Scientific output
Here you can find analyses going beyond the official monitoring results (see the FP7-4-SD.eu policy briefs) that were prepared by the research team and presented at scientific conferences or published in scientific journals:
- Conf-Shop “Planning the future Knowledge Base for Evaluation” (Brussels, September 2011)
- Low Carbon Earth Summit (Dalian, October 2011)
- 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Management (Zagreb, October 2011)
- EurAsia Waste Management Symposium (Instanbul, November 2011)
- 3rd International Conference on Industrial and Hazardous Waste Management (Chania, September 2012)
- 10th biennial conference of the European Evaluation Society (Helsinki, October 2012)
- Conference “Evaluation of STI policies, instruments and organisations: new horizons and new challenges” (November 2013)
- Journal paper “Research on waste reduction technologies in Europe” (April 2014)
- 11th biennial conference of the European Evaluation Society (October 2014)
- Study “FP7 and the SDGs – How did research in the 7th EU framework programme address the Sustainable Development Goals?” (August 2015)
- FP7-4-SD Expert Workshop on “Evaluating R&I impacts on sustainable development: what role for big data?” (April 2016)
Conf-Shop “Planning the future Knowledge Base for Evaluation” (Brussels, September 2011)
In the context of the preparation of the future Horizon 2020 programme, and following the completion of the interim evaluation of FP7, the Ex-Post Evaluation Unit in DG Research and Innovation organised a “Conf-Shop” to take stock of evaluation evidence and to look ahead at future challenges. The event took place in the Albert Borschette Conference Centre in Brussels on 30 September 2011 and focused on three interrelated issues: An overview on recent efforts to assess the longer term impact of the Framework Programme Reflections from practitioners on the evaluation of FP7 Views from experts and stakeholders on the challenges for an evaluation and monitoring system for the Horizon 2020 Programme.
The “Conf-Shop” was not a traditional conference, but a conference and a workshop combining presentations with active involvement from the participants and providing the occasion for a real engagement. In particular, all the participants were invited, through a poster survey, to express their views on the impacts of FP7, and on the challenges for a future evaluation and monitoring system under Horizon 2020.
In his presentation Markus Hametner from the research team of WU Vienna introduced the FP7-4-SD.eu Monitoring System. After explaining the context and the methodology behind the monitoring system, he presented the features and functionalities of the online platform at www.fp7-4-sd.eu and also showed facts and findings from the analyses conducted so far (see the official monitoring results in the section “policy briefs”).
A complete documentation of the “Conf-Shop” is available at http://ec.europa.eu/research/evaluations/index_en.cfm?pg=conf-30-09-11.
Low Carbon Earth Summit (Dalian, October 2011)
The Low Carbon Earth Summit (LCES 2011) on “Leading the Green Economy, Returning to Harmony with Nature” was held on 19-26 October 2011 in Dalian, China. The conference was intended as a platform for networking or opportunity to stimulate thinking and therefore a broad range of participants were invited (including public administrators, researchers, NGO representatives, consultants, etc.). The programme consisted of 503 breakout sessions and covered themes such as “Low Carbon Cities and Communities”, ”Clean Sciences and Technology for Low Carbon Environment” and “Low Carbon Finance and Global Strategic Alliances”.
Andreas Endl (co-author: André Martinuzzi) from the research team of WU Vienna gave a presentation on “European Trends in Low-carbon Economy Research - an Analysis of Europe-wide Research Topics, Projects and Networks”. Building on the policy brief “Monitoring the FP7 contribution towards the transition to a low carbon economy” prepared earlier that year, the presentation focused on the FP7 contribution towards aspects of a Low-carbon Economy, in particular analysing the amount of European Commission’s co-funding, the distribution of the research projects among the different Member States, and the collaboration network of the involved institutions. The audience’s interest was especially focused on the part of the different institutions collaborating within the Low-carbon Economy research network.
3rd International Symposium on Environmental Management (Zagreb, October 2011)
The 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Management (SEM 2011) was held on 26-28 October 2011 in Zagreb, Croatia. It was hosted by the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology of the University of Zagreb. The symposium aimed at offering opportunities to present and exchange the most recent developments achieved in all fields of Environmental Management and Environmental Engineering, including topics such as Green Economy, Environmental Management, Green Chemistry, Green Technologies, Water and Wastewater Management, and Waste Management.
André Martinuzzi and Francesca Montevecchi from the research team of WU Vienna presented a paper on “Research on waste reduction technologies in Europe – an analysis of FP7-funded projects and networks”. The main objective of this paper was to offer a profound overview of recent research trends and structures in European waste reduction research in FP7. In order to analyse Europe-wide research efforts on waste reduction technologies a qualitative and quantitative analysis of 50 FP7-funded research projects was conducted in order to assess which approaches are taken, which technologies are developed, and which types of organisations are playing a leading role.
