Finn: Every single person who is trying to have a positive impact on the planet has contributed to this and this contributing to this. And it is due to the social entrepreneurs and the people working in nonprofit organizations, people like you, um, policy makers that have been able to make this progress.

Clement: This is the story about the entire world coming together to decide on 17 goals, a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. The sustainable development goals or, "SDGs," are constantly monitored to make sure we continue to stay on track at the local, national, and global levels.

 One of the entities that monitor all this data, keeping tabs on all of us. Is the sustainable development solutions network. And one of the data scientists working there is Finn Woelm.

Finn: The consequence from this is not that progress is inevitable and we should [00:01:00] kind of lay back and just watch. But the conclusion from this should really be progress is possible.

So, we should absolutely do everything we can to work towards making this world even better. And working towards a world where there's no more extreme poverty.

Laura: Prior to joining the world of data science behind the sustainable development goals, Finn co-founded a startup of his own and worked with a number of organizations in the impact space, including the international panel on social progress.

As for his current mission. Finn's all about statistical analysis and data visualization at the sustainable development solutions network.

Clement: So, what does someone like Finn think about entrepreneurship? And what does he really think about what it will take to reach these global goals by 2030? This [00:02:00] episode brings you the inside scoop.

You’re listening to The Spaceship Podcast where we’ll be speaking to entrepreneurs and global thought leaders to highlight the theories and exercises we cover in The Spaceship Master Class. If you are set on solving some the world’s biggest problems, check out thespaceship.org

Now let’s give the mic to our guest.  

Laura: Alright. Hey, Finn! Welcome to the show.

Finn:  Hi, Laura. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.

Laura: It's so good to have you. This is really fun because Finn is a friend of mine and he has been working with the sustainable development solutions network. So he's a data guy. He is avid in research, statistics, data visualization, and all in and around the sustainable development goals, the SDGs, which I just find super, super cool. So really wanted to have you on the show and introduce you to my co founder came off.

Clement: Hey Finn. Nice to have you on the show. 

Finn: Thank you. It's great to be here.

Laura:  I figured, um, I probably will do a worse job at introducing exactly what it [00:03:00] is that you do with the sustainable development solutions network.

So I figured we'd start off with you, maybe just telling us a bit more about what that's all about.

Finn:  Sure. So the sustainable development solutions network or short "SDSN". Is a think tank that was founded in 2012, under the guardianship of the United Nations to mobilize scientific knowledge for sustainable development and in particular for sustainable development goals for the agenda 2030 and the Paris climate agreement.

And I'm part of a team called the SDG index, which tracks and monitors progress towards achieving the SDGs for all 193 UN member States. So, what this means is that we look at a lot of different data and indicators and compile them into, in the end, a single metric to show for each [00:04:00] country, how far along they are to achieving the...