IÖW: Projects

Social-ecological economy within planetary boundaries

WWF's goal is to develop an attractive and convincing narrative that a more social and ecological economy is urgently needed due to the serious global environmental problems such as the loss of biodiversity, ocean [...] More

Change in perspective Bioeconomy – for more sustainability A dialogue project in the science year 2020/2021

With the bioeconomy topic, the German science year 2020/2021 was dedicated to the transformation from an oil-based to a bio-based form of economy. In times of a rapidly growing world population, dwindling biodiversity and [...] More

Peer Innovation – Sustainable household sector innovations in collaborative networks New data sources and methods for collecting the contributions of online communities to innovation and sustainability

In the PeerInnovation project, the Institute for Ecological Economy Research and the Technical University of Berlin investigated how people work together on innovative solutions to sustainability problems in their spare time [...] More

Analysis of specific measures to increase demand for recycled plastics and products containing recycled plastics

The recycling of plastics has two components: The recycling of plastic waste and the use of recycled plastics in new products. To further expand recycling, the existence of a stable market for recycling products is required. [...] More

DiTex – Digital Technologies as Enabler of a Resource-efficient Circular Economy: Pilot Test in the B2B Textile Industry

Whether in health care, gastronomy or police: Workwear leads to enormous quantities of identical textiles – with serious consequences for the environment. One possible solution is a closed-loop textile industry with [...] More

Business models for reducing plastic waste along the value chain: Towards innovative trends in retailing Innoredux

The idea and aim of the Innoredux project is to avoid or reduce plastic waste along the value chain in both distance selling and stationary trade. As part of this, the project partners cooperate with a number of industrial [...] More

Suburban heat transition Innovation district heating in agglomeration belts using the example of of the existing quarter “Leeste”: Project phase 1

A third of the final energy consumption in Germany is used for heating and hot water. Thus, heat consumption is an important factor when it comes to tackling global challenges such as climate change, energy efficiency and [...] More

Sustainable bioeconomy in Brandenburg – Examples of climate-friendly and environmentally friendly regional value chains

In April 2014, the Federal State Government of Brandenburg passed its Sustainability Strategy. One of the 16 fields of action focus on the management of „natural resources as the economic potential of a sustainable regional [...] More

The governance of deep transitions: The role of International Organisations

The subproject ‘The governance of deep transitions: The role of international organisations’ is part of a larger research project based at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex (SPRU) in the UK and is [...] More

Consumer Role New Consumption Practices and Changes in the Consumer Role

In recent years, collaborative economy practices have been boosted substantially by the advent of the Internet and the proliferation of digital networks. As collaboration between strangers has been greatly facilitated by the [...] More

PROSumers for the Energy Union (PROSEU) Mainstreaming active participation of citizens in the energy transition

The focus of PROSEU is the research into, as well as the design of, incentive structures for mainstreaming prosumerism in the European Union, thereby encouraging and safeguarding citizen participation, inclusiveness and [...] More

ProPower: System Analysis Power2Products Economic and socio-ecological implications of a cross-sectoral power utilisation

Achieving climate protection targets requires defossilisation in all sectors and thus a comprehensive transformation of the energy system and industry. Power-to-X technologies use electricity to supply products and provide [...] More

ReCap – Capping Macro Rebounds Reconsidering the Role of Energy and Resource Productivity for Economic Growth, and Developing Policy Options for Capping Macro-Level Rebound Effects

For more than 30 years, economic science has dealt with the emergence of rebound effects in the context of resource efficiency improvements both theoretically and empirically. Based on this research and diverse growth [...] More

Regional flexibilities of prosumers in households and in the commercial sector Determination of regional flexibilities as part of the project „WindNODE – showcasing smart energy systems from northeastern Germany”

In the decentralised energy transition, it is possible for households, prosumers and businesses to make their energy consumption more flexible. As a result, they can shift their energy demand to times of high supply. This [...] More

Mobility Transition – The German Automotive Industry in Upheaval

On behalf of the think tank Denkwerk Demokratie, IÖW has examined the conditions for a mobility transition as well as its implications for the German automotive industry. Denkwerk Demokratie is financed by trade unions and [...] More

Current discussion on the introduction of an innovation principle and the relationship to the precautionary principle Short Study

In order to improve the innovation climate in Germany and Europe, representatives of research-intensive large companies and meanwhile the EU are calling for the introduction of an “innovation principle”, which should [...] More

Energy storage services for smart neighbourhoods (Esquire)

For the energy transition, it becomes more and more important to storage power decentralized. This way, local produced renewable energy can be consumed flexible while reliving the power grid. An important component are [...] More

Designetz: A Modular Concept for the Energy Transition From Isolated Solutions to an Efficient Energy System of the Future

The ‘Designetz’ showcase spans North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and the Saarland. It aims to supply solar and wind energy to urban and industrial consumers. For this purpose numerous demonstration projects are [...] More

Urban Heat Shift Participatory Transformation of Coupled Infrastructures, Focusing on Heat Supply in Berlin

Almost 50% of final energy consumption in Germany is used for heating, thus heat consumption is an important factor when it comes to tackling global challenges such as climate change, energy efficiency and resource [...] More

Digitalization and social-ecological transformation Rebound Risks and Sufficiency Opportunities of Digital Services

Economy and society are facing fundamental structural change that is largely driven by the digitalization of production and consumption. Concepts such as the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) or (in Germany) ‘Industry 4.0’ are [...] More

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