Digital Innovation & Data Science as Accelerants of the Sustainable Development Goals | Radhika Shah

CoPresident Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs, Founding CoChair UN Joint SDG Fund Breakthrough Alliance

Talk Title: Digital Innovation & Data Science as Accelerants of the Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract: In this moment of unprecedented crises of climate change and growing inequality, a moment of twin transitions of Digital Innovation and Decarbonization, it is imperative that women, local grass-roots communities, indigenous peoples are front and center, not just beneficiaries but also leaders of the change happening in our world.

The Sustainable Development Goals offer us a global normative framework to collaboratively tackle the grand challenges of our times including alleviating poverty and hunger, quality education, health and livelihood for all, tackling gender and other inequalities, climate action and more. These 17 goals recognize the interconnectedness of social, environmental and economic challenges and the.

In this talk we will examine the role that inclusive digital innovation and data science can play in accelerating progress on these ambitious goals, and share examples of specific interventions accelerating the goals.

Finally, we will explore the still much needed Inclusive Systems Change as we attempt to achieve the SDGs by 2030 and their spirit of Leaving No One Behind. We will highlight a couple of unique initiatives – The United Nations Joint SDG Fund Breakthrough Alliance and The SDG Digital Transformation & Sustainability Solutions Lab – that enable cross-sectoral, public-private collaborations and bridge building across regions and nations; across the global north and the global south, bringing the power of digital innovation, markets and data science to advance these goals and drive us towards inclusive sustainable futures.

Bio: Radhika is a tech-impact investor, passionate about civic engagement, inclusive digital transformation and a just climate transition. She is Founding CoChair, United Nations Joint SDG Fund Breakthrough Alliance, Co-President, Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs, Fellow/Founding Chair,Technology+Innovation Advisory Group, The Stanford Center for Human Rights & International Justice.

She is a staunch believer in role of policy to accelerate social change. She sits on the CEGA, U.C. Berkeley board. She was a member of CGD’s study group Technology-Comparative-Advantage-and-Development-Prospects. Influenced by Gandhian philosophy, Radhika cares deeply about sustainability, human dignity, women’s empowerment, racial-ethnic and socio-economic justice. She Co-Chair’s U.S.-India-Alliance-for-Women’s-Economic-Empowerment-STEM-Collaborative.

Radhika is a deep believer in the SDGs and an advisor to SDGPhilanthropyPlatform, Impact-Experience, IllumenCapital, Benetech, BHRRC and former Stanford Global Center for Gender Equality. She co-designed Stanford study and co-authored peer-reviewed-paper “Race influences professional investors’ financial judgments”, Proceedings, National Academy of Sciences.

She holds a Stanford CS Masters and a Berkeley MBA.