Welcome Remarks at 'FT Investing in Innovative Design & Technology Summit'

I am delighted to be able to welcome you all today to Marlborough House – the Headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat – for this one day conference organised by the Financial Times on Innovative Design and Technology. I am grateful to the FT for providing me with the opportunity to make some preliminary remarks.

As you know this event and the presentation of the second Earth Awards later today are part of the `A Garden Party to Make a Difference’ taking place in the gardens here and along the Mall. It has been a privilege for the Secretariat to work closely with the Prince of Wales and his Staff in this endeavour. And as guitar and other music has wafted through the windows of Marlborough House over the last week, I am confident that nothing like this has been seen here before!

We strongly support the objectives of the START initiative which the Prince is championing. And I am pleased to say that both in, and through, our work the Secretariat is doing its bit to help.

Our enthusiasm for the aims of the initiative is explained by the Commonwealth’s long term commitment to the objective of sustainable development. This concern is exemplified – but not confined to - climate change. Climate change first featured in the discussion of Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1987. The majority of Commonwealth members are small or vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change: many are both small and climate vulnerable. It is through the Commonwealth that the interests of these countries are most effectively articulated and supported. Over the years our engagement and advocacy with these issues has intensified culminating most recently in the Port of Spain Declaration on Climate Change from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2009.

But the Commonwealth concern with sustainable development encompasses more than climate change. The Langkawi Declaration on the Environment from Heads of Government in 1989 strongly committed Commonwealth members and the Secretariat to the pursuit of environmental sustainability. And today, twenty years after the Rio Conference which was the focus of that first Commonwealth activity on sustainable development, we remain actively engaged in supporting member states as they strive to meet these goals.

This explains why we are so pleased to host today’s summit. As the Prince of Wales has observed, sustainability is too often associated – especially in the developed world – with constraint and denial. To move towards sustainable development for all, it is vital that a sustainable future is seen as – in the Prince’s words `...better and more rewarding – both for us and for Nature – than the lives we lead now’.

This sets the context for today’s Summit. It is science, technology, innovation and design which will need to be employed together to ensure that we reach a sustainable future. Appropriately, the Commonwealth theme for 2010 is Science, Technology and Society. This theme recognises the impact science and technology has had on the past and present and will undoubtedly have on the future prosperity of Commonwealth citizens. The contribution of technology to economic growth and living standards has been well understood since the middle of 20^th century when the Nobel Laureate Robert Solow concluded that nearly 90% of economic growth was attributable to technological progress.

And what was true of the developed world then is true of the developing world now. China has become a driver of global poverty reduction. Supporting its economic growth over the past generation has been an explosion in its scientific capacity and the contribution science and technology make to life in that country. This has been illustrated by the increase in the number of authored papers in international peer reviewed scientific journals rising from 828 in 1990 to 80,000 – an increase of ten thousand times.

This is only one illustration of the positive contribution of science and technology to development and sustainability. The World Bank, for example, estimates that without the higher yields, greater efficiency and increased nutritional content in world food supply of the past 50 years, an additional land area the size of Europe would be needed to produce the world’s current agricultural output. And as in nutrition, so in other areas of human development. Advances in public health, the development of medicines and vaccination programmes are helping people in the developing world live fulfilled lives. This recognition underpins the 2010 Commonwealth theme; for indeed, science and technology combine to enhance and enrich societies.

Of course when we think of technology, the first thought is often of Information and Communication Technologies. And ICTs are bringing real benefits to developing countries. For the first time in decades what economic theory suggests should happen is, in fact, happening: developing countries are narrowing the technology gap. In the past decade the contribution of technology to economic growth in developing economies has risen by 50%, relative to the last decade of the twentieth century. On a human scale within the Commonwealth, we are seeing the massive difference this can make to lives, whether it is through the ability to access agricultural markets by farmers in India, or the massive increase in mobile phone banking in Kenya, where a third of the population now accesses its money in this way. All this points to the huge development potential of science and technology – an impact which is felt in both economic and human development as a recent report by the UN Economic Commission for Africa found.

Let me hasten to add though that there is nothing inevitable about the rise of technology and development. The Commonwealth is home to many states that have found themselves marginalised and vulnerable in the modern global economy. This applies to technological progress as well as other areas of economic and human development. As the Commonwealth seeks to support these countries in other fields, it also makes a concerted effort to address the technological challenge of those left behind. This being done, for example, through the `Commonwealth Connects’ programme which promotes the effective use and sharing of ICTs to tackle practical problems in developing countries, whether e learning in Uganda or radio based learning for women entrepreneurs in Cameroon. These are small, but important steps, to bring the positive impact of technology to people’s lives. And Commonwealth Heads have asked us to build on this through the development of a Commonwealth Partnership Platform Portal which will create an electronic meeting place for the youth, business and governments of the Commonwealth.

This brings me to the final element of the equation which you are addressing today – innovation and design. Innovation is an elusive concept, but it is the application – not the existence of science and technology – which is the key to meeting both global challenges and consumer needs. In this, design of both products and processes is key. I am delighted to say that many of the qualities in successful innovation identified in your programme are among those which the Commonwealth values: the need for partnership – especially between the public, private and non-governmental sectors; the preparedness to take reasonable risk to create a better future; the vital importance of listening to people and responding to their needs.

Today’s Summit will explore how innovative design can be catalytic – creating both business opportunities and serving to address the many sustainable development challenges we face. On behalf of the Commonwealth Secretariat, I am delighted to welcome you here and hope for a most successful day.

Thank you.