Document Actions
ESTO
National research activities and sustainable development - A survey and assessment of national research initiatives in support of sustainable development.
We used for this projecto the abbreviation of the institution that sponsored this study, ESTO (European Science and Technology Observatory). ESTO is a net of specialists that supports the European Commission in the definition of its politics in relation to science and technology.
The potential role of R&D for sustainable development has been discussed at a number of fora in early 2001, e.g. a workshop held in Bonn in February. In the Bonn Memorandum („Setting Concepts in Motion: Sustainable Development and R&D Policies. Conclusions and Next Steps“, Bonn, 1-2 February 2001) a number of priority lines for future research are suggested, as well as next steps towards establishing a European network on the advancement of R&D policy for sustainable development.
The present ESTO project (ESTO: European Science and Technology Observatory) builds directly on the Bonn Memorandum, with the intention to deepen some of the suggestions made. It aims to contribute to the current discussion by providing an analysis of the state of the art of national research initiatives in support of the implementation of national and EU SD policies and strategies. The objectives of the project can be formulated as follows:
• Map the key players in sustainable development in the selected countries as an input to future network building at the European level,
• Identify and review national research activities focusing specifically on sustainable development, combined with an assessment of how far those activities address the different focal threats to sustainable development, as identified in the Commission’s communication.
• Identify and review sectoral research activities focusing on the priorities areas of the EC Communication on sustainable development, combined with an assessment of how far the research activities performed in these sectors/fields actually integrate and consider jointly the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development.
• Analyse and compare „good practices“ and gaps in current research initiatives, and thus possibilities for their further improvement and/or the transferability of good practices.
The study will cover seven European countries: Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It has begun in August 2001 and finished in January 2002.
The following partners conducted this project:
• Austrian Research Centers Seibersdorf, Systems Research Division ARCS, Austria (Operating Agent, Matthias Weber, Katy Whitelegg)
• Research Center Karlsruhe, Institute for Technology Assessment ITAS, Germany (Reinhard Coenen, Bettina-Johanna Krings, Michael Rader)
• University of Manchester, Programme of Policy Research in Engineering, Science and Technology PREST, UK (Mark Boden) in collaboration with Sustainable Development Research Network SDRI
• Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek VITO, Belgium (Rob Berloznik)
• University of Denmark, Unit for Technology and Environment Studies, Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Managment, Denmark (Michael S. Jorgensen)
• Sustainable Europe Research Institute SERI (Fritz Hinterberger)
Centro de Estudos, Formação e Informação para o Ambiente (CEIFA), Portugal (João Caixinhas, Suhita Osório-Peters, Rogério Silveira, Madalena Mesquita)
The potential role of R&D for sustainable development has been discussed at a number of fora in early 2001, e.g. a workshop held in Bonn in February. In the Bonn Memorandum („Setting Concepts in Motion: Sustainable Development and R&D Policies. Conclusions and Next Steps“, Bonn, 1-2 February 2001) a number of priority lines for future research are suggested, as well as next steps towards establishing a European network on the advancement of R&D policy for sustainable development.
The present ESTO project (ESTO: European Science and Technology Observatory) builds directly on the Bonn Memorandum, with the intention to deepen some of the suggestions made. It aims to contribute to the current discussion by providing an analysis of the state of the art of national research initiatives in support of the implementation of national and EU SD policies and strategies. The objectives of the project can be formulated as follows:
• Map the key players in sustainable development in the selected countries as an input to future network building at the European level,
• Identify and review national research activities focusing specifically on sustainable development, combined with an assessment of how far those activities address the different focal threats to sustainable development, as identified in the Commission’s communication.
• Identify and review sectoral research activities focusing on the priorities areas of the EC Communication on sustainable development, combined with an assessment of how far the research activities performed in these sectors/fields actually integrate and consider jointly the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development.
• Analyse and compare „good practices“ and gaps in current research initiatives, and thus possibilities for their further improvement and/or the transferability of good practices.
The study will cover seven European countries: Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It has begun in August 2001 and finished in January 2002.
The following partners conducted this project:
• Austrian Research Centers Seibersdorf, Systems Research Division ARCS, Austria (Operating Agent, Matthias Weber, Katy Whitelegg)
• Research Center Karlsruhe, Institute for Technology Assessment ITAS, Germany (Reinhard Coenen, Bettina-Johanna Krings, Michael Rader)
• University of Manchester, Programme of Policy Research in Engineering, Science and Technology PREST, UK (Mark Boden) in collaboration with Sustainable Development Research Network SDRI
• Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek VITO, Belgium (Rob Berloznik)
• University of Denmark, Unit for Technology and Environment Studies, Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Managment, Denmark (Michael S. Jorgensen)
• Sustainable Europe Research Institute SERI (Fritz Hinterberger)
Centro de Estudos, Formação e Informação para o Ambiente (CEIFA), Portugal (João Caixinhas, Suhita Osório-Peters, Rogério Silveira, Madalena Mesquita)
Final Report: http://www.jrc.es/home/pages/detail.cfm?prs=1017