Balancing innovation and growth with our responsibilities Four of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) tackle how we balance societal and economic development with ensuring we reduce inequalities and act responsibly when producing and consuming food, materials and technology. Many of these SDGs interconnect and overlap, both with each other and with those in the Biosphere and Society groups of SDGs. UN SDG 8 Logo for the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 8, which is 'Decent work and economic growth' UN SDG 9 Logo for the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 9, which is 'Industry, innovation and infrastructure' UN SDG 10 Logo for the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 10, which is 'Reduced inequalities' UN SDG 12 Logo for the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 12, which is 'Responsible consumption and production' Brunel research contributing to these SDGs Examples include: Strengthened farming production systems reap better harvests in Uganda Dr Manoj Dora and team applied a new food supply management system to support farmers to streamline their farming processes, eliminate waste and improve productivity Better Bitcoin? Towards a more sustainable digital special-purpose currency Blockchain implementation in the Thai fish industry's supply networks Case study analysis shows traceability systems need to be designed and managed properly – then blockchain will enable sustainability performance and help promote SDGs Sustainable and healthy school food environments in Brazil Dr Ximena Schmidt and colleagues ran workshops to improve food environments and behaviour at school, shaping current dietary choices towards a sustainable, healthy diet Finding value for the re-use of construction and demolition waste Prof Xiangming Zhou is leading UK and Chinese researchers to develop innovative high-value-added uses of demolition waste as construction materials for sustainable and resilient infrastructure development Our responsible initiatives Addressing the gender pay gap We have Athena SWAN accreditation, and so we are committed to tackling this – and also the ethnicity pay gap Awarded Disability Leader status Holding the UK Government's Disability Confident scheme's highest accolade, we secure, retain and develop staff with disabilities who are skilled, loyal and hard-working Gold for Forces-friendly Brunel The Ministry of Defence has awarded us Employer Recognition Scheme Gold for our work supporting the British Armed Forces and its ex-service personnel Responsible procurement Tenders for £150,000+ contracts scored at least 5% on this measure Widening Access 83% of our home UG students are from underrepresented backgrounds 15th best in the world for responsible consumption and production The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2021 ranked us the 15th best university in the world for delivering against UN SDG 12