At the occasion of the Intersessional panel of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) held in Geneva, Switzerland, between 17 and 19 November 2021, Yvette Ramos, member of the WFEO Committee on Women in Engineering and president of Swiss Engineering Geneva Chapter, delivered a statement on the priority theme “Industry 4.0 for inclusive development”.
She pointed out a few challenges in accessing technology including the political fragility factors, the looming barriers posed by climate change and gender discrimination, these being accentuated by the pandemic, and expressed solutions engineers and scientists implement across the world, either through WFEO national members and/or its partners, ambassadors and other NGOs affiliated.
The urgent needs of accelerating digital transformation across different sectors as an immediate response to COVID-19 give our group the opportunity to highlight our activities and offer partnerships in terms of advocacy and actions in the areas of Industry 4.0, smart agriculture, urban development, mobility and so many other STEM areas.
The importance of technology and equal access to all shows that yet a lot has to be done to promote coordination amongst governmental stakeholders at national and international levels on one hand and the Civil society on the other hand. And engineers and scientists, women and men together, have no choice than to act and co-design solutions for a better and smarter society, formalize SDGs aligned practices and strategies.
At the WFEO, we believe it is time to give more opportunities to the Youth and more generally, to all women and men in the private and public sectors by breaking the glass ceiling which no longer has its place in the 21st century.
DEC
2021