In 2000, the United Nations established the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with the goal of creating a global partnership for development. The formation of the MDGs created a foundation for collaboration and encouraged cross-sector partnerships to reduce poverty but also promote issues like environmental sustainability and gender equality. To carry on momentum from the MDGs, 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were established in 2015 to further encourage partnerships between civil society organizations, the private sector, academic institutions, and more. Increased private sector engagement in development is a major goal of the SDGs – and we would argue that it is crucial to their success.

There are immense potential benefits and opportunities to be gained from the SDGs through greater interconnectivity between private and public partnerships. Corporations can have impact beyond their roles as financiers and donors, utilizing their business and technology expertise to help solve difficult development problems, including reaching the most vulnerable populations and improving the quality of services like health care.

In return, the SDGs are not only a corporate responsibility but a corporate opportunity. Better Business Better World, a recent report from the Business and Sustainable Development Commission, makes a strong case for more private sector involvement in sustainable development, showing how engaging in just four sectors – food, cities, energy, and health – could open up 60 “market hot spots” worth $12 trillion by 2030.

The Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility

More and more companies are beginning to realize the impact and opportunity of the SDGs. In Accenture’s Corporate Disruptors report, we look at how companies are moving from a mindset of corporate social responsibility to corporate social opportunity, as the SDGs transform the way they think and operate.

At the beginning of what we call the continuum of corporate social opportunity maturity, we see businesses with basic or limited awareness of the SDGs. Companies here have little to no expectation of return on investment (ROI). They may engage in partnerships with non-profits or civil society organizations, but are not focused on the business benefits, seeing these partnerships primarily as charity.

However, in response to societal and cultural trends, including the desire of the millennial workforce to do good, the private sector is becoming increasingly engaged with the development sector. Over time, we expect to see businesses with more strategic mindsets move towards the middle of the continuum, tapping into the desire of their workforces to engage on social challenges by advancing their business and extending products and services to new markets.

Finally, those at the far right of the spectrum will have a truly transformational outlook on the SDGs, seeing them as an opportunity get ahead of competitors. These corporations will actively engage in systems thinking and use the best of their business and technology capabilities to tackle complex development issues head-on. They will see fragmentation in the development ecosystem as a problem they can and must help to address.

Digital Disruption

Along this continuum, we expect many of the most advanced companies to also be at the forefront of digital disruption and transformation, as there is great opportunity here in developing markets.

At the 2017 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, we released Digital Disruption: Development Unleashed. The report reveals how emerging digital technologies, including the “Internet of Things,” artificial intelligence, and blockchain technology, can help transform international development. In line with corporate social opportunity, we see tech startups and other private sector players taking the lead in these emerging digital technologies.

Take the company Zipline as an example (see video above). Zipline realized health workers in Rwanda needed better access to vaccines, medicines, and blood supplies. Even with the best supply chains in place, delivery of medical supplies can be challenging due to short shelf-lives, unpredictability of demand, climate and weather shocks, and the remote distance of some villages.

In response to this complex challenge, the government of Rwanda partnered with Zipline, which has developed “Zip,” a small robotic airplane that can deliver medical supplies to locations cut off from ground transportation. Health workers text their orders and the drones are loaded and sent with supplies in minutes, traveling as quickly as 100 kilometers an hour to bring urgently needed health care supplies without human risk.

For Zipline, their mission is not corporate social responsibility, but corporate social opportunity. They found a niche market delivering life-saving medicines to places where other companies have yet to establish their footprint and are making an impact while building a business.

A Call to Action

Engagement with the SDGs promises new opportunities for many businesses and new solutions for governments and NGOs intent on improving development gains. But we also want to highlight the importance of improving communication between the private and public sectors to achieve these goals.

Among the development sector, there is sometimes skepticism of corporate involvement – suspicions, for example, that corporations may use vulnerable and underserved populations to experiment with new technology, or exploit vulnerable populations purely for profit. We believe the potential relationship between the two sectors is a two-way street, requiring flexibility and openness from both sides. For example, there are vast, existing networks in the development sector that the private sector could tap into for expanded stakeholder involvement to improve their market advantage.

While many companies cannot transform overnight, even if they see the opportunities amidst the SDGs, we encourage private sector employees and leadership to drive momentum forward in the continuum of corporate social opportunity. Through “hack-a-thons,” “shark tanks,” and other collaborative and innovative initiatives, companies may realize the potential to help achieve the SDGs while also positively impacting their bottom lines.