Jonathan Wong

Jonathan Wong is the Chief of Technology and Innovation at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). He joined ESCAP from the UK Department for International Development (DFID), where he was the inaugural Head of Innovation. He has led the establishment of several high-profile innovation initiatives, including the Global Innovation Fund, a partnership between the Omidyar Network and the governments of the US, UK, Sweden, Australia and South Africa; and the Amplify programme, an open innovation platform for development in partnership with Ideo.org and OpenIdeo.

He has extensive experience in social innovation and entrepreneurship, impact investing and tech for good. He has substantial technology and innovation policy expertise, having advised governments across Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. He has also spearheaded social enterprise and impact investing policy development in the Asia-Pacific region.

A current focus of Mr Wong’s work is AI governance and policy in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. In this, he is currently partnering with several global tech corporations and think tanks in the Asia-Pacific region.

Before joining DFID, Mr was a founding partner of a technology and innovation venture-capital fund and supported the establishment of the UK NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement.

Mr Wong has also served on APEC’s E-commerce Business Council and is a World Economic Forum Schwab Fellow.