Partnerships for Sustainable Development

Sarah Klimt

At tech2impact, we believe SDG 17 to be one of our primary goals. In this regard, we acknowledge that we need others to collectively reach our mission: making impact tech the new norm. Therefore, to be true to our mission, we continue to engage with a diverse set of stakeholders, which range from accelerators, incubators, investors, and many more in a unified way to scale impact tech startups and support the development of their technologies.

Since we are focusing on partnerships in today’s insight article, we would like to take this opportunity to introduce our readers to our partners. Altogether, tech2impact has 55 partners from 26 countries and they come in all shapes and sizes (figure 1). These include accelerators, incubators, and experts from various sectors who have joined our mission in making impact tech the new norm.

Figure 1: tech2impact’s global ecosystem partners

We encourage our partners to prioritize impact tech – by including tech2impact members in their batches or actively transforming the selection process to prioritize impact tech ventures for investment selection. To give our readers an overview of our global reach, we would like to showcase our inspiring partners based on their geographical regions:

Africa: Flat6Labs (TN), RiseUp (EG), VC4A and ZINC (JO)

Asia Pacific: Brinc.io (HK), Impact Hub Kuala Lumpur (MY), The Institute of Technological Ethics (AUS), and Zone Startups (IN)

Europe: Female Founders (AUT), Glacier (AUT), Tech advocates (UK), WeDo5 (AUT), 1991 Open Data (UA), Center42 (UA), Future Hub (LV), Katalista Ventures (LT), MOVE.BG (BG), StartupWise Guys (LV), TechUkraine (UA), and the female factor (AUT), 4YFN (ES), Dealroom (NL), Impulse4Women (ES), Satgana (LU), Seedstars (CH), SEIF (CH), Spanish startups (ES), Tech Nation (UK), TechBloom (ES), aaia – Austrian Angel Investors Association (AUT), AI4DA (AUT), Climate Choice (DE), Darwin Circle (AUT), Data Natives (DE), Enpact (DE), FemGems Club (DE), Greentech Alliance (DE), Impact Festival (DE), Plug & Play Austria (AUT), Primecrowd (AUT), Social Impact Award (AUT), tech2b (AUT), The Ventury (AUT), Wearedevelopers (AUT), EnergySpin Accelerator (FI), Katapult Accelerator (NO), Kiuas (FI), Norrsken Accelerator (SE), Plus impact (DL), Red Brick Accelerator (FI), Startup Guide (DL), Sweden FoodTech (SE), and Urbantech (DL).

Middle East: GITA (IL) and Tech For Good (IL)

South America: Impact Hub Medellin (CO), Startup Chile (CL), and Startup Mexico (MX)

To make impact tech the new norm, it is necessary that we also understand the notion of responsible technology and raise awareness on this subject. For this, tech2impact has partnered with the Institute of Technological Ethics. Together with the Institute, we have developed the Responsible Technology Assessment. The test allows you to identify and position your company and technology across different areas such as business and technological ethics, health, social, and democratic risks within the more extensive network of social-cultural understanding.

Moreover, tech2impact strives to support impact tech startups in their pursuit to find the right talent to grow and become successful. To make this process more meaningful and impactful, tech2impact has partnered with For Purpose Jobs:

“a job board dedicated to the common good. Packed full of environmental and social impact jobs” – For Purpose Jobs

And, in a nutshell, we would like to showcase tech2impact’s service partners to our readers. To support our founders’ growth, we partner up with service providers who provide better deals on essential tools. These include tools that enable better engagement/networking opportunities, efficient online payment options, HR tools, and many more resources that help startups in their day-to-day activities. Our service partners are Gatheround, Slidebean, stripe, deel, ProfitTrolls, DocSend, sifted, and fiverr.

Want to become a partner?

At tech2impact, we will continue to build effective partnerships and look forward to collaborating with different bodies to achieve a wider impact. If you are interested in learning more about tech2impact’s partners, find out more details here.

And now, let us take a deeper look at SDG 17…

Why are partnerships essential to achieving the SDGs?

The 15th of September 2015 is an important day as it marks the introduction to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The essence of the goals is to support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In today’s insight article, we have chosen to focus on SDG 17, namely partnerships for goals, since they are instrumental for implementing the 2030 Agenda. So, without further ado, let us explore the topic of partnerships.

However, before we get started with the facts related to Goal 17, let us look at why mechanisms such as partnerships are required and the different forms they assume. The Network for Business Sustainability (NBS) research findings reveal that partnerships are opportunities to bring critical resources, technology, and commitment to ensure a sustainable future for society and the environment. Most notably, partnerships are fruitful because they promote innovation, which gives individuals access to new skills and resources.

Partnerships assume different forms as they may be between public, private bodies or civil society. Ultimately, any alliance such as a partnership aims to tackle complex problems collectively, but unfortunately, not all are successful. Operating a partnership is often perceived as a relatively new construct. Therefore, it is crucial that any bodies entering a partnership address each partner’s goals while also sharing a common vision. NBS suggests that partners should have their minimum and more significant goals met for collaboration to work and gain a positive outcome (Figure 2). In terms of Goal 17, the aim and vision have been clearly highlighted:

“A successful sustainable development agenda requires partnerships between governments, the private sector and civil society. These inclusive partnerships built upon principles and values, a shared vision, and shared goals that place people and the planet at the centre, are needed at the global, regional, national and local level.” – UN

Figure 2: Attributes of a successful partnership (Source: NBS)

Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for Sustainable Development. What is the approach?

