Participate NOW!

Join our social media campaign “Innovate Your Future” and help us build a better world! We need you to contribute to this conversation and to stay in touch with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and its work promoting science, technology and innovation (STI) and culture for development.

Contribute a tweet or a Facebook post before 30 June for release on 1 July on our Thunderclap page, and share your views on Facebook. We will make sure to pass them on to decision-makers at upcoming ECOSOC events.

Together we can inspire the world to use science, technology, culture and innovation to improve lives. Innovate Your Future!

Bringing the voices of youth to ECOSOC

They include over 1 billion people worldwide.

They represent almost 20 percent of the global population.

They help keep us healthy, prevent disasters, create green energy and push the boundaries of creativity.

They are the world’s youth, and more than ever before, they form a global community with shared concerns and demands, despite geographic, cultural and economic differences.

Young people are consistently at the forefront of innovation. And this is why their participation in this year’s Annual Ministerial Review of the United Nations Economic and Social Council is so crucial.



In July 2013, the Council will gather countries from around the world to forge agreements on how science, technology and innovation (STI)—and the potential of culture—can be used more effectively to create a better future.

The voices of young people are critical to this discussion. How do you use science and technology to address challenges you encounter in your community? Are you constantly thinking of ways to innovate, whether through an invention or a change in practice or behavior?

As part of these efforts, ECOSOC organized a youth forum on 27 March, gathering prominent youth representatives and corporate leaders under the theme of “Shaping tomorrow’s innovators: Leveraging science, technology, innovation and culture for today’s youth”. And more online and offline events are underway to highlight these topics.

As United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also said encouragingly at the youth forum event, “be part of creating a new vision. It is not only about telling us what kind of world you want. It is about partnering with us to realize a better future.”