UN Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies established as a follow-up to the Global Digital Compact

Following a decision taken at the UN General Assembly level on 24 December 2024, the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology will transition to a new UN Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET). This follows a request made by UN member states in the Global Digital Compact (paragraph 72) and a proposal put forward by the UN Secretary-General in response to this request. 

The new office will work across five main areas: 

• Serve as advocate and focal point for digital cooperation in the UN for Member States and stakeholders; 
• Facilitate inclusive, multistakeholder policy dialogue on digital and emerging technologies; 
• Advise senior UN leadership on key technology trends so as to guide the strategic approach taken by the Organization on such issues; 
• Strengthen system-wide coordination within and across the UN system on digital and emerging technologies; and 
• Support the follow-up and implementation of the Global Digital Compact. 

For context, the proposal by the UN Secretary-General for the new office was contained in a broader report titled Revised estimates resulting from General Assembly resolution 79/1, entitled “The Pact for the Future”, dated 8 November 2024. The report was considered by the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), a subsidiary body of the General Assembly, which produced a report later considered by UNGA’s Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary). Below are some excerpts from the ACABQ report, whose guidance was followed by the Fifth Committee: 

• ‘48. The Advisory Committee is of the view that further consultations and analysis would allow for the comprehensive mapping of the existing United Nations coordination mechanisms and the identification of gaps in this area to ensure that the coordinating role of the new Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies is fully understood and implemented in conjunction with other entities and mechanisms, including the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination, with a view to avoiding duplication and overlap.’
• ‘59. The Advisory Committee notes the significant increase in the proposed resources for the Policy, Research and Support Section and considers that additional justification and explanation are needed to clarify the related activities, including the support to Member States. Taking also into account the need to clearly and comprehensively map out and delineate the coordinating functions of the Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies, as indicated in paragraph 48 above, and the need for a regional presence within the regional economic commissions, the Committee recommends a phased approach to the development of the new office and that, following an initial phase, its resource requirements, as well as the structure of the office, including its regional presence, be reassessed and presented for the consideration of the General Assembly in the context of the next programme budget submission.’
• ‘60. In view of the above, the Advisory Committee considers that the proposed conversion of posts will suffice for the initial operations of the new office. Therefore, the Committee recommends against the proposed establishment of 10 new posts: one Director (D-2); one Programme Officer, Partnerships (P-4); one Programme Officer, Policy Research (P-4); one Administrative Officer (P-3); one Coordination Officer (P-3); one Programme Officer, Policy Support (P-3); one Programme Officer, Policy Research (P-3); one Associate Coordination Officer (P-2); one Associate Reporting Officer (P-2); and one Administrative Assistant (General Service (Principal level)), at this stage.’
• ‘61. Subject to its recommendation in paragraph 60 above, the Advisory Committee recommends the approval of the post resources under section 1. The relevant non-post resources should be adjusted accordingly.’