Digitalization and innovation - an important way forward for SIDS on the road to 2030

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) need to achieve sustainable development in the face of significant long-term and rapid on-set changes that they increasingly face. The impact of COVID-19 has magnified these challenges in many SIDS countries around the world.

Digital technologies are transforming agri-food systems. While this is an important development everywhere, it is of great importance to remote areas such as SIDS. The expansion of mobile technologies, remote-sensing services and distributed computing are already improving smallholders’ access to information, inputs and markets, increasing production and productivity, streamlining supply chains and reducing operational costs. 

Robotics, together with artificial intelligence (AI), are examples of how digital innovation support farmers in the management of herds and crops. Digital innovation holds the potential to unlock employment opportunities, bridge the rural divide and empower youth and women to access information, technology and markets.

Sharing these rapidly evolving digital innovations will accelerate progress toward achieving the SDGs in SIDS. The SIDS Solutions platform will help to incubate, promote, scale up and replicate locally grown ideas to accelerate the achievement of agriculture, food, nutrition, environment and health.