Exploring Space Technologies for Sustainable Development

From astronomy and aerospace engineering to satellite Earth observation, space sciences and technologies have the potential to contribute both directly and indirectly to Sustainable Development. This publication highlights such opportunities, proposing science, technology and innovation (STI) policy options for harnessing space-enabled technologies – and the real-time information and time-series data they provide – to deliver and monitor progress on key Sustainable Development Goals. The role of regional and international research collaboration in support of these efforts is also discussed here, as the achievement of ambitious global goals within widely differing local contexts requires the combination of space capabilities with detailed local knowledge. Global collaboration offers great potential to contribute to this process, providing opportunities to create new knowledge and diffuse existing knowledge for increased impact.