New policy priority tool to supercharge sustainable development

A pioneering policy priority tool for tracking progress towards the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), has been developed by UCL in collaboration with a UK-Mexico team. Policy Priority Inference (PPI) uses AI to model the impact of a variety of policy decisions against the UN's SDGs. The tool has the potential to supercharge the effectiveness of government-backed sustainable development for the benefit of billions of people and the future of our planet. The tool, which is supported by the Alan Turing Institute and championed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is already being implemented across Latin America, with plans to bring it to other global regions. The PPI was developed by Dr Omar Guerrero (UCL Economics and ESRC/Turing Fellow) with his collaborator Professor Gonzalo Castañeda (Centre for Research and Teaching in Economics, Mexico), who have together led a team of researchers in the UK and Mexico. Dr Omar Guerrero, Policy Priority Inference project leader, based at UCL Economics and The Alan Turing Institute, said: "Governments around the world have had to re-direct substantial resources in order to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, preventing them from achieving their original goals. "Our Policy Priority Inference tool helps leaders to reach the UN's Sustainable Development Goals at a critical time.