For two days European science and policy experts convened last week in Brussels to discuss Europe’s sustainable future. The “European Dialogue on Sustainable Consumption and Economic Growth” organised by the knowledge brokerage consortium RESPONDER addressed the challenges of the concept of “Greening the economy” in order to enable the formulation of adequate policy strategies. More than 50 professionals from 13 countries across Europe took part in the discussion. The IÖW is one of the partner institutions working together within RESPONDER.

The new edition of the International Journal of Emerging Techonologies and Society (iJETS) takes a comparative perspective on public engagement with emerging technologies on an international level. The special issue was edited by IÖW-experts Gerd Scholl, Ulrich Petschow and Jan-Peter Ferdinand. They say that the interrelation between technological path creation and its complex societal aspects is as close as never before. This has led to a significant renaissance in participatory and deliberatively motivated engagement activities, especially regarding nanotechnologies. The papers of this special issue display a wide range of participation cultures and institutional settings of engagement. They elaborate on the performance of deliberative dialogues, methodological aspects of engagement, and their relation to (political) decision-making contexts.

In times of financial crises and pressure to justify public spending, evaluation of projects, programs and policies increases. Sustainability, which has become a socially and politically widely accepted concept throughout Europe, therefore ought to be included to a greater extent within evaluation practices to assess social and ecological impacts. The authors of this book analyze in 15 chapters, amongst other things, the perception of sustainability-problems and the role of evaluation in the formulation, implementation and reformulation political measures. The book is a joint work of the IÖW and the Ecologic Institute.

Strengthening Research in Sustainable Mobility – the European knowledge brokerage consortium CORPUS uncovers mobility challenges and comes up with a research agenda for transforming current unsustainable mobility patterns // More than 100 experts from science and policy involved in debating emerging mobility topics

The Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative (SCORAI) is convening a one-day workshop in Bregenz, Austria on May 1, 2012. The event will take place just prior to the 2012 conference of the European Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ERSCP). Participants are invited to submit research and strategy papers, Submission ends 16 January 2012.

European knowledge brokerage consortium launches a series of “Policy meets Research” workshops on sustainable housing, starting in Helsinki/Finland on 23-25 November 2011

The Annual Report for 2010/11 presents the Institute’s current projects and publications dealing with seven issues. Under the banner of “Research for a Sustainable Economy”, the IÖW develops scientifically sound studies and concepts that are intended for practical application, and supports their implementation at the corporate and political level as well as in NGOs.