Keywords

Global partnerships have been rapidly increased due to the transition to digitalisation, and an event at one end of the world causes different circumstances in many other regions. The cause of consequences such as wars, natural disasters, climate disasters and humanitarian crises does not come from a single location, but it is a global cause. In this respect, world leaders are now meticulous about whether a problem is local or global. It was accepted that global partnership and cooperation in line with such sustainable development goals can only be achieved through close solidarity (MacDonald et al. 2018). At this point, developed countries have committed to helping other countries where they are strong. They even aim to increase development aid to enhance growth and welfare in many countries. Based on these, the development of international trade and financial restructuring of less developed countries can be given as examples to implement the global partnership for the goals.

SDG-17 fundamentally calls for strengthening the global cooperation on sustainable development goals in the agenda 2030. SDG-17 has a crucial role in advancing the global partnership and implementation tools in reaching the solutions to social and ecological problems. Regarding the goal, partnerships between governments, the private sector and civil society are planned to be deepened and coordinated. Additionally, the need to ensure the consistency of the policies of the sustainable development goals at the domestic and international levels is met within the SDG-17. SDG-17 could be considered a bridge for achieving all SDGs. In other words, it is extremely necessary to fulfil the objectives and goals of SDG-17 for successfully advancing and executing the SDGs at all levels (Franco and Abe 2020). SDG 17 has 19 selected targets to be achieved upon the 2030 agenda. While the 19 targets covered a vast range of affairs, these are mainly associated with the targets from SDG-16 and SDG-9 (Maltais et al. 2018). This relation is in terms of enhancing the quality of government and public administration and access to technology, respectively. To increase the possibility of implementation of the targets, the objectives of SDG-17 are classified into more detailed key themes in the studies. Revitalising global partnerships in five broad categories such as finance, technology, capacity building, trade, policy and institutional coherence is the most common classification for targets of SDG-17 (United Nations 2017). Finance, encompassing targets 17.1–17.5, focuses on developing countries partnering with and assisting developing countries in revenue collection, mobilising aid, long-term debt sustainability and promoting investment.

The targets of SDG-17 between 17.6 and 17.8 are about technology which focuses on the technological distinction between North and South. The divide includes enhancing global partnership, improving coordination to accessing technology and innovation and improving sound technologies to enhance information and communication technology usage. According to World Bank data, the average world fixed broadband subscription per 100 people is 15.87. However, the average of the least developed countries is 1.39 per 100 people (International Telecommunication Union Database 2020). So, it is understood that people of the least developed countries cannot regularly reach an Internet infrastructure. But fixed broadband subscriptions are increasing year by year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Internet connection has been crucially important for people. A lack of Internet infrastructure has a high cost for the least developed and developing countries, especially in health, economic and social life.

Under the SDG-17.9 target, it aims to build capacity in developing countries and enhance international support for adapting their national plan to sustainable development goals. According to OECD, official development assistance (ODA) has reached 161 billion dollars in 2019 (OECD Statistics 2021).

Trade targets 17.10–17.12, draw attention to the importance of rules-based and equitable trading and seek to increase the share in international trade by developing countries through the use of multinational organisations and frameworks. Targets 17.13–17.15 focus on policy and institutional coherence to enhance macroeconomic stability and sustainable development, intertwined with an approach that respects country-specific modalities. Targets 17.16 and 17.17 address the necessity of multi-stakeholder partnerships for coordinating and sharing resources, knowledge, expertise and technology in support of the SDGs, in developing countries. Targets 17.18 and 17.19 cover data, monitoring and accountability, supporting and enhancing countries’ capacity to increase the availability of high-quality data and developing countries’ statistical capacity (United Nations Sustainable Development 2021). Figure 19.1 presents the targets and sub-targets of SDG-17.

Fig. 19.1
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Targets of SDG-17. (United Nations 2021)

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While introducing all the sustainable development goals, achieving the goal in collaboration stands out as the real challenge. The core of the UNDP SDGs is reducing a variety of inequalities within different nations and areas while trying to keep the world healthy and able for the next generations who will be suffering from past and current mistakes of humanity about the world and the environment. Sustainable development goals from 1 to 16 all try to achieve this core philosophy while focusing on different needs and grounds. Goal 17, on the other hand, acts as the backbone for all others. To fully integrate sustainable development goals into real-life functioning improvements, establishing partnerships among governments, both the public and private sector and the society itself, is crucial. At all degrees that SDG applications take place, strong and mutually generated partnerships are required that evolve around prioritising people and the environment (Earth Changers 2020).

This sustainable development goal aims to secure the collaborative act of these partnerships mentioned above where they do not have to perform or handle the possible crisis about poverty and environmental degradation by themselves. As well as promoting collaboration at all degrees (global, regional, national and local), SDG-17 also promotes the need to obtain new financial resources to accomplish the rest of the SDGs. It would be very hard to execute the other 16 SDGs without significant progress on SDG-17.

