Growth in Transition works together with the EU-Project WWWforEurope to analyse and discuss the scientific background for the socioecological transition of our economic system.
What kind of development strategy should Europe opt for in the face of the financial crisis and the big challenges ahead: globalisation, demographic shifts, climate change and new technologies? What kind of strategy will guarantee Welfare, Wealth and Work for Europe in the long term? These are the questions an ambitious European research project is working on. Its name is its mission: Welfare, Wealth and Work for Europe – WWWforEurope.
WWWforEurope started in April 2012 as a four year research project within the 7th Framework Programme funded by the European Commission. The consortium brings together researchers from 34 scientific institutions in 12 European countries and is coordinated by the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO). Project coordinator is Karl Aiginger, director of WIFO.
WWWforEurope’s research approach is stricly interdisciplinary: Research team members come from such diverse disciplines as economics, ecology, history, political science, and gender studies. The objective of WWWforEurope is to strengthen the analytical foundation of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. However, it goes far beyond that strategy, laying the analytical basis for socio-ecological change and dynamics and its implementation.
Research in WWWforEurope addresses essential questions:
- What are the challenges to the European welfare state?
- What is the impact of striving for environmental sustainability on growth and employment?
- What is the role of industrial and innovation policy as drivers for change?
- What are necessary adjustments of governance structures at the European level?
- What is the role of the regions in socio-ecological change and dynamics?
Research results are finally bound together in a coherent strategy aiming to reach the ultimate impact of the project: contributing to a socio-ecological change and dynamics to high levels of employment, social inclusion, gender equity