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The U.N.’s perseverance in fostering sustainable industrialisation has not rendered the expected results in the long run. Despite that the scope of SDG9 is reasonably well defined and communicated, there is much more to be done to make it a reality. Achievements on SDG9 have not been as positive as they might have. It should be noted that there is no trustworthy source of information that indicates with certainty the progress towards the 2030 agenda. The purpose of this chapter is to examine factors involved in the SDG9 reporting and other critical issues necessary to understand the progress and how we are progressing towards SDG9. From this point on, data for our debate come from several sources. Still, the primary outcomes come from the 2017 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2020, the 2020 Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) independent assessment, and other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) reports as well as scientific literature. Unfortunately, there appears to be a lack of reliable SDG9 information available, and what exists is hard to find. In general, information sources often offer qualitative information, and quantitative data are scarce. This situation is especially the case for the documents presented in the chapter, which provided a few statistics disaggregate data, making it challenging to analyse in-depth. The debate here presented does not seek to be a fully comprehensive assessment of their content. The analysis is not designed to interpret or replace the referenced documents, either. Instead, it is intended to illustrate the difficult task of measuring the progress towards SDG9.

In resolution A/RES/74/4, the U.N. Nations General Assembly adopted the Decade of Action to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs by 2030. The Decade of Action calls to improve actual efforts to accomplish the 2030 agenda for governments, civil society, the private sector, and other stakeholders. This call is the last opportunity we have to reach SDG9. Still, unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected all industrial sectors, which is unlikely to achieve inclusive and sustainable industrialisation by 2030. This chapter illustrates the adverse effects that the construction, manufacturing, and hospitality industries have suffered since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and how they gradually have returned to the new normal. It also shows the case of the industry that could be considered the ‘champion in the covid era’, the high-tech industry. Predominantly in covid times, high-tech firms have been a synonym for technological innovation, which is an absolute necessity to encourage competitiveness in all industrial sectors, mainly in essential activities. Finally, the chapter is closed with an invitation to reflect on the fundamental principle of SDG9, which is sustainable industrialisation, but above all, inclusivity. SDG9 cannot be considered achieved until its benefits are transferred to the countries in the global south.

The 2030 United Nations Agenda has framed Sustainable Development Goal 9 around eight targets outlined in Resolution A/RES/71/313 (U.N. General Assembly, 2017). The purpose of this chapter is that the lectors, without much previous knowledge on SDG9, understand the fundamental concepts involved in each of the eight targets. Multiple discussion points emerge when reflecting on the nature of these concepts and others emerge when reflecting on them in the industry settings. The first section of this chapter covers issues concerning resilient infrastructure. Resilient infrastructure is related to targets 9.1, 9.4, and 9.a. This concept needs to cope with extreme natural events potentially associated with global warming and climate change. The second section focusses on the importance of technological innovation in the context of targets 9.5 and 9.b. In a business domain, innovation allows to strengthen industrial competitiveness and increases corporate sustainability. The third concept covered in this chapter is the Information and Communication Technology that is a key to understand target 9.c. Last but not the least, two essential ideas are discussed: Inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and financial services, which are fundamental elements in target 9.2 and target 9.3. In a certain way, it is possible to conclude that both concepts integrate all previous conceptions.

Efforts to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals are increasingly part of tourism business planning, forming part of their business policies, linking with society and generating a sustainable hotel offer. The great impact it causes and, which in the short term it will achieve, digital tools in hotel activities can be evidenced. It will also help to collect the information that serves for the certifications of hotel companies. In spite of all the efforts, there is still a great knowledge gap that needs to be filled to achieve the expected business results and that it can be evidenced that the hospitality industry is now more than ever focussed on the care of its workers and on contributing to the sustainability of the world.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Recommendation on Open Educational Resources (OER) was a milestone when it was uniformly adopted by its member states on November 25, 2019. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to provide an overview of the OER Recommendation in relation to some of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The paper focuses on SDG 4 on education, but also on other SDGs that are directly linked to the relevant SDGs for the overall implementation of the UNESCO OER Recommendation. These SDGs are: SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure), SDG 10 (reduce inequalities within and between countries), SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), and SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals). All five areas of the OER recommendation are closely linked to the above SDGs. This paper also discusses how to advocate with stakeholders at all levels to implement and mainstream OER and the SDGs across all areas of the OER recommendation. In addition, this concept paper discusses accessibility for all (e.g. any type of impairment/disability, etc.) and addresses quality issues at OER and their implications.

This conceptual paper provides an overview of the UNESCO OER Recommendation and its relationship to some of the SDGs. The paper also addresses the role of stakeholders in implementing the OER Recommendation and the potential problems of its accessibility and quality. This paper has been designed as a literature review including mainly official reports from the organizations in the field, such as the UN UNESCO SDGs (UN, n.d; UNESCO, 2016) and the UNESCO OER Recommendation (UNESCO, 2019, 2021a). This conceptual paper is discursive in nature. It contains a discussion based on a literature review comparative studies, experiences, works, and reflections of the author, who has been working in this field since its beginnings in 2002. This contribution is also based on the experiences, works, and reflections of other authors on the OER movement.

