Collective Intelligence to Find Solutions to the Challenges Posed by the Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

The implementation of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) presents a vast and intricate array of challenges, including the establishment of governance systems that engage all societal actors, particularly nongovernmental entities and youth, in proposing solutions and decision-making. This article investigates the potential of collective intelligence as a tool within citizen science to create solutions for SDG-related challenges and to establish or enhance necessary governance mechanisms. We detail a collective intelligence experiment conducted during the UN Climate Change Conference 2019 (COP25; Madrid, December 2–13), which aimed to generate a prioritised list of actions addressing SDG 6, Water and Sanitation and SDG 13, Climate Action. The experiment involved 1,253 students aged 15 to 17 who proposed, modified, and prioritised 14,517 ideas using an online platform created by Kampal, a spin-off of the University of Zaragoza. We discuss: a) participation protocols following citizen science methodologies; b) the platform description; c) results concerning the participation process, the tool’s effectiveness in collectively extracting the best solutions, and the quality of the generated proposals; and d) enhancements and new research directions for using citizen science and collective intelligence to tackle SDG-related challenges in a collaborative and participatory way.

Keywords

• collective intelligence
• online experiment
• youth
• sustainable development goals
• environmentalism