The paper shows that projects care for a multiplicity of environmental technologies concerning waste reduction. The most prominent research fields comprise: (1) the recovery of by-products and waste into biomass and other valuable products; (2) the development of technologies to rework manufacturing discarded products and therefore reduce the total use of raw materials; (3) the improvement of manufacturing technologies in order to cut down on industrial waste; and (4) the support of the development of recycling management processes. The paper concludes that FP7 supports the shift to a cradle-to-cradle society and is (at least partly) in line with the aims of the Flagship Initiative “A Resource-Efficient Europe”. The feedback received from audience centred on technical aspects (such as the networking pattern explained in the paper) or on some of the concepts explained in the paper (such as “resource efficiency”).
EurAsia Waste Management Symposium (Instanbul, November 2011)
The EurAsia Waste Management Symposium took place on 14-16 November 2011 at the Haliç Congress Centre in Istanbul (Turkey). It aimed at providing a comprehensive overview on effective waste management strategies across the Asian and the European regions, and at offering opportunities to discuss and evaluate the current and future regional waste management strategies and recycling projects. The symposium’s topics included waste management legislation, solid waste collection and transport, biological and thermal methods for waste disposal, landfill gas management, sludge treatment and disposal, and rehabilitation of dumping sites.
André Martinuzzi and Francesca Montevecchi from the research team of WU Vienna presented a paper on “European Research on Waste Technologies - an Analysis of FP7-Funded Topics, Projects and Networks on Life-Cycle Thinking, Reuse and Recycling”. The paper was related to the one presented earlier this year at the 3rd International Symposium on Environmental Management in October 2011 in Zagreb (see above), thus being based on the same qualitative and quantitative analysis of 50 FP7-funded research projects, with the objective of assessing which approaches are taken, which technologies are developed, and which types of organisations are playing a leading role.
Within a plurality of methods of waste reduction the paper identified three key approaches: (1) Research on waste treatment technologies is mainly driven by research organisations, conducted in comparably small projects with a low involvement of private-for-profit organisations and focuses on industrial waste. (2) Research on waste usage focuses on waste from agriculture and searches for innovative ways to convert waste to energy or to valuable products. In this group of projects waste-reduction is not an issue, as the usage of waste is seen as an innovative business model. (3) Research on waste prevention could be found in research projects dealing with several improvements of manufacturing processes, with new materials or with the improvement of product life-time. Although these projects are significantly bigger than the other ones and more private-for-profit organisations are involved, waste prevention is rather a side-effect than the main objective of the respective project. The three approaches show that FP7 supports the shift to a cradle-to-cradle society and is (at least partly) in line with the aims of the new Flagship Initiative “A Resource-Efficient Europe”. The reaction from the audience was very positive, focusing on technical questions about waste research in Europe but also on the question how to participate in FP7 (this question was asked from participants from Asia).
3rd International Conference on Industrial and Hazardous Waste Management (Chania, September 2012)
The 3rd International Conference on Industrial and Hazardous Waste Management was held on 12-14 September 2012 in Chania (Crete, Greece). It focused on innovative aspects of Industrial and Hazardous Waste Management (including Organics, Non-Halogenated and Halogenated Solvents, Hydrocarbons, Pesticides, Explosives, PCBs, PCDDs/Fs, Heavy Metals, Asbestos, Nuclear Wastes, Salts, etc), presenting new technologies, describing the state of the art and related case studies, discussing the main controversial subjects, sharing experience among different countries, valuating social and financial balances.
As part of this conference, the research team of WU Vienna organised the workshop “Diffusion of waste-related cleaner technologies: how R&D contributes to sustainable solutions”. The aim of the workshop was to discuss the most promising diffusion strategies for a broad implementation of waste-related cleaner technologies (WRCT). It consisted of four paper presentations and a moderated discussion focusing on implications for research, business and policy making concerning take-up and diffusion of innovative WRCT.
One of the presentations was held by André Martinuzzi and Francesca Montevecchi from WU Vienna on the topic “How FP7 funded projects contribute to sustainable solutions”. It complemented the results presented earlier in Zagreb and Istanbul (see above) by telephone interviews with 30 project coordinators, with the aim of obtaining information on networking mechanisms, future research needs, and strategies for ensuring high impact of WRCT. A main outcome of the interviews is that pilot plants, demonstration of feasibility of innovative processes and development of guidelines for better implementation of waste management systems and optimization of industrial processes would be key to achieve high impacts of WRCT. Training of operators of new technologies is also needed, as well as changes on the policy level in order to foster the use of recycled materials or raw materials and energy from renewable sources in production processes. In addition, the importance of consumer behaviour, funding opportunities and networks were identified as important drivers for the diffusion of project results.
