Press Release 14/05/2012

As part of the celebrations to mark its 40 th anniversary, the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI is organizing the conference of the “European Forum for Studies of Policies for Research and Innovation“, known as the Eu-SPRI Forum for short . Under the motto “Towards Transformative Governance? Responses to mission-oriented policy paradigms”, about 200 participants from Europe and the rest of the world are expected to attend the conference held at the Karlsruhe Convention Center on 12 and 13 June 2012.

“European research must focus on the Grand Challenges of our time moving beyond current rigid thematic approaches.” This objective was delivered to the Swedish presidency of the Council of the European Union in the Lund Declaration in 2009 by 400 renowned researchers and politicians. The Eu-SPRI Conference under the patronage of Annette Schavan, Federal Minister of Education and Research, and Winfried Kretschmann, Minister President of Baden-Württemberg, focuses on the challenges related to this premise.

As a consequence of the Lund Declaration, over the past few years it could be observed that national governments and the European Union are increasingly orienting their research and innovation policy towards priorities which address the major societal challenges of our time. Alongside economic growth and competitiveness, this approach is developing into the third main objective of research and innovation policy.

So far, however, it is still unclear whether this new mission orientation has actually had or will have a transformative impact and what these impacts look like. Research studies will be presented and discussed at the Conference, which reveal possible transformative impacts at different levels, for example with regard to the individual researchers, innovation processes, science fields, technology sectors and institutions, but also with regard to the demand side, the users and other beneficiaries of innovations, research and innovation policy and financing and policy framework conditions.

“We are delighted there has been such a good, early response to the conference“, says Professor Knut Koschatzky, head of the Competence Center Policy and Regions at Fraunhofer ISI, who is organizing the conference. “We have managed to put together an extremely interesting program. Alongside the keynote speeches, around 30 thematic sessions will be held on each of the two days with more than 100 presentations . The conference also features an elevator pitch contest for young scientists. The majority of the registered participants registering for the presentations are from Eu-SPRI research organizations, but there are also some from America.”

It is still possible to register for the conference. Alongside the presentations, the conference also provides other opportunities for informal exchanges, such as a guided tour to the city and an evening event at the Karlsruhe Schloss.

The Eu-SPRI Forum was established in June 2010 in Paris and currently consists of 13 member organizations. The objective is to strength the flourishing, but geographically widely dispersed community of researchers who are working on interdisciplinary questions concerning the policy and governance of knowledge creation and innovation.
More information can be found at www.eu-spri-conference-2012.org.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI analyzes the origins and impacts of innovations. We research the short- and long-term developments of innovation processes and the impacts of new technologies and services on society. On this basis, we are able to provide our clients from industry, politics and science with recommendations for action and perspectives for key decisions. Our expertise lies in a broad scientific competence as well as an interdisciplinary and systemic research approach.