De Montfort University is a global academic hub chair and as such publishes a progress report on both the individual United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as well as a comprehensive report on all the goals.
Our 2025 report will show what the university has been doing in terms of research, teaching, partnerships and engagement in helping to meet those targets and raising awareness of the progress towards the 2030 aims.
This is the progress report for SDG 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure. The full report on all the SDGs can be viewed here.
UN PROGRESS REPORT ON SDG 9 in 2025
SDG 9 is one of the best performing goals and around 30% of the targets for 2030 are expected to be met and a further 45% are showing moderate progress. However, 12.5% of the targets show stagnation and a further 12.5% have actually regressed in the past 10 years.
The UN progress report for 2025 says: “Since 2015, notable progress has been made in expanding infrastructure, fostering industrial growth and boosting innovation.
“Global manufacturing value added per capita grew 17.3 % from 2015 to 2024. Maritime freight reached 11.6 billion metric tons, driven by the growing participation of developing countries.
“Meanwhile, 5G mobile broadband now covers 51% of the global population. However, stark regional disparities persist, and many developing countries continue to face systemic barriers to inclusive and sustainable industrialisation.”
MAJOR DMU NEWS ON SDG 9 IN 2025
New centre of excellence to drive digital innovation in medicines regulation
A NEW £1m research project to realise the transformative potential of digital technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) in medicines development and manufacturing has been announced.
Funded by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, the 12-month Centre of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation project has ambitions to advance regulatory processes by integrating cutting-edge digital technologies.
The project is led by CMAC (a medicines manufacturing research centre at the University of Strathclyde) and delivered in collaboration with a consortium of partners including an academic institution (De Montfort University (DMU) Leicester),
DMU Nano silicon breakthrough paves way for increase in Lithium-ion battery power
A RESEARCH scientist at DMU has invented a novel manufacturing method that could revolutionise the world of rechargeable batteries.
Professor Shashi Paul has recently patented a process for making silicon nanowire, which could be the key to making huge improvements in the performance and efficiency of the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used in everything from mobile phones and laptops to drones and electric vehicles.
£150,000 new cyber programme to protect East Mids businesses
A £150,000 support programme is launching to help East Midlands businesses - particularly those in manufacturing, logistics, and professional services - strengthen their defences against the growing threat of cybercrime.
Led by Dr Ismini Vasileiou, Associate Professor at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) and founder and director of the East Midlands Cyber Security Cluster it offers practical, hands-on support to businesses that want to improve how they manage cyber risk, train staff, and future-proof their operations.
DMU humanitarian mine research recognised by UK Science Minister
RESEARCH from De Montfort University (DMU) Leicester demonstrating how artificial intelligence can be used to detect improvised underground explosives has been commended by the Minister for Science, Research and Innovation.
Speaking at the launch of the Science, Technology and Innovation pillar of the UK-Ukraine 100-year Partnership, Lord Patrick Vallance praised the university’s contribution to safer demining operations in post-conflict zones.
Professor of Applied Intelligent Systems at DMU, Mario Gongora is co-leading research into an AI-powered, multi-sensor tool that combines ground-penetrating radar, cameras and thermal sensors to detect unexploded devices.
Harry's lifesaving device wins national competition
A PRODUCT Design student from De Montfort University (DMU) Leicester is celebrating after his simple, yet potentially life-saving, device won the top prize at this year’s Design Innovation in Plastics Awards.
Harry Wragg, originally from Portsmouth, has created a small, dome-shaped prototype that helps people use the correct amount of force when administering CPR by audibly clicking. If the device does not click during the compression, then the user needs to apply more force.
Known as CPR+Aid, the design is made from three pieces of plastic and no electronics, so it can be cheaply mass-produced and form part of a first-aid box.
New collaboration to develop greener, more affordable anti-cancer compounds
PATIENTS around the world could have access to more affordable cancer treatments thanks to an innovative new applied research collaboration.
De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) and advanced chemical solutions specialist Fluid Science have won funding from Innovate UK to support the development of a new generation of anti-cancer compounds.
The team will work together on developing and refining active compounds using cutting-edge green chemistry techniques, using cleaner, sustainable methods which both make the process better for the environment and reduce costs - meaning potential treatments can reach more patients.
Older polluting log burners could be a thing of the past thanks to DMU-led research
A DEVICE that can be retrofitted to older log burners to prevent them from spreading harmful toxins in homes is being developed by a research team at DMU.
The device, known as the Helixtractor, sits in a chamber that is retrofitted to existing devices. It has a heat recovery coil that creates a small whirlpool, which transports the toxins out of the firebox and into the flue chimney, where they get extracted from the plume.
The project has received government funding from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) via the Innovate UK Small Business Research Initiative scheme.
New policy unit aims to link DMU research to social impact
A DEDICATED unit aiming to use research carried out to effect social change has officially opened.
