of research institutions in MCs through the capacity building programme – Ensure the development of entrepreneurship – Help MCs achieve the SDGs. X The Fund supports initiatives in four categories: – New ideas with proof of concept – Scaling up of innovative projects – Commercialisation of technology – Capacity building in STI. X Transform Fund projects are generally divided into grants and equity projects. The grant projects are for supporting initial ideas/proof of concept and capacity building projects, while the equity projects are for commercialisation and scale-up projects. ACHIEVEMENTS X Since 2018, 78 grants and 17 equity projects have been selected in MCs and non-MCs. X The 2020 Call for Innovation saw 19 grants and 11 equity projects selected, revolving around the theme of the COVID-19 crisis. The contracts are being prepared and project implementation has been ongoing. X Earlier Calls for Innovation launched through the Transform Fund’s marketing platform, Engage, yielded winning proposals focusing on Saving Women’s Lives from Cancer, and on internal STI innovation at IsDB. The projects arising from these Calls are being processed for mainstreaming within IsDB and beyond. X The third annual Transformers Academy was held virtually due to COVID-19 Transform Fund I sDB is committed to helping its MCs through STI to address socioeconomic problems and achieve the SDGs Through programmes such as the Transform Fund and related activities, IsDB is strengthening innovations and promoting the sharing of new ideas and development solutions between MCs [ 68 ] SDGs