Global partnerships are formed between governments, the private sector, civil society and other bodies to promote the uptake of the SDGs. The latter are international in their outlook and therefore require strong partnerships and cooperation that operate across different global, national and local scales. In addition, developed countries have pledged to support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda by partnering with developing countries and providing resources that are both financial and non-financial in their outlook.

Let us take a closer look at how global partnerships enable financial resources…

In 2015, in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, countries recognised the critical role of international public finance in supporting countries’ domestic efforts to mobilise public resources, particularly in the least developed countries (LDC). To support such an endeavour, there are different financial mechanisms such as:

For instance, ODA are financial flows that go towards countries found on the DAC list (a list of countries formulated by the Development Assistance Committee aka DAC who are eligible for ODA). Those responsible for providing ODA are the so-called donor countries that aim to support the economic welfare of developing countries. These endeavours are carried out to encourage sustainable growth and trade opportunities.

On this note, the European Union participates across a spectrum of financing flows (figure 3), most prominently financing developing countries via ODA flows. The focus on ODA made the EU the biggest ODA donor globally in 2020, amounting to 66.6 billion euros. In contrast, investments in private flows have fluctuated over the years. In terms of global ODA finance, the net ODA reached a record number of $161 billion in 2020,

Figure 3: Summary of EU’s financing flows to developing countries (Source: Eurostat, 2020)

Essentially, the different targets of Goal 17 are to ensure that countries on the DAC list receive access to finance, engage in best practices and have opportunities to scale up technological solutions. Furthermore, capacity building is also a critical element to promote sustainable initiatives and trading opportunities for developing countries that are fair and equitable. For instance, in terms of trade, 79% of imports from least developed countries entered developed countries duty-free in 2019.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on financial flows…

ODA flow increased in 2020, while foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by 40% for the first time since 2005. Moreover, FDI decline is likely to continue in 2021, considering several factors such as the slow vaccination roll-out, the uncertainty regarding the investment policy environment, and the plunge of the global economy by 3% in 2020. Indeed, the lockdowns have hampered the progress of current and potential investment projects. Additionally, international private sector investments directed towards developing economies in sectors relevant to the SDGs fell by one-third in 2020 except for investments in green energy. Such outcomes show the dire need for strong international cooperation to provide essential support for countries to recover from the pandemic, make them resilient and help them achieve the SDGs.

NGO grants and making the process of fundraising more transparent, data-driven, and finding the right talents…

A critical part of partnerships is also based on the foundation of grants or donations. NGOs rely on donations to run and build effective partnerships. Donations are also considered an essential financial flow to developing economies. However, often gathering donations is a pricy endeavour. NGOs use their collected donations (around 25-50%) in postal mail to campaigners or investing in online tools to do the job.

Moreover, research reveals that many aid projects fail, with the figure amounting to almost half due to the lack of understanding the local context. Last but not least is ensuring that NGOs and volunteers find a match. Often, the opportunity to find the right talent is a lengthy process.

So, keeping all of these issues in mind, tech2impact’s would like to introduce you to several impact tech startups, addressing the following pain points, thus supporting Goal 17.

Making the fundraising process more effective for NGOs and more accessible and transparent for donors:

Impactory (Austria) is an online donation platform, hosting over 150 non-profit organisations. Private donors have the opportunity to donate with just one click, start calls for donations with their network, and also buy donation vouchers.

Felloz (Austria) focuses on enabling donations via the smartphone. They specialise in creating and designing an app that fits your donation purpose, making the entire process of fundraising seamless and transparent.

moonshot-vision (DE) is an online donation platform built for the generation #BLM and #Fridays For Future, connecting donors with the world’s best NGOs based on scientific findings (Nobel Prize 2019) and those that are supported by well-known organisations such as the UN.

Enabling better decision-making through better data

Sustainify (Denmark) provides sustainability data of companies, and provides a score on their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) performance. In this way, stakeholders such as investors, companies, and others have an opportunity to make informed economic decisions. For instance, Sustainify’s SDG Progress Tool provides investors with valuable insights on how companies are performing across the different SDGs.

Promoting better project outcomes:

Rural Senses (United Kingdom) an online data platform helps nonprofits, governments and social enterprises build and evaluate projects and products on what people really care about. Rural Senses uses community-driven data collection methods and advanced artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to collect better data, allowing stakeholders to make better-informed decisions. In this way, international partners can digitally transform and become more human-centric and data-driven, ensuring better outcomes for international development projects.

Connecting different stakeholders to make a positive impact:

Sawaid19 (Palestine) connects volunteers from all over the world while matching them with the right nonprofit organisations. In other words, Sawaid19 provides volunteers an ecosystem, fostering a structured volunteering community and an opportunity for smart matching.

Give.Asia (Singapore) is a crowdfunding platform for healthcare needs and social causes, aiming to democratise giving.

Smart Held (Austria) is a platform connecting individuals, employees and companies with non-profits for meaningful volunteering.

Essentially, SDG 17 supports a vision for coordinated investment in different areas to promote the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At tech2impact, we work with our partners to achieve a multiplier effect and encourage impact startups that focus across various SDGs.

If you are interested in discovering more impact-tech startups, make sure to check tech2impact’s Impact Tech Radar. And, if you are an impact startup and wish to be part of our global impact ecosystem, join here.