Sustainability Issue #2 July 2009

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Formas workshop in Brussels

Sweden rehearses for the presidency of EU

By Uno Svedin

In July, the Swedish presidency arranges a major conference in Lund on European research policy issues.

The theme of "New worlds – new solutions" is that many changes are taking place in Europe until 2025, and that this occurs on a global arena. A lot will probably be a shock – such as the current economic crisis – in the areas environment, climate, natural resources, energy, land use and urban development. These areas are of the greatest relevance for European research and are closely related to what Formas is engaged on.

The July conference will be conducted in cooperation between the government offices and FAS, Formas, Vinnova and the Research Council. Each of these four authorities will also be responsible for a rehearsal in its own areas.

Shocks provide an opportunity

Formas was the first with its workshop in Brussels in February. About 25 people were involved, most from European research. The workshop was entitled "Nature shocks – as opportunity". There are thus hidden opportunities here for the European community in a global context.

The workshop discussed climate and energy, natural resources, socio-ecological systems, as well as infrastructure and industrial systems. The Director General of Formas, Rolf Annenberg, chaired the meeting, and among those participating from Sweden may be named Anders Wijkman (European Parliament), the rector of SLU Lisa Sennerby Forsse, the previous director geeral in EU Kerstin Niblaeus, Professor Johan Rockström (Stockholm Resilience Centre), the president of IVA Professor Lena Treschow Torell, and Professor Sten Nilsson (IIASA). Several interesting people from Europe took part, for example the chief of the French research institute INRAS, Marion Guillou, the representative of industry director Horst Söboll, and the director of DG Research in EU, Manuela Soares. The systemic relationships were discussed. The climate is coupled to other systems such as water and biodiversity. The interconnected nature and societal system demands an in-depth analysis of what may be resilient, i.e. robust in relation to other forms of strongly destabilising shocks. The coupling between urban and "green" systems in rural areas was also highlighted, and also couplings between generations and the way technological solutions must be incorporated into a societal perspective.

A report on the workshop will be compiled in the spring of 2009 for use at the main conference in July.

Author :

Uno Svedin is Head of International Relations, Formas

Responsible for this page: Birgitta Bruzelius

Journal links

Sustainability July 2009

Focus presentation

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Focus articles

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The Interview

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More articles

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In brief

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Results from research

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