The DMU Policy Unit acts as a key link between DMU's research community and the international policy arena, helping academics connect with lawmakers and meet urgent social challenges as they arise.
MAJOR DMU RESEARCH ON SDG 9 IN 2025
Educational Impact and Ethical Considerations in Using Chatbots in Academia
Ibrahim, Dina M.: Al-Harbi, Njood K.: Al-Shargabi, Amal A. (2025)
CHATBOTS are getting better every day due to the advancements in their capabilities in today’s technological age. This study aims to assess the efficacy of ChatGPT-4 and Gemini in producing scientific articles.
Two types of prompts are given: direct questions and complete scenarios. Subsequently, we evaluate the educational and ethical aspects of the produced material by employing statistical analysis.
We verify the credibility of references, detect any instances of plagiarism, and ensure the precision of the articles generated by the chatbot.
https://doi.org/10.11591/ijeecs.v37.i2.pp1150-1167
An Ethical Framework for Emerging Technologies: the TEAeM Approach
Bhalla, Nitika; Brooks, Laurence; Richardson, Kathleen; Cannizzaro, Sara (2025)
THE inherent nature of uncertainty and the indefinite time horizon of emerging technologies means that their effective ethical governance is not sufficiently addressed by industry and hence society.
This paper explores an approach to enhance existing ethical frameworks that can be useful and relevant to new and emerging technologies.
We begin with the analysis of literature exploring some of the technical features of each framework and its potential applicability to emerging technologies. Following this, a detailed outline of a broad ethical framework has been proposed using a combination of existing ethical frameworks.
https://doi.org/10.55613/jeet.v35i1.147
Digitalisation, unions and ‘country-effect’: does union strength at the workplace matter?
Lloyd, C. and Payne, J. (2025)
TRADE unions are potentially important actors in shaping digitalisation to benefit workers. Research suggests supportive national labour market institutions can help unions to influence digital change in the workplace.
This article considers the reach of national institutions, or ‘country effect’, and its relationship with union strength at the workplace.
It applies a multi-level analysis to explore union influence over digital technology in the food and drink processing sector in Norway and the UK, two countries with starkly contrasting institutions.
https://doi.org/10.1177/00221856251326682
Women's Broadcasting Histories and the Archive: National, Transnational and Transmedial Entanglements
Arnold, S., McCabe, J., Andrews, K., Badenoch, A., Baker, J., Ball, V., Hendriks, E., Jackson, V., Murphy, K., Sahu, I., Skoog, K., Terkanian, K and Warner, H. (2025)
THIS provocation details varied perspectives of the International Women’s Broadcasting Histories (IWBH) network on researching the role of women in broadcasting.
The conversational form allows us to roam across the topic widely, to express a range of discrete positions and distinct arguments, with the desire to bring dilemmas to the surface and explore their implications without reduction.
Responding with a series of interventionist statements around the issues and challenges of doing archival research into women’s work, we opt for retaining different viewpoints in a raw state, with the aim of provoking discussion about the methodological opportunities and limitations when working within and outside of archives.
https://doi.org/10.1177/17496020251330853
Rediscovering cities through strategically decentralised urban green infrastructure: a case study of stormwater resilience
Tiwary, A., Heidrich, O. (2025)
THIS paper demonstrates that strategic application of ‘decentralised urban green infrastructure’ (DUGI) can alleviate flash flooding through adequate surface run off reduction using a combination of linear and dispersed components based on the perviousness of the sub catchments.
As a first step, an assessment framework comprising of the following three steps is introduced: Site selection; DUGI implementation strategy; Impact analysis (hydrological, socio-economic, etc.).
https://doi.org/10.1007/s44327-025-00121-y
Examining Energy Efficiency and Retrofit in Historic Buildings in the UK
Sevim, Y.E.; Taki, A.; Abuzeinab, A. (2025)
THE energy efficiency potential of a considerable number of Europe’s historical buildings is noteworthy.
However, policymakers often express concerns about energy retrofits that may compromise the integrity of these structures and their surroundings.
On the contrary, various strategies exist for enhancing energy efficiency in historic buildings without compromising their architectural constraints.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su17073002
A solution space partitioning based multi-population method for dynamic optimization
Peng, M., Li, C., Wang, J., Cai, X., Zeng, S. and Yang, S. (2025)
DYNAMIC optimization focuses on solving problems where the search space changes over time. The multi-population method is the most widely used approach for addressing such problems.
Traditional multi-population methods often lack a deep understanding of the problem’s structural characteristics, such as the boundaries of basins of attraction (BoAs), which leads to redundant searches in less promising regions.
Without guidance from these structural features, most populations are regenerated randomly, resulting in inefficient exploration.
https://doi.org/10.1109/TEVC.2025.3597453
SDG 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure