Each year PUZZLE X will focus on 4 "Missions" and global goals from the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Diving deep into analyzing, debating, and showcasing how frontier materials development, industries, technologies, and products will impact and expedite our progress towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The 17 SDGs are integrated—they recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in others, and that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability. Countries have committed to prioritize progress for those who're furthest behind. The creativity, knowhow, technology and financial resources from all of society is necessary to achieve the SDGs in every context. *
Aligning corporations, scientific communities, governments and civil society is the key to achieving humanity’s global goals. At PUZZLE X, we believe that we hold a piece of this puzzle. Only through a harmonious problem-solving platform can we strive towards a more sustainable and prosperous future for all.
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Good health is essential to sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda reflects the complexity and interconnectedness of the path ahead. It takes into account widening economic and social inequalities, rapid urbanization, threats to the climate and the environment, and emerging challenges such as noncommunicable diseases.
Over the years, we have made great progress against several leading causes of death and diseases. We have made great progress against several leading causes of death and disease. Life expectancy has increased dramatically; infant and maternal mortality rates have declined, we’ve turned the tide on HIV and malaria deaths have halved. But the world is off-track to achieve the health-related SDGs.. *
In recent years, there has been rapid development in the use of AI systems for earlier and higher-performance diagnostics for disease detection, including for cancers, brain injuries and heart disease. In addition, AI-enabled wearable smart sensors can already detect people with early signs of diseases such as diabetes. Materials innovation technologies holds the key to many of these developments. There is huge promise in healthcare innovation and since 2010, 18,000+ healthcare startups have attracted $145 billion in investment. In addition, large tech companies such as Alphabet, IBM, Amazon, Apple and Alibaba have taken huge strides to invest in technology innovation for societal impact.**
Frontier Materials and Deep Tech innovation could expedite the use of AI, blockchain, sensors and biotechnology to advance human medicine, both to increase services and access to more people in society.
More than half of us live in cities. By 2050, two-thirds of all humanity—6.5 billion people—will be urban. Sustainable development cannot be achieved without significantly transforming the way we build and manage our urban spaces.
Rising populations and increasing migrations has led to a boom in mega-cities. Consequently, we need to invest in public transport, create more green public spaces, and improve urban planning in community inclusive ways .*
Despite cities occupying just 3 percent of the Earth’s land, they account for 60-80 percent of energy consumption and at least 70 percent of carbon emissions. A staggering statistic reported by the United Nations states that 7 million people a year die as a result of polluted air. Urgent action is needed to ensure cities and communities grow in an inclusive, safe and sustainable way.
Frontier Materials and enabling technological advances could facilitate solutions in cities for AI-based and sensor-based management for pollution, waste, water and energy networks.
Urban mobility management is critical to achieving sustainable development in cities, and this could be aided by autonomous electric vehicles for optimal route mapping to relieve congestion and emissions. In addition, 3D-printed buildings and infrastructure with advanced materials additives could increase urban greening infrastructure to aid the removal of pollution from congested cities. Specially designed self-cleaning surfaces enabled by Frontier Materials could improve sanitation for communities in rapidly developing cities where the United Nations estimates that 90 percent of all urban expansion will be in the developing world.
We have one planet. There is no country that is not experiencing the drastic effects of climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions are more than 50 percent higher than in 1990. Global warming is threatening irreversible consequences to our climate system and humanity must act if we want to achieve climate-related SDGs by 2030. *
Climate-related disasters are costing our economies hundreds of billions of dollars. This is in addition to the societal instabilities caused by geophysical disasters, which are 91 percent climate-change related. Between 1998 and 2017, 1.3 million people were killed and 4.4 billion injured and it is imperative that countries collectively address the need to invest in low-carbon development.
To limit the increase in global mean temperature to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, urgent and ambitious collective action is required to build an ecosystem network to further enable existing and novel technologies to aid climate action.**
There is a wealth of cutting-edge Frontier Materials research related to the use of advanced materials for sustainable energy storage, clean energy generation and transmission, bio-energy carbon capture, waste heat conversion as well as low/zero emissions aluminum, steel and cement. Coupled with Deep Tech innovations, data platforms can monitor carbon emissions and improve agricultural and supply chain management
Investment in infrastructure and innovation are crucial drivers of economic growth and development. With over half the world population now living in cities, mass transport, renewable energy, the growth of new industries and technological progress are key to finding lasting and sustainable solutions to both economic and environmental challenges.
Promoting sustainable industries, and investing in scientific research and innovation are crucial for facilitating sustainable development. More than 4 billion people still do not have access to the Internet, and 90 percent are from the developing world. Bridging this digital divide is key to ensuring equal access to information and knowledge, as well as fostering innovation and entrepreneurship.*
Frontier Materials and Deep Tech advancements can enable connectivity in remote regions via drones and satellites, robotics for automated manufacturing and construction processes, next-generation intelligent and sustainable packaging as well as smart and durable infrastructure that can be maintained and monitored remotely. **
* & ** Sources: UN DP, World Economic Forum
