Opening speech by Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio at the UNGA79 side event “Shaping the Future of Learning Now” in New York on 21 September 2024
Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my pleasure to welcome you to this side event. Finland is pleased to host it with our esteemed partners. Thank you all for joining us today.
Education is the backbone of any nation. Finland’s experience shows that investing in education from early childhood to higher education, and also investing in science and innovation, can transform a nation from a poor and rural society into a thriving economy.
In roughly one hundred years, Finland has evolved from one of the poorest countries in Europe to a modern knowledge-based economy. Today, our goal is to empower children and youth to become problem-solvers, critical thinkers and positive change-makers in society.
We must ask ourselves: What are the necessary future skills for life and work? How do we ensure everyone in society has the digital skills needed? These are some of the questions we hope to explore together today.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In the Finnish educational system, we emphasize quality and equity as guiding values. This means that all students, regardless of their background, should have access to effective teaching, relevant curriculum and supportive learning environment. We also focus on teachers´ competencies, digitalization and innovation, as well as inclusive education.
We want to share these strengths of the Finnish education system through our development cooperation. One of our most ambitious efforts is the collaboration with UNICEF to establish the Learning Innovation Hub in Helsinki. The Hub’s purpose is to harness the educational technology solutions to tackle the learning crisis. Finland supports UNICEF’s innovation initiatives with annual funding of approximately ten million euros.
In Finland, our digitalization strategy emphasizes human-centric data governance. We believe that everyone should be able to trust that digital public services are safe, transparent and based on fundamental rights. Accordingly, our goal is to ensure digital competencies for everyone in society.
All this requires broad-based collaboration in society: Public-Private partnerships, evidence building and a well-functioning innovation ecosystem. In Finland, we invest heavily on Research, Development and Innovation, with a commitment to reach 4 % of the GDP by 2030. The current level is about 3 %.
On a global scale, Finland is committed to enhancing inclusive digital transformation, particularly through initiatives like the EU’s Digital for Development Hub, which pools European resources for investments in partner countries’ secure, inclusive and human-centric digitalization, in line with the EU’s Global Gateway strategy.
Sustainable infrastructure, innovation capabilities, and digital skills are essential to leveraging new technologies in any sector, including education. Finland is eager to share its experiences and learn from others, particularly through initiatives like the Gateways to Public Digital Platforms, led by UNESCO and UNICEF. Also, Finland will actively follow-up the implementation of the Global Digital Compact, as part of the Pact for the Future. We hope that the UNICEF’s Learning Innovation Hub can also help facilitate dialogue around digital skills and innovation.
While 250 million children are still out of school and with a global shortage of 44 million teachers, we cannot ignore the potential of technology in education. As we continue to follow-up the Transforming Education Summit, and prepare for the next milestones after the Summit of the Future, leading to the World Summit for Social Development next year, we must keep this in mind.
Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests,
Once again, I warmly welcome you to this side-event, and extend my heartfelt thanks to our co-organizers and wish you all a fruitful and successful Summit of the Future. The time is now to shape the future of learning.