In September 2015, Member States of the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals: a set of goals to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new global agenda. To achieve the SDGs by 2030, governments, private sector, civil society and academia must work together. In this talk, I will present my journey working almost a decade at UN Global Pulse - an innovation initiative of the UN Secretary General- researching and developing real applications of data innovation and AI for sustainable development, humanitarian action and peace. The work of the UN includes providing food and assistance to 80 million people, supplying vaccines to 45% of the world's children and assisting 65 million people fleeing war, famine and persecution. Examples of innovation projects include understanding perceptions on refugees from social data; mapping population movements in the aftermath of natural disasters; understanding recovery from shocks with financial transaction data; using satellite data to inform humanitarian operations in conflict zones or monitoring public radio to give voice to citizens in unconnected areas. Based on these examples, the session will discuss operational realities and the global policy environment, as well as challenges and opportunities for the research community to ensure that its groundbreaking discoveries are used responsibly and can be translated into social impact for all.