The UNESCO OER Recommendation (UNESCO, 2019) clarifies that all five areas of the OER Recommendation for implementation are closely linked to the SDGs (UN, n.d; UNESCO, 2016), particularly SDG4, which targets to achieve education for all by 2030, and other SDGs, such as SDG5 (gender equality), SDG9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), SDG10 (reducing inequalities within and between countries), SDG16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions), and SDG17 (partnerships for the goals). Since OER does not consist of a single goal but is linked to universal values, such as the common good, human rights (United Nations, 1948), equality, ethics, and social justice, this concept paper discusses how they are interconnected and how both the SDGs and the five domains of the UNESCO OER Recommendation (UNESCO, 2019) can be achieved. To date, however, there have been few studies on how they are interconnected. This paper proposes a model that highlights their relationships as two sides of the same coin, as they are interconnected and influence, facilitate, and reinforce each other.

The study presented in this concept paper may have limitations as it is mainly based on a review of the official relevant literature by UNESCOan OECD. A large-scale study relying on more comprehensive methods, such as focus groups, grounded theory, or even other qualitative and quantitative methods, could have validated the findings. However, since this is a first attempt, and there are few, if any studies in this area, it was decided to conduct the study in the form of a literature review and with a personal approach based on more than 20 years of research, experience, and consultation in the area of open education, OER, human rights (United Nations, 1948), social justice, ethics, and the common good.

The practical impact of the findings of this conceptual paper is that by breaking down the broad SDG goals to a practical level, it shows how the SDGs can be part of daily life and seamless daily education and learning throughout the lifespan of the learners.

The higher values of the SDGs relate to human rights United Nations (1948), social justice, and equity. Several of the SDGs, including SDG 4 and others addressed in the UNESCO OER Recommendation, such as the following: SDG5 (gender equality), SDG9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), SDG10 (reduce inequalities within and between countries), SDG16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions), and SDG17 (partnerships for the goals) can be achieved through open education (Inamorato Dos Santos et al., 2016), Achieving these SDGs and implementing the OER Recommendation will benefit both individuals and the planet. Education for all will also help solv climate problems.

The OER Recommendation (UNESCO, 2019) clarifies that all five areas of its implementation are closely linked to the SDGs, particularly SDG4, which targets education for all by 2030 (OECD, 2009; UNESCO, 2016), as well as SDG5 (gender equality), SDG9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), SDG10 (reducing inequalities within and between countries), SDG16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions), and SDG17 (partnerships for the goals). Since OER is not a stand-alone goal but is related to overarching values, such as human rights (United Nations (1948), equity, and social justice, this conceptual paper explores how these are interconnected and how both the SDGs and the five goals can be achieved. The proposed model is new and clearly needed in research on this topic.

Recent scholarship has explored higher education institutions’ (HEIs) role in transitioning to a sustainable society, but empirically, questions remain regarding their impact on the sustainability of surrounding areas. This study aims to examine the correlation between HEIs’ sustainability actions and local sustainability performance.

This study uses a linear regression model and principal component analysis to examine the sustainability performance of 105 US metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) using the US cities sustainable development goal (SDG) index, which hosts 427 HEIs known for sustainability efforts. The weighted HEI sustainability performance score is calculated based on the QS sustainability universities ranking.

The correlation between MSA and HEI sustainability performance exhibits a mix of positive and negative associations, with individual and interlinked SDGs serving as proxies. These correlations encompass a wide range of goals, from economic aspects of SDG 1, 2, 3, 7, 9, social aspects of SDG10 and 16, to socio-environmental aspects of SDG12.

Further exploration is needed to identify the causal mechanisms behind associations between SDG measures and HEI sustainability performance, whether influenced by the institution, the individual or both.

This study suggests that HEIs are already associated with some aspects of community sustainability, but greater contributions to a broader array of sustainability measures are possible.

The correlation found between HEI sustainability actions and SDG10, 12 and 16 index performance in an MSA highlights a connection between HEIs and the attainment of societal goals.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the correlation between HEI and MSA sustainability performance in the US through individual and interlinked SDG proxies. It provides novel empirical evidence that demonstrates an association between HEI and some aspects of community sustainability performance.

Despite the longstanding male dominance in the socio-politico-economic spheres, recent decades have witnessed remarkable improvements in gender inclusion. Although the issue of gender inclusion has been widely documented, answers to the question of whether institutional arrangements and information technology shape gender inclusion remain contentious. This study, therefore, empirically examines the effects of institutional quality and ICT penetration on gender inclusion on a global scale.

To control for the endogeneity of modeled variables and cross-sectional dependence inherent with large panel datasets, the study employs the Driscoll-Kraay Fixed Effects (DKFE) and the system Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) estimators for a panel of 142 countries from 1996 to 2020.

The empirical findings from the DKFE and system GMM estimators reveal that strong institutions significantly enhance gender inclusion. Moreover, by disaggregating institutional quality into various governance indicators, we show that besides corruption control, which has a positive but insignificant effect on women’s empowerment, other governance indicators significantly enhance gender inclusion. Furthermore, there is evidence that various ICT measures promote gender inclusion.

The study results suggest that policymakers in developing countries should implement stringent measures to curb corruption. Moreover, policymakers in low-income countries should create avenues to facilitate women’s access to ICTs. Hence, policymakers in low-income countries should create and equip ICT training centers and render them accessible to all categories of women. Furthermore, developed countries with high-tech knowledge could help developing countries by organizing free training workshops and sensitization campaigns concerning the use of ICTs vis-à-vis women empowerment in various fields of life.

The present study fills a significant research gap by comprehensively exploring the nexuses between governance, ICT penetration, and the socio-politico-economic dimensions of gender inclusion from a global perspective. Besides the paucity of studies in this regard, the few existing studies have either been focused on region and country-specific case studies in developed or developing economies. Moreover, this study is timely, given the importance placed on gender inclusion (SDG5), quality of institutions (SDG16), and ICT penetration (SDG9) in the 2015–2030 global development agenda.