Page 40 - UN Executive Briefing on Unlocking the potential of virtual worlds and the metaverse for the Sustainable Development Goals

UN Executive Briefing on Unlocking the potential of virtual worlds and
the metaverse for the Sustainable Development Goals

Agency name:

The UN Futures Lab Network, World Bank ITS Technology & Innovation Lab, International
Training Centre of the ILO (ITC ILO), and UN Development Coordination Office (UNDCO)

Description of activities:

The UN Futures Lab Network, a proposal arising from the report of the UN Secretary-General,
Our Common Agenda, was created in 2023 to empower the UN System and beyond to use
futures thinking and strategic foresight in planning, policy- and decision-making. The UN
Futures Lab Network is driven by a Global Hub that supports teams, provides frameworks,
and builds capacity to help shape the more resilient and anticipatory United Nations the world
needs.

World Bank ITS Technology & Innovation Lab serves as an internal technology advisor,
and a knowledge and exploration hub around operationalizing emerging technologies for
development impact, enabling the World Bank Group to be future ready and competitive in
the digital age.

International Training Centre of the ILO (ITCILO) is part of the International Labour Organization
(ILO) and is dedicated to achieving decent work while exploring the frontiers of the future of
work.

UN Development Coordination Office (UNDCO) manages and oversees the Resident
Coordinator system and serves as secretariat of the UN Sustainable Development Group.
Its objective is to support the capacity, effectiveness and efficiency of Resident Coordinators
and the UN development system as a whole in support of national efforts for sustainable
development.

Project 1: Imagining Tomorrow: Global Perspectives on the Future of Virtual Worlds and their
Alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UN Virtual Worlds Day 2024
The project aimed to gather diverse perspectives on the future of virtual worlds and their
alignment with the SDGs. It used the metaverse to explore how virtual worlds can help to
envision and plan for the future, emphasizing the intersection of emerging digital technologies,
diplomacy, and global challenges based on participants’ experiences. The project explored
potential ways for future approaches to leveraging virtual worlds and aimed to push the
boundaries of imagination and innovation, fostering a world better prepared to tackle the
challenges that lie ahead.

The project took part in two phases. Phase 1 included two experience-based discussions in the
metaverse that used a strategic foresight approach (a Futures Wheel) and served as the starting
point for discussions on how to optimize the potential of virtual worlds for enhanced impact,
mitigate unintended consequences, and surface emerging levers that lay the groundwork for
their operationalization.

Insights from these discussions were fed into Phase 2, an in-person foresight workshop
focused on storytelling in Geneva as part of UN Virtual Worlds Day 2024. Participants worked
together to create a short speculative story that incorporated these ideas, envisioning a future
where virtual worlds contribute to achieving the SDGs. Analysis was based on thematic SDG
tagging (SDG grouping combined the existing UN Regional Monthly Review risk framework
with the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental – PESTLE - lens),

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