The Contribution of COVID-19 Innovative Projects for Sustainable Development

Abstract

COVID-19 has brought new challenges to the achievement of the sustainable development goals as proposed by the United Nations in the 2030 Agenda. However, innovative projects developed by governments, private sector, and civil society present themselves as an opportunity to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on sustainable development. This study uses the Observatory of Public Sector Innovation promoted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development to explore how innovative projects address the 17 sustainable development goals. The Portuguese context is used to qualitatively characterize this phenomenon. The findings reveal that these projects also offer relevant contributions in areas such as public infrastructure support, health promotion, quality of education, and reduced inequalities.