Unifying SDGs with national development agendas: a policy framework to facilitate and accelerate the implementation of SDGs leveraging AI

The United Nation’s 17 SDGs evolved from an earlier set of 8 millennial goals, which have their roots in various ideologies that sought to highlight the conflict between social well-being, protecting the environment and myriad human activities that disregarded these issues, including profiteering. Resource constrains limit the extent to which nations may adopt SDGs in practice. Furthermore, the 17 disparate SDGs that suggest equal emphasis on all of the goals may conflict with national developmental masterplans, which may prioritise combating hunger and poverty first, before tackling the other goals. We propose the development of a hierarchy of SDGs, customised according to the needs of different nations’ priorities, to align the pursuit of national development with SDGs and explicitly counter various resource constrains. This hierarchy should leverage on emerging technology that enables low-cost, high impact options, including artificial intelligence that would counter the lack of skilled expertise in key areas, especially in emerging economies. As such, the core underlying pillar of development should comprise of creating flexible and agile technology based national, regional and global infrastructures designed to support the pursuit of SDGs Judiciously crafted IT driven policies would also focus on appropriate strategies to elevate human capital to tackle complex new challenges through relevant shifts in the provision of education, overcoming various potential externalities such as graduate unemployment. This study calls for greater exploration and discussion of unified frameworks that align SDGs to national development, to unlock the full potential of SDGs and will be useful regulators, policymakers and researchers worldwide.