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to result in the research having less impact than it could.There is no regional repository of learning or ‘clearinghouse’ for assessing and coordinating humanitarianresearch and evaluation.7.8. ConclusionsBased on the experience with crowd-sourced science briefs,there are a number of preliminary conclusions that couldbe considered for future editions of the GSDR.The “open” character of the exercise meant that theprocess did not create incentives for consensus or“seeking the middle ground”, either with respect toprevailing modes of analysis or the scales (local,national, regional, global) at which issues ought to bediscussed.The open call for science briefs for the present report,combined with minimal quality control and broad openreview, has proven to provide science issues for theattention of policy makers in the HLPF that also differconsiderably from the issues covered in peer-reviewedacademic journals.There is a need to expand outreach efforts, in order togarner more inputs on emerging issues related to theeconomy, social systems, and technological change. Future editions of the GSDR might use opencrowdsourcing and open calls for briefs as a startingpoint for selective, systematic research and analysis.science research in Chinese and Russian languages, inparticular, remain rather inaccessible to the rest of theworld.Additionally, a number of issues arise from the presentchapter which might be considered by the HLPF.Tapping into multiple input channels for all relevantscientific communities across the world could makeavailable to policy-makers a broader spectrum of emergingissues, as well as presenting sustainable developmentchallenges from a range of different perspectives. To thisend, open crowdsourcing can complement traditionalexpert group models and existing UN system mechanismsfor identifying “emerging issues”, in the processstrengthening the science-policy interface.A future mechanism to identify science issues for thedeliberations of the HLPF could be built on various inputchannels, including the diverse landscape of existing UnitedNations system mechanisms, to identify “emerging issues”in various clearly defined areas, as well as to scopeinnovative big data applications for sustainabledevelopment. In this context, the empirical review of timelagsfrom scientific identification of environmental andhealth issues, to policy action, through to policy impacts,provides lessons-learnt and a cautionary note as to thepotential and limitations of any arrangements geared toshorten the science-policy time-lags.In view of the great differences of inputs provided bydifferent language communities, it appears essential topromote multi-lingual input channels. Sustainability152