The R&D of UN 2030 Sustainable Development Model With AI-Powered Innovation Management to Promote Environmental Literacy and Workforce on the Human-Computer Frontier (Phase I)

This paper highlights the United Nation 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (UN2030-SDG) to address educational needs, professional development, economic growth, and environmental complexities. The UN2030-SDG project builds on five environmental grants which were funded by the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency. The project team adopts an innovation-management approach to transfer technology and knowledge derived from prior grants, incorporates artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, machine learning, and metaverse (collectively as “disruptive technologies”) to support the research and development (R&D) of four AI-powered interventions/programs: (1) e-Conference and (2) e-Workshop for high school educators; and (3) e-Academy and (4) e-Externship for high school students. For Phase-I, the project team expands cross-sectored partnerships, collaborates with cross-industry professionals, leverages existing technological infrastructure, and shares institutional resources and professional expertise to design, develop, and pilot test the program efficacy. The proposed UN2030-SDG model is intended for expanding the education-career capacity by preparing future workforce with interdisciplinary knowledge, transferrable skills, and AI-competency to solve global complexities innovatively on the human-computer frontier.