Some ideas on how Science Technology and Innovation can accelerate the SDGs, on the event of the launch by UNDP at the Social Good Forum

1. Propelling Science, Technology
and Innovation (STI) for Sustainable
and Inclusive Development
28th Sep 2015
Social Good Summit
#SDG #2030NOW
Chamindra de Silva
Snr. Director, Virtusa Corporation
Director and Secretary, Sahana Foundation
Twitter: @ChamindraS

2. A lot of goals! And a lot of work to be done.

3. Simplifying to one of the key root causes
´The world is running
out of resources to
support us all and
these are some of
the direct and in-
direct consequences
of that
´We need 1.5 Earths
today to support
global consumption
Ref: Global Footprint Network
A root cause
for Poverty,
Hunger,
Health,
Clean Water,
Depletion of
Water/Land
Life ,
Inequality
and Conflict

4. To simplify the equation
´Either we reduce the Consumption and/or apply
STI or the ecosystem we know as Mother Earth
will balance that equation for us by reducing P
Impact
To Lower the impact
1. Lower the Consumers
2. Lower the consumption
3. Apply STI

5. To change things on the ground to me
there are only three major actors
Individuals
´ Well known stuff
´ Reduce Energy Consumption
´ Reduce/Recycle Waste
´ Invest in Green Consumer Goods
(Cars)
´ Invest in Sustainable Homes (Solar)
´ Invest in Recyclable Goods
´ Advocate the cause with you
friends, family and with your
company
´ Act: Buy from companies that
have good track records on
Sustainable production
´ Innovate: Sustainable Innovation
Corporates
´ Well known stuff
´ Invest in Green Energy
´ Reduce/Recycle Waste
´ Zero Emission Operations
´ Apply New science and
Technology, Innovate your
approach to production to
reduce the impact
´ Optimize Business Process
UN Orgs, EU, Governments
´ Create an competitive
advantagefor sustainable
companies and nations
Off these
three we
individuals
have the
larges role to
play

6. How can STI Help engage individuals
to lower Consumption
Advocate the Cause
Gaps:
´ There are so many
things I could do, what
exactly should I do?
´ How do we get
peoples attention to
this?
Act: Buy from Sustainable Companies
Gaps:
´ How do I know what companies
are destroying our world and which
are helping?
´ How can that be integrated into
my purchase decision so it is in my
face?
Technologyand Innovation is needed to address these gaps

7. An opportune platform for social change
Smart Phone
(iPhone and
Android) are
used mostly in
affluent
communities

8. More mobile devices than people in the world
Especially the case with Affluent Societies which we especially need to engage in the SDGs

9. One Idea: We need a effective Mobile
App to engage people on the SDGs
´I need a tool to give me a realistic simple things I
can do in my neighborhood, nation
´It should be addictive and fun for me to use daily
´It should recognize me for everything little thing I
can do make a impact
´It should help me engage socially with my
neighborhood, friends and family
´It should encourage me to buy from companies
contributing to make my world more sustainable
We need
something
beyond
Facebook or
Twitter to
give us
Structure
To Act

10. Kinda like this.. To help connect the dots
We need a
SDG social
and gamified
app with 3rd
Party
Integration
APIs

11. Possibly as fun and addictive as this..
A version for
kids could be
an
Augmented
Reality Plant
vs Zombies

12. We can make the world better by what
we choose to buy
´ Problem: Consumers do not
have this information at
hand today to make ethical
purchase decisions
´ Technology need to
connectthe last mile
´ Technically not hard
´ Global Compact or similar
creating a reporting service
´ Web Service standard for
SDG compliance reporting
What if Amazon, IKEA and Target
integrated with this service online?

13. Corporates and Entrepreneurship:
Innovation of today is about balance…
´ The primary driver for Business Innovation is still
Profitability and Shareholder value
´ However what is point if at the end you have
created a world where that value buys you
less
´ Sustainable solutions also often mean
reduced cost
´ So innovation is needed to create solutions
and product lines with sustainable growth
models
´ Utilization of renewable resources / Green
Energy
´ A significant reduction in carbon emissions
´ Green friendly technology (e.g. e-waste)
´ Optimized processes, analytics and just in
time utilization of resources
´ Recycling of waste
´ Payback to the earth when you can’t
Innovation = Sustainable Innovation
Or it is just a short sighted gain

