On September 8, 2026, the special session "Leveraging Big Data and Artificial Intelligence to Strengthen National Science Technology and Innovation (STI) Roadmaps for the SDGs" was held from 13:15 to 15:00 at the Beijing International Convention Center during the 6th International Forum on Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (FBAS 2026). The session was co-organized by the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS), the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), the CAST-UN Consultative Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction (CCDRR) and partner institutions, and took place in a hybrid format combining online and in-person participation. Comprising opening remarks, a framing presentation and two round-table discussions, the session explored how big data and artificial intelligence can strengthen national STI planning and accelerate progress toward the SDGs. It assembled over 150 participants from United Nations agencies, governmental departments, research institutes and universities, including representatives from UN DESA, WFEO, IRDR, UN-GGKIC and the Asian Development Bank, as well as delegates from around the world.

Opening the session as moderator, Dr. LIU Wei of the UN Inter-Agency Task Team on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs (IATT), UN DESA, briefly framed the UN’s approach to STI roadmaps and introduced the session objectives.

Dr. LIU Wei chairs the opening ceremony.

Prof. GUO Huadong, Director General of CBAS, delivered the host’s welcome address. He introduced CBAS and FBAS context as well as the research system formed over the five years since CBAS was established, in which satellites, platforms, data, talent and international cooperation networks develop in synergy. He expressed CBAS's readiness to deepen cooperation with all parties to empower national STI roadmaps for the SDGs through Big Earth Data and AI technologies, and in particular to respond to the urgent development needs of small island developing States (SIDS).

Academician GUO Huadong delivers his address.

H. E. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, former President of the Republic of Mauritius, contributed a SIDS perspective on science, data and resilient blue-economy development. She noted that science and data are key underpinnings of the resilient development of the blue economy, and that the link between data and decision-making directly determines whether coastal communities can receive timely disaster early warnings and whether national institutions can respond on the basis of conditions on the ground.

H. E. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim delivers her address.

Mr. ZHU Juwang, Director of the Division for SDGs at UN DESA, delivered online remarks, sharing the United Nations' views and expectations on harnessing big data and AI to strengthen evidence-based policymaking and accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Mr. ZHU Juwang delivers his address.

In the framing-presentation segment, Dr. LUO Hui, Executive Secretary for International Affairs, China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), gave a presentation titled "AI Plus Open Source: From China's Practice to Global Action," in which she introduced China's practices in AI-empowered scientific research (AI for Science), the development of open science platforms and global AI governance.

Dr. LUO Hui delivers her presentation.

Prof. Rita Orji, Canada Research Chair in Persuasive Technology and Professor at Dalhousie University, Canada, delivered an online presentation. Her team's empirical analysis of around 700,000 AI-related papers over the past decade shows that 75% of papers linking AI and the SDGs concentrate on three goals – good health and well-being, sustainable cities and communities, and industry, innovation and infrastructure – while goals such as climate action, life below water, poverty reduction, and peace, justice and strong institutions are severely underrepresented. This reflects misaligned priorities in funding allocation and STI roadmaps, and underscores the urgent need to build a more inclusive global AI governance framework.

Rita Orji delivers an online presentation.

The first round-table discussion, themed “From Data to Decisions: Big Data, AI and Geospatial Intelligence across the National STI Roadmap Cycle,” was moderated by LIANG Dong, Associate Professor and Assistant Director of CBAS. Prof. GONG Ke, former President of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) and Executive Director of the Chinese Institute for the New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategies; Dr. Ammar Younas, Research Fellow and Director of the Center for Cultural Governance at the Beijing Institute of AI Safety and Governance (Beijing-AISI); and Prof. LIANG Zheng, Deputy Director of the China Institute for Science and Technology Policy at Tsinghua University and Vice Dean of the Institute for AI International Governance of Tsinghua University, gave presentations on AI strategy, responsible governance, and science and technology policy in national STI systems, respectively. Mr. HAN Qunli, Professor at CBAS and former Executive Director of Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR), and Dr. Johannes Cullmann, Science Advisor to the President of the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly, provided comments and joined the discussion. The discussion concluded that good decisions require good data and multiple forms of knowledge; digital indicators should not stop at producing reports, but should directly trigger policy action; the value of data and AI lies in completing the chain "from data to knowledge, from knowledge to decisions, and from decisions to action." At the same time, importance should be attached to the systematic collection of indigenous knowledge, community experience and other local knowledge, so that diverse forms of knowledge are brought into the data and decision-making system.

The first round-table discussion.

The second round-table discussion, themed "From Digital Intelligence to Resilient Economic Transformation, Investment and Decent Work," was moderated by Professor WANG Lei, Head of International Forum Office of CBAS and Secretary-General of FBAS 2026. Dr. ZHOU Taidong, Vice President of the Center for International Knowledge on Development (CIKD) and Associate Research Fellow at the Development Research Center of the State Council; Mr. Ayumi Konishi, Senior Advisor to the CEO of the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance and former Special Senior Advisor to the President of the Asian Development Bank; and Prof. XU Zhengzhong of the Department of Management Science and Engineering at Shanghai University, delivered remarks in turn. Prof. Erik Baark, Senior Visiting Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Germany; Prof. HE Guangxi, Director of the Institute for Science and Technology Governance and Innovation Culture at the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development; and Ms. Sarah Cook, Professor in Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, provided comments and joined the discussion. The discussion noted that AI is diffusing far faster than previous technologies: the steam engine took 80 years, electric power 40 years and the Internet 20 years to spread widely, whereas ChatGPT reached low- and middle-income countries in just six months. This offers developing countries opportunities for leapfrog development, but may also create a digital divide more severe than any before. Infrastructure bottlenecks such as data centers and stable power supply urgently need to be resolved, and multilateral institutions can effectively catalyze large-scale development finance through small feasibility-study grants. Digital transformation also involves deeper social processes of employment, distribution and redistribution; attention should be paid to the impact of algorithmic management on workers, especially women, and the attribution and distribution of data value along global supply chains should be examined.

The second round-table discussion.

The meeting produced four core points of consensus. Firstly, AI for sustainable development must shift from technology transfer to joint capacity-building, achieving durable cooperation through jointly developing technologies and data and adapting them to local contexts. Secondly, national STI roadmaps must uphold the principle of national ownership, strengthen cross-agency coordination across science and technology, education and finance, and define the respective roles of public finance, blended finance and the private sector at different development stages. Thirdly, the value of data and AI lies in their conversion into real decisions and actions; international cooperation should help countries build national information databases, strengthen national analytical capacity and mobilize global capabilities. Fourthly, global AI governance calls for the broad participation of developing countries; AI rule-making should be based on verifiable scientific evidence, with the scientific communities of regions at different development stages taking part together.

Closing the session, Prof. SUN Zhongchang of CBAS announced that the key messages would be shared on the UN DESA website and highlighted the Third Global Capacity-Building Training Course for SIDS, co-organized by CBAS and UN DESA in Sanya, Hainan, on December 7-11, 2026, under the theme of AI-driven Big Earth Data for implementing the ABAS and the SDGs.

By bringing together scientific, policy and international cooperation perspectives into one session, the special session provided a forum for examining how big data, AI and geospatial intelligence can support national STI roadmaps for the SDGs. Its thematic scope highlighted the importance of connecting technical capabilities with responsible governance and national development priorities.