UNIDO releases report on technology and innovation in sustainable industrial development

Technology and innovation are the basis of industrialization, while industrialization is the precondition of sustainable development, said Ralf Bredel, representative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

UNIDO launched its 2016 report on industrial development at the University of International Business and Economics on Tuesday, focusing on the role of technology and innovation in inclusive and sustainable industrial development.

Inclusive and sustainable industrial development consists of three elements, which are long-term sustained industrialization as a driver for economic development, socially inclusive industrial development and society, and environment sustainability, according to the report.

In his speech on the main research conclusions of the report, Nicola Cantore, industrial development officer of UNIDO, said that manufacturing was an engine for growth of the economy and the key to long-term structural changes.

In the long run, he said, a higher level of GDP requires structural change from low or medium tech manufacturing subsectors to high tech. Technological advancement promotes the development of the necessary conditions for inclusive and sustainable industrial development. These three sectors have a mutual effect on each other.

However, Alejandro Lavopa, analyst at UNIDO, emphasized that there might be differences in the technological development environment and the driving mechanism between less developed countries and developed ones, causing differentiations in the degree of inclusiveness and sustainability.

Cantore and Xue Jianjun, director of Institute of Global Low-carbon Economy at UIBE, used China's development as a case in point.

Compared to developed countries, China's industrial development is quite concentrated, making the problem of unbalanced development and carbon emission inequality more prominent. Thus, promoting and conducting the concept of inclusiveness still faces challenges in China, Cantore said.

China, however, has already had a plan drawn up for inclusive and sustainable industrial development. At the same time, UNIDO and China are also closely cooperating and have a common understanding in their efforts to achieve the goal.

"Truly, it requires all parties to cooperate, participate and work together," Bredel said.

Contact the writer at liuxuan@chinadaily.com.cn