14. What does Sustainability mean to Virtusa
13countries.
24
locations.
10,188
seats. 850,899
square
feet.
“To reduce our environmental footprint,
demonstrate ethical maturity and respect all.”
Lower
Emissions
Less
Energy
Less
Water
Less
Waste
45%
reduction
in
GHG
emissions
per
full
time
employee
47%
reduction
in
energy
consumption
per
full
time
employee
22%
reduction
in
water
consumption
per
employee*
21,830
kg
of
e-­‐waste
donated
for
recycling
Virtusa
Environmental
Footprint
(FY11-­‐FY15)
* Water datais from FY12-FY15
Recycling
12,240
kg
of
paper
helped
to
save
210
fully
grown
trees
21,428
liters
of
oil
48,873
kWh
of
electricity
388,005 liters
of
water
37
cubic
meters
of
landfill
* Paper recycled at Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore andColombo ATCs from 1-Jan-2011to 31-Mar-2015
21,830
kg
of
e-­‐waste
recycled,
equal
to
the
weight
of
4
African
Elephants
Carbon
Disclosure
Project
Virtusa has been disclosing its GHG emissions to the CDP since 2011. In 2014
our score was 84 out of 100, an increase of 14% from last year’s score.
CDP scores are an assessment of the
quality and completeness of a
company’s response.
48 49 5359
74
84
0
50
100
2012 2013 2014
Supply Chain Virtusa
31*
*31 points
higher than the
supply chain
average

15. What Sustainability Means to Virtusa (cont)
´ Reduces the quantum of work
needed to deliver the same
result to clients
´ Help reduce the number cycles
need to get the desired quality
´ On-Demand Test and
Production Environments
Optimize our service lines
Innovated in the areas of
- Platforming and Productization
- Test optimization and automation
- Code quality and reuse
- Shifted to Cloud for our operations
Making
talent
future
ready
• 850
Internships
• Campus
Education Programs
Creating
a
digitally-­‐inclusive
socity
• 70
School
IT
Labs
• 15,000+
Student
&
teachers
trained
• 17,000
+Training
hours
Technology
for
good
• Open
Source
Disaster
Management
• Open
Source
Education
• (Drug) Rehabilitation
• Energy
Efficient
Application
Design
• Solutions
for
reconciliation
post
conflict
Social responsibility focus

16. Applying our Professional skills
for a better tomorrow
Sahana Disaster Management
System
´ Actively contributed to the
world's first Disaster
Management System used
in over 20 countries for
disaster preparedness and
management.
´ It was started by the Sri Lankan IT industry to help the country
recover in the immediate aftermath of the 2004 Indian ocean
earthquake and tsunami.
Reconciliation through sports
´ The first multi-purpose multimedia
digital scoreboard in Sri Lanka was
developed by Virtusa for the 24th
Division of the Sri Lankan Army,
providing an innovative scoring
solution to nurture sports facilities
for civilians in Mannar as a part of
the reconciliation and
development in the North and East
of Sri Lanka.
Arambaya / RMS
´ The Rehabilitation
Management System (RMS)
enables effective
rehabilitation of individuals
using dynamic profiling,
biometric recognition and the
use of 'sound-like' algorithms
to oversee the safekeeping of
ex-combatants.
Green UI
´ Saving energy through
responsible consumption
´ GreenUI is a UI energy
efficiency rating application
that can monitor the energy
consumption of different
formations on a UI using RGB
Energy Efficiency as the unit
of measurement.

17. Akura School Management
System
´ Akura is an open source
school management system
that helps schools manage
administrative tasks more
efficiently.
´ It was donated to the
Ministry of Education and
then deployed to schools
around in Sri Lanka.
Digital Reach
´ Digital Reach has helped
to enable IT in many rural
schools in Sri Lanka and
India.
´ Promotes digital literacy
through access to useful
information technology.
Supporting IT Education in the community
One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)
´ Aided the OLPC project by
performing QA on the
system and generating over
800 test cases, which have
enabled children in
impoverished areas to
access education through
technology.

18. What new STI advances
can we utilize to
accelerate SDGs
A few examples for
enterprises and home…

19. Energy efficient systems via IoT
´ The industrial sector spends over 60%
of its electricity usage to run electric
motors.
´ In the buildings sector, 90% of all
building controls today are energy
inefficient.
´ With the right tools, reduce energy
consumption in these sectors by up
to 25%. How? The Internet of Things
(IoT)
´ 4.9 billion ‘things’ connected to
the internet - mobile phones and
computers to industrial machines
and building automation
devices
´ Analysts expect this number to
reach 25 billion by 2020.
IoT enables the
Automation of
Energy Saving
Modernize power
distribution infrastructure
with smart grid
technologies that
minimize power loss and
optimize power
reliability.

20. Smart Devices/ IoT
Lagoon
´ Track your water usage using
sensors that alert you when
there is a leak
´ Save money on water bills
´ Reduce water wastage
Dash
´ An app that connects
your car to your
smartphone, turning any
car into a ‘smart car’
Rachio
´ WiFi sprinkler controllers
´ Save 20%-30% on water
usage
Smart Blub
´ A responsive light bulb
loaded with light and
motion sensors.

21. Big Data Analytics to identify Waste
Example: PowWow Energy
´ Collects data from
assembled smart meters.
WiFi sprinkler controllers
´ Detects water leaks
from irrigation systems
used in agriculture
´ Sends SMS alerts to the
farmer when leaks
appear.
Data Analytics can play a big role in optimizing resource utilization.

