This is how we can sustain the global surge in innovation | World Economic Forum

In Uganda, for example, we teamed up with the online shopping business Jumia Food to launch a new e-commerce platform to keep SMEs in the informal trade sector afloat as the country went into lockdown. Or in Bangladesh, UNDP supported the rapid roll-out of an online marketplace to allow over 1,000 SMEs to sell their products online free of charge.

UNDP’s 2020 Human Development Report highlights that in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are at an “unprecedented crossroads in history”, in which human activity has become a dominant force shaping the planet, threatening significant development reversals. The report argues that nothing short of a great transformation – in how we work, live and cooperate – is needed to change the path we are on. That means sustaining the incredible spurt of bright ideas and boundary-breaking in the wake of COVID-19. A new level of support to home-grown innovation in key areas like the green economy and the digital revolution will be critical to create the jobs and opportunities that are needed more than ever.