Governmental collaborations with a range of public, private and civil society associates might help raise funds for various developments and encourage greater inclusivity all through their execution (ICLEI 2015). The nature of the goal might be explained as: It encourages wealthier nations to take on more responsibilities, such as influencing cohesive decision-making (SDG-17.14), endorsing infrastructure construction in developing states (SDG-17.9) or enhancing developing states’ access to sustainable and greener technology (SDG-17.9) (ICLEI 2015).

In a world where working together has become more important in recent years, it was inevitable for the SDGs to work together. The globe is more interconnected than ever before because of the Internet, travel and global organisations. The need to act together to combat climate change is becoming increasingly obvious. The sustainable development goals are also a big deal. 193 nations agreed upon these goals. The ultimate objective establishes a framework for nations to collaborate to obtain all other goals (United Nations 2021). Transformative change is needed around the globe and by multi-stakeholder partnerships. Many partnerships have emerged expressly to solve international problems in recent years, resulting in literally hundreds of multi-stakeholder collaborations worldwide. Finding and developing transformational collaborations provides the best chance to tackle these issues and drive significant shifts successfully.

Consequently, the United Nations has called 2018 the “Decade of Action” devoted to delivering on the 2030 agenda and SDGs (Li et al. 2020). We need fresh dedication and investment to achieve the SDGs and take meaningful action on climate change. Nevertheless, multi-stakeholder partnerships can only be effective if they are willing to take on the task of beginning a transformative journey. The need for global collaboration has never been more conspicuous than in the year 2020. The spread of the COVID-19 virus was global, and its effects were felt globally, but this virus shed light on the interconnectedness of the world. Goal 17 of the sustainable development goals, the necessity of partnerships for the goals, was further highlighted by the crisis. Partnering with governments, the business sector and civil society is a requirement for the first 16 objectives, according to SDG-17 (Pierce 2018; European Commission 2021). The COVID-19 pandemic is a stark warning that achieving the 2030 agenda would need a concerted and cooperative effort. Today, multilateralism and global cooperation are becoming more and more vital.

The SDGs can only be accomplished via strong global partnerships and collaborations; thus, the SDGs must collaborate. “A successful development agenda requires inclusive partnerships—at the global, regional, national, and local levels—built upon principles and values, and upon a shared vision and shared goals placing people and the planet at the center” (United Nations Sustainable Development 2021). Many nations require official development aid to boost growth and trade. Nonetheless, assistance levels are declining, and donor nations are failing to achieve their pledges to boost development money. For nations to recover from the pandemic, rebuild properly, and accomplish sustainable development goals, strong international collaboration is needed today more than ever before.

The European Union (EU) is the world’s largest source of official development aid (ODA), providing more than half of all ODA to developing nations. In 2018, the EU’s total ODA was $74.4 billion. The EU and its member states raised their assistance for local revenue mobilisation in developing countries considerably in 2016, boosting pledges from €112.7 million in 2015 to €197.9 million in 2016 (European Commission 2021). The EU and its member states promote sharing information for tax reasons, anti-corruption, tax evasion and illicit flows. With its contribution to the World Bank’s Debt Reduction Trust Fund, which funds the High Debt Poor Countries program, the EU stands at the forefront of debt relief. Until the end of August 2016, the EU’s collective funding accounted for 41% of the overall contribution throughout this time. In absolute terms, remittances constitute a far greater source of development funding than ODA. There is a concerted effort by the European Union and its member states to boost the impact of remittance. As a result, remittance fees are reduced. The European Union also encourages research and development. A Research and Innovation Partnership in the Mediterranean Region has been formed to strengthen cooperation with emerging nations on research, technology and innovation. It supports sustainable food systems and integrated water management through creative solutions. In 2017, the EU established the EU-CELAC policy advisory mechanism in research and innovation to assist Latin American and Caribbean nations in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (European Commission 2019). Facility for policy discourse E-READI supports EU-ASEAN scientific and technology collaboration. Capacity building is an essential component of nearly all development cooperation. The EU helps developing countries build their capacity to create and execute inclusive sustainable development policies at the national level and improve accountability and sensitivity to their populations. The EU has created dialogues with partner nations to debate and evaluate progress on the SDGs. The success of the SDGs depends on the development of multi-stakeholder partnerships that exchange information, experience, technology and financial assistance. Therefore, SDG-17 is essential to accomplishing all 16 SDGs and the aims of Addis Ababa’s2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (European Commission 2021).

19.1 Companies and Use Cases

Table 19.1 presents the business model of one company and use case that employ emerging technologies and create value in SDG-17. We should highlight that one use case can be related to more than one SDG and it can make use of multiple emerging technologies. In the left column, we present the company name, the origin country, related SDGs and emerging technologies that are included. The companies and use cases are listed alphabeticallyFootnote 1.

Table 19.1 Companies and use cases in SDG-17
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