22. Cloud Computing is also a Green Solution
´ Resource virtualization, enabling energy and
resource efficiencies.
´ Automation software, maximizing consolidation
and utilization to drive efficiencies.
´ Pay-per-use and self-service, encouraging more
efficient behavior and life-cycle management.
´ Multitenancy, delivering efficiencies of scale to
benefit many organizations or business units.

23. Green Building Architecture
´ Cut down urban resource use dramatically,
making urban expansion sustainable.
´ Alter building construction processes to reduce
energy consumption by making use of existing
natural light and ensuring adequate insulation.
´ Source construction materials from urban waste
and landfills.
´ Ultimately, Green Architecture will allow for all
buildings to be “passive” - not requiring significant
additional emissions for their production and use.
Reduce energy consumption for
artificial lighting and climate control

24. Waste-Sourced BioFuel / Pyrolysis
´ Technology is now able to turn biomass waste such
as paper, grass or wood chips into gas and
eventually ethanol.
´ The processes for conversion use much less water and
has a smaller carbon footprint than traditional ethanol
production.
´ Plants are significant stores of carbon, and
deforestation is a huge contributor to greenhouse gas
emissions and consequently climate change.
´ Forests can still be kept standing, but agricultural and
food crops cannot.
´ PYROLYSIS allows for offsetting some of the carbon
release associated with agriculture

25. EV Corporate Fleets
´ The introduction of Fully-Electrical Vehicles (EVs) has enabled organizations to
develop zero-emission transport fleets.
´ North American governments are partnering with corporations to quickly build up
their use of EVs.
´ The use of EVs has also been shown to be extremely cost-effective, which is
getting more corporations interested in converting all their major vehicle fleets to
electric.
´ Some of the major corporations looking at EV fleets are PepsiCo, Comcast and
AT & T.

26. STI is not a magic bullet
´ STI out of the context of SDGs can do more bad than good
´ If we just focus on productivity/growth without worry waste
and resource consumption, STI can accelerate negative
effects to SDGs
´ Evaluation of the benefits of STI needs to look at the big
picture of the supply chain.
´ Do not outsource your negative SDG impacts
´ Certain STIs advances make us worry about the Impact to the
SDGs
´ Arms Trade, Underground Web, Illegal organ transplants,
Extremist Advocacy
´ Some we are not sure of yet
´ Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Genetic-Engineering
There should be easy code of conduct on STI Use and Gov, UN, etc
should promote fair competition

27. Example: H-FOSS code of conduct
´ Our primary goal is to help victims through the direct and indirect use
of humanitarian free and open source software (H-FOSS)
´ We will keep tools simple, end user usability the focus and alleviation of
suffering for victims the goal
´ We support open standards and will seek to implement and test them in
advance in preparation for collaborative response
´ We will adhere to global and local cultural norms of respect
and etiquette in our interactions with other developers, users, and
responders.
´ We will try our best to not become a bottleneck or a single point of
failure in deployment and development by promoting training and good
documentation practices
´ We will honor our commitments when volunteering by ensuring that we
understand what is expected of us, and the time and effort involved.
´ We will support and promote local capacity building and diversity in our
communities
It is important
to have a
code or
shared value
system to
keep
competition
healthy to
the cause
Private sector
competition
is good for
the
consumer,
but not at
the cost of
the world we
live in!

28. Advice for young innovators
´ STI is not the ultimate goal
´ Evaluate your solution to see what negative
impacts it might have on the SDGs and strive to
build a social enterprise
´ Strive for carbon neutrality of your solutions
´ Strive to create a win-win-win for yourself, your
customers/humans and the environment
Or you will not have a world to enjoy your profits

29. It can still be geeky cool and make you rich!
TESLA Motors
´ Innovative Green Products
´ A social conscious advocating
Green Energy
´ Enabling the Green Revolution with
innovation in battery technology
´ All whilst satisfying they affluent
customers with a wow set of
features
´ 0-60 in 5.2 Secs
´ “Ludicrous Mode” add-on does
it in 2.8 Secs pulling 1.1Gs
One of the most innovative companies today has
made sustainability a business advantage

30. Investments in Science, Technology and
Innovation (STI) yields multiple benefits to a Nation
´ STI Skills and Education creates higher incomes and
employment
´ reduces poverty and help people meet their basic
needs, including food security, health and education
´ Improves economic mobility of the poor
´ STI Application in Industry and Home
´ Can help energy efficiency, reduce waste, mitigate
climate change and promote sustainable
development pathways
´ A STI Empowered Society
´ Promotes transparency, good governance and
accountability
We need more STI
investments

31. Thank you for listening..
Email: ckdesilva@virtusa.com or
chamindra@sahanafoundation.org
Twitter: ChamindraS #SDG #2030NOW
LinkedIn: https://lk.linkedin.com/in/chamindra