How to Innovate for a Better Common Future?

Innovation for a better future is the motto of thousands of people all over the world that are working hard to achieve their goals.

The question is: when does the future start, tomorrow, next week, next year? There are as many answers as the approaches that innovators take to succeed in what they’re doing.

During recent years, a new big trend took over in almost every sector. Sustainability.

A simple search shows that sustainability can be applied everywhere from architecture to fashion. The big advantage of this trend is that everyone can get involved.

Making a change is not a small task, but it can start in small steps. It takes a combination of an innovative idea, entrepreneurial knowledge, a social dimension, and a sustainable approach. Sustainable development is defined as our ‘Common Future’.

The Youth Citizen Entrepreneurship Competition helps young people that are eager to make a change by offering free online training and access to a global network of change makers.

Starting a new entrepreneurial initiative can be at the same time motivating and puzzling. Take a look at the facts listed below. Each of them is about global problems that the Sustainable Development Goals aim to solve by 2030.

The purpose of these facts is not to make you sad or angry, but it is to trigger ideas for possible solutions. If you succeed don't hesitate to join our competition.

Facts about the SDGs (Source):

1. Globally, there are 122 women aged 25 to 34 living in extreme poverty for every 100 men of the same age group (Goal 1: No Poverty)
3. If women farmers had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry in the world could be reduced by up to 150 million. (Goal 2: Zero Hunger)
4. Children of educated mothers—even mothers with only primary schooling—are more likely to survive than children of mothers with no education. (Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being)
5. 617 million youth worldwide lack basic mathematics and literacy skills. (Goal 4: Quality Education)
6. Globally, 750 million women and girls were married before the age of 18 and at least 200 million women and girls in 30 countries have undergone FGM. (Goal 5: Gender equality)
7. Each day, nearly 1,000 children die due to preventable water and sanitation-related diarrheal diseases (Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation)
8. Three billion people rely on wood, coal, charcoal or animal waste for cooking and heating (Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy)
9. Over 470 million jobs are needed globally for new entrants to the labor market between 2016 and 2030. (Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth)
10. Basic infrastructure like roads, information and communication technologies, sanitation, electrical power, and water remains scarce in many developing countries. (Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure)
11. Despite overall declines in maternal mortality in most developing countries, women in rural areas are still up to three times more likely to die while giving birth than women living in urban centers. (Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities)
12. 883 million people live in slums today and most of them are found in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia. (Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities)
13. 93% of the world’s 250 largest companies are now reporting on sustainability. (Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production)
14. Goal 13: Climate Action
    There are people around the world that deny climate change
15. Coastal waters are deteriorating due to pollution and eutrophication. Without concerted efforts, coastal eutrophication is expected to increase in 20 percent of large marine ecosystems by 2050. (Goal 14: Life Below Water)
16. Between 2010 and 2015, the world lost 3.3 million hectares of forest areas. (Goal 15: Life on Land)
17. Corruption, bribery, theft and tax evasion cost some US $1.26 trillion for developing countries per year (Goal 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions)
18. About 30 percent of the world’s youth is digital natives, active online for at least five years. (Goal 17: Partnership for the Goals)

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