WWWforEurope Final Conference

WWWforEurope Final Conference

Brussels, Belgium, February 25th, 2016

Hotel Silken Berlaymont, Boulevard Charlemagne 11

Programme

Download the programme as a PDF file

Conference Speakers

Marking the end of the project, the WWWforEurope Final Conference took place on February 25th, 2016, in Brussels. The key results and the synthesis of four years of research by 34 research institutions were presented at the conference to the European Commission and a large variety of stakeholders. A lively discussion among politicians, stakeholders and researchers made the Final Conference a full success and mirrored the high interest and relevance of the project’s topics.

After the conference was opened by project coordinator Karl Aiginger, director of the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO), Peter Dröll of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG –RTD) held a welcoming address. Peter Dröll emphasised the importance of the project’s issues and their relevance for Europe’s future development.

In his welcoming remark, WWWforEurope project officer Domenico Rossetti di Valdalbero, DG for Research and Innovation, highlighted the relevance of a new strategy for Europe towards a socio-ecological transition and referring to the challenges and developments Europe has to face in a changing world.

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Kenneth Arrow - Welcoming Address WWWforEurope Final Conference from WIFO on Vimeo.

The welcoming remarks were concluded by a video message by Nobel laureate Kenneth Joseph Arrow, in which he adressed the uniqueness and difficulty of Europe trying to unify sovereign, well-organised states, in contrast to historical large states unifying and growing by conquest or expansion into lightly populated areas.

Kenneth Arrow put emphasis on inequality and climate change as the issues most in need to immediate action and called special attention to WWWforEurope's call for a broader set of criteria by which policy recommendations should be judged.

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In the first session of the Final Conference Karl Aiginger (WIFO) talked about the main results of the WWWforEurope project.

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The focus of the project is on reaching the three goals of economic dynamics, social inclusiveness and environmental sustainability by applying three guiding principles (simultaneity between goals, a high-road approach and a two-stage implementation) and seven drivers of change (innovation, dynamics, welfare, labour, energy use, public sector and financial sector). To be successful, long-term strategies as well as a benchmark beyond GDP are necessary.

Download the Executive Summary of the Synthesis Report

The importance of green innovations in a transition process was addressed by Reinhilde Veugelers (KU Leuven) in the second session. Her presentation stressed the importance of green innovations and the right policy design to boost both public and private innovations.

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Thomas Leoni (WIFO) dealt with the social investment approach, according to which the focus of European welfare states should shift from a protective perspective to social investment and activation, especially in times when welfare states are under pressure.

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To understand the current political situation in Europe and as prerequisite for the successful implementation of fundamental reforms, the underlying causes for reform resistance and reform strategies need to be identified. The relevant WWWforEurope research was presented by Friedrich Heinemann (ZEW Mannheim).

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Dealing with the regional dimension of a socio-ecological transition was another research area of the WWWforEurope project. Thomas Sauer (University of Applied Sciences Jena) gave an overview over the results, encompassing the role of cities, urban resource systems, regional labour markets, and integration policies in a socio-ecological transition.

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Marina Fischer-Kowalski (Alpen Adria University, Klagenfurt, and Institute of Social Ecology in Vienna) dedicated her presentation to socio-ecological transition in a historical perspective, which shows that a decoupling of energy use from GDP growth has happened and is therefore possible.

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The President of European Forum Alpbach and former EU Commissioner Franz Fischler and the Co-Chair of the European Green Party Monica Frassoni wrapped up the conference.

Franz Fischler, who is also member of the WWWforEurope policy board, referred to the importance of the project’s main results for Europe’s policy making and added an eighth driver of change – “leadership” – which he claimed as essential to creating a new European narrative. Monica Frassoni reported about current social and environmental topics on Europe’s policy agenda as well as about the attention these topics have to get for creating a sustainable and inclusive Europe.

The Policy Panel Discussion of the Final Conference was chaired by former Executive Director of the World Bank and WWWforEurope policy board member Kurt Bayer. The discussion featured Karl Aiginger, Anton Hemerijck (VU University Amsterdam), and Adam Posen (Peterson Institute for International Economics).

As Karl Aiginger talked about concrete policy advices, Anton Hemerijck brought in his expertise in social policy and the value of social investment policies for the European Union. Adam Posen offered the US-American perspective on the current European situation and on the proposals of the WWWforEurope projects.

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Last but not least, Hans Pitlik (WIFO) presented the results of an opinion survey about the WWWforEurope project outcomes and policy proposals. The survey shows that six out of ten policy recommendations derived from the project reach an agreement rate of over 80% and that worldviews matter in the acceptance of these policy recommendations.

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European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Karmenu Vella closed the Final Conference with his remarks. The Commissioner talked about the current initiatives on his policy agenda. The fragility of the environmental system in general and of the maritime ecosystem in particular is one of the serious concerns the Commissioner is dealing with.

WWWforEurope is the ideal project to raise the awareness of policy makers and citizens about the fragility of these systems, as one of the WWWforEurope project’s goals is bringing environmental and social issues back to the focus of policy making, next to economic concerns.