The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development announced the launch of a "Technology Facilitation Mechanism" (TFM) to support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The goal of the TFM is to facilitate multi-stakeholder collaboration and partnerships through the sharing of information, experiences, best practices and policy advice relating to technology, development and deployment among Member States, civil society, the private sector, the scientific community, United Nations entities and other stakeholders.

The TFM has three components:

1. A collaborative Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs (STI Forum). The President of ECOSOC will convene the meetings of the STI forum once a year to discuss science, technology and innovation cooperation around thematic areas for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. The General Assembly also decided that the meetings of the forum will be co-chaired by two Member States and will result in a summary of discussions elaborated by the two co-Chairs. The 4th Annual STI Forum will be held May 14 – 15, 2019 in New York. The co-chairs of the 2019 Forum will be H.E. Ms. H. Elizabeth Thompson, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Barbados to the United Nations and H.E. Mrs. Marie Chatardová, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations.

2. A United Nations Interagency Task Team on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs (IATT), including the 10-Member Group of representatives from civil society, the private sector and the scientific community. The 10-member group for 2018-2019 consists of the following representatives:

i. Dr. Paulo Gadelha (Brazil), Coordinator of the FIOCRUZ Strategy for the 2030 Agenda, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ)

ii. Prof. Huadong Guo (China), Chairman of Academic Committee, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

iii. Dr. Heide Hackmann (South Africa), Executive Director, International Council for Science (ICSU)

iv. Dr. Agnes Lawrence Kijazi (United Republic of Tanzania), Director General, Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA)

v. Dr. José Ramón López-Portillo Romano (Mexico), Chairman, Q Element Ltd.

vi. Dr. Michiharu Nakamura (Japan), Senior Advisor (Former President), Japan Science and Technology Agency

vii. Dr. Anne-Christine Ritschkoff (Finland), Senior Advisor VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd.

viii. Dr. Špela Stres (Slovenia), Head of Innovation and Technology Transfer Center for Jožef Stefan Institute

ix. Dr. Vaughan Turekian (USA), Senior Director at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

x. Dr. Ada Yonath (Israel), Director and Nobel Laureate, the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

3. An online platform as a gateway for information on existing STI initiatives, mechanisms and programs. Work is now underway to design, develop and operationalize the TFM online platform, including preliminary collection of existing technology applications and initiatives in addressing sustainable development challenges.

The TFM online platform will:

i. Be used to establish a comprehensive mapping of, and serve as a gateway for, information on existing science, technology and innovation initiatives, mechanisms and programmes, within and beyond the United Nations

ii. Facilitate access to information, knowledge and experience, as well as best practices and lessons learned, on science, technology and innovation facilitation initiatives and policies

iii. Facilitate the dissemination of relevant open access scientific publications generated worldwide.