Why the UN Technology Bank is operating with a start-up mentality

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries, which officially launched in June 2019, is the youngest U.N. institution. This means the Istanbul-based organization is still defining how it will help the world’s least-developed countries strengthen their technology capacity, according to Managing Director Joshua Phoho Setipa. “We started from scratch with two people. We are a new U.N. start-up,” Setipa said of the Technology Bank, which now operates with a staff of nine. The organization works with other U.N. agencies but is also looking to the private sector for engagement. “There is a lot of goodwill to support initiatives to support the digital divide, but we need to see an increasing portion of that dedicated to LDCs.” --— Joshua Phoho Setipa, managing director, UN Technology Bank “The idea has always been not to build a big institution, but to keep it small and work through other U.N. agencies,” Setipa continued. “Member states were very clear that they were not trying to create another bureaucracy. They wanted to create something that would be much more efficient and agile, and would be able to deliver. A big chunk of our resources goes to operational programs, not administrative costs.” The Technology Bank’s creation in 2018 marked the first fulfillment of a Sustainable Development Goals target: to operationalize a technology bank for science, technology, and innovation in LDCs by 2017. The bank does not dispense funding, but rather conducts assessments of technology usage and science, and liaises with the private sector to try to close the digital gap across and within countries. “I have not met a single government official who does not think technology is central to their development. They all recognize the importance of technology to whatever it is they want to achieve. They see a lack of technology as an impediment to providing first-class education, to providing even medical services,” Setipa said. While roughly half of the global population uses the internet, only 1 out of 5 people use it in LDCs, compared with 4 out of 5 people in developed countries, according to the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development. In September, UNCTAD released new findings that show more global action is needed to help close the digital divide, which can increase inequality and slow countries’ development. Appealing for the need to invest in technology capacity in LDCs, in particular, is still a challenge, according to Setipa, who spoke with Devex in New York between his meetings with the president of the U.N. General Assembly and the deputy secretary-general. “You still have people that are not able to benefit from whatever progress has been made in digital platforms. We can continue to make the case within the developing community that there are so many resources and support in the international community to address this issue, but LDCs seem to be falling through the cracks,” Setipa said. “There is a lot of goodwill to support initiatives to support the digital divide, but we need to see an increasing portion of that dedicated to LDCs,” Setipa continued. Funding was an issue when the Technology Bank first launched, as the organization was unable to secure any stable funding beyond five years, Devex reported at the time. Funding remains a challenge, though the bank has gained support from additional countries — including Bangladesh, India, and Norway — and is growing its annual budget from under $6 million in 2019 to $7 million in 2020, according to Setipa. The bank is also working with the Global Good Fund and Vodafone, two partners with which it plans to open multiple technology innovation labs. So far, the bank has conducted reviews of five countries, including East Timor, Guinea, and Uganda, and will undertake an additional 10 next year. The bank, with the help of universities and libraries, has also trained more than 2,600 researchers in 15 countries to use online search tools and online academic journals. Capacity and needs vary, from places such as Rwanda that are launching communication satellites and expanding access to the fifth generation of cellular-phone network technology, to other countries that still struggle with broadening internet access countrywide, according to Setipa. “The common thread is everyone recognizes how technology can spark innovative growth and how this connects to poverty alleviation,” Setipa said. “They all want to have a capacity to attract investors, to support local innovation. But they all also realize that, without ICT capacity, you can't talk about any level of technology development.” The bank will soon release its first reports that document the readiness of some LDCs to “deploy and fully exploit what technology offers,” according to Setipa, as well as the LDCs’ priorities. The harder part of their work will come next. “We identify the priorities and then build interventions and activities to mobilize this work,” Setipa said. “The diagnostic or assessments themselves are the easy part. The real work is in implementing the priorities that arise from that.”