The other three presentations were based on (preliminary) outcomes from the FP7-funded projects ZeroWIN (“Towards Zero Waste in Industrial Networks”), FORBIOPLAST (“Forest Resource Sustainability through Bio-Based Composite Development”), and ENEXAL (“Novel Technologies For Enhanced Energy And Exergy Efficiencies In Primary Aluminium Production Industry”).
10th biennial conference of the European Evaluation Society (Helsinki, October 2012)
The 10th biennial conference of the European Evaluation Society (EES) took place on 3-5 October 2012 in Helsinki (Finland). With a thematic focus on “Evaluation in the networked society: New concepts, New challenges, New solutions”, the conference explored how the new information environment and the advent of social networking without borders have fundamental implications for the evaluation discipline by means of keynote speeches, paper presentations, panel debates and posters sessions. By doing so, the conference provided a platform for evaluation practitioners, associations and networks to interact and work together.
André Martinuzzi and Markus Hametner from the research team of WU Vienna presented a paper on “Monitoring the impacts of the 7th EU-Framework-Programme on Sustainable Development”. The paper provides insights into the methodology, key features, and selected results of the FP7-4-SD.eu monitoring system and shows how complex issues like sustainable development can be operationalized and how a monitoring system can be used as a proxy in order to support – but not replace – thematic evaluations.
Conference “Evaluation of STI policies, instruments and organisations: new horizons and new challenges” (November 2013)
Organised by the Austrian Platform Research and Technology Evaluation together with Manchester Institute of Innovation Research and the Institut Francilien Recherche, Innovation et Société (IFRIS), the conference focused on new policy approaches in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), new instruments as well as pressuring societal demands raised by economic actors and civil society challenge inclusive STI policies to deliver discernible social, economic and ecological benefits of R&D in effective ways, calling for contributions on new thinking in terms of STI evaluation designs, methodological diversity and interaction between policy-making and evaluation studies but also between STI governance, public management and society in general.
André Martinuzzi and Markus Hametner from the research team of WU Vienna presented a paper on “The FP7-4SD.eu monitoring system - how does the 7th EU Framework Programme contribute to Sustainable Development?”, offering insights into the expected effects of Europe’s biggest research programmes on the objectives of the European Sustainable Development Strategy.
Journal paper “Research on waste reduction technologies in Europe” (April 2014)
A paper prepared by André Martinuzzi and Francesca Montevecchi from the research team of WU Vienna was eventually published in the journal “Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal” in April 2014. Entitled “Research on waste reduction technologies in Europe”, the paper offers a profound overview of recent research trends and structures in European waste-related research based on the 7th Framework Programme. It is based on a qualitative and quantitative analysis of 50 FP7-funded research projects to assess which approaches they take, which technologies they develop and which types of organisations play a leading role
The paper is accessible via the journal’s website at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/MEQ-06-2013-0070.
11th biennial conference of the European Evaluation Society (October 2014)
The 11th biennial conference of the European Evaluation Society (EES) took place on 1-3 October 2014 in Dublin (Ireland). With a thematic focus on “Evaluation for an Equitable Society”, the conference brought together evaluators to reflect and debate the role of evaluation in a changing world, aiming to answer whether or not the evaluation community is equipped to take on the diverse, unprecedented and incterconnected challenges of economic disparities, social unrest and governance dysfunctions.
André Martinuzzi and Markus Hametner from the research team of WU Vienna presented a paper on “Linking Monitoring and Evaluation - The Case of the 7th EU Framework Programme”. The paper discusses the challenges of setting up a monitoring system for the 7th EU Framework Programme, describes its key features, and presents conceptual considerations about linking monitoring with thematic and structural evaluation of RTD programmes.
Study “FP7 and the SDGs – How did research in the 7th EU framework programme address the Sustainable Development Goals?” (August 2015)
In view of the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the UN in September 2015, the research team of WU Vienna prepared a report linking the research called for in FP7 with the SDGs’ 17 goals and 169 targets. The purpose of the study was to analyse the extent to which FP7 has already addressed the SDGs, and by doing so identifying areas that have already been well-researched and areas where further attention could be placed on (e.g. in upcoming Horizon 2020 work programmes).
FP7-4-SD Expert Workshop on “Evaluating R&I impacts on sustainable development: what role for big data?” (April 2016)
The Institute for Managing Sustainability at the Vienna University of Economics and Business in collaboration with DG Research & Innovation organised an expert workshop on “Evaluating R&I impacts on sustainable development: what role for big data?” which took place on 18 April 2016 in Brussels.
The workshop addressed the challenge of evaluating R&I impacts on Sustainable Development (SD) by exploring how the increasing volumes and types of data – also referred to as „big data“ – could be harnessed for this purpose.
The event brought together professionals from three different fields – big data analysis, SD and R&I evaluation and was an excellent opportunity to share insights, best practices and innovative approaches of using big data for addressing SD challenges and supporting the evaluation of R&I impacts.
Keynote Presentations: