The International Road Federation (IRF Geneva) was pleased to participate in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s (UNECE) 13th Session of the Committee on Innovation, Competitiveness and Public-Private Partnerships (CICPPP) from 25th to 27th March 2019 in Palais des Nations, Geneva.

Led by James Stewart, the Vice Chair and the Head of Brexit and Industrial Strategy at KPMG UK and Stefano Firpo, the Head of Industrial Policy at the Ministry of Economics of the Italian Republic, the 13th Session of the CICPPP focused on the innovation and competitiveness policies and the assessment and evaluation of sustainable development impact of innovation policies and PPP projects in an attempt to track the progress toward the SDGs.

Along with the UNECE who introduced the latest results from its work on innovation policy assessments and the People-First PPP Impact Assessment Tool, Christel Alvergne, the Regional Advisor at the United Nations Capital Development Fund and Miquel Rodriguez, the Manager at the Specialist Centre on PPPs in Smart and Sustainable Cities along with other experts suggested five constructive key points in the development of assessment tools for PPP impact:

• PPPs must be clearly recognized as the game changer in the funding of domestic development;
• The simplicity of the tools should be emphasized especially in regards to data collection and data access as the reliability may be lowered as the access to the tools and their data is exclusively reserved for experts, and the assessment should be accessible for the public to use and understand;
• Transparency is needed in data collection and processing in order to validate the tool
• PPPs go beyond the GDP and aim at making the world wealthier and healthier; and
• The simplification and minimization of the assessment tools should be carefully conducted.

In addition to the key points, Goran Marklund, the Deputy Director General at Vinnova, suggested five other points in regards to the assessment:

• Learning is important for the assessment of policies;
• A systematic perspective of innovation is essential;
• We should focus on sustainable development;
• We should never underestimate the significance of system transformation programs;
• We should acknowledge the importance of the innovation country review by the OECD.

Representatives from the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) introduced their latest research on the impact of PPPs on gender equality concluding that the current PPPs supported by donors and financial institutions deviate from the governments’ commitments under the SDGs to promote gender equality. The representatives pointed out the insufficient amount of representation of women in the PPPs and in the international arena in general and called upon for more representation. In addition to this research, speakers introduced the review of the Innovation for Sustainable Development of Belarus recognizing the latest efforts and results of the country in its innovative and transformative actions. By the end of 26 March 2019, the Session revised and adopted the Decision 2019 4b. 5/6/7/9 of the Implementation of the Program of Work.

The 13th Session of the CICPPP demonstrates the determination and persistence of the international arena in delivering the transformation of funding mode for a better future. In line with the United Nations, the IRF Geneva will continue to commit itself in sustaining the strategic collaboration with its partners from public and private sectors in constructing together the blueprint of the future of PPPs in pursuit of moving forward our progress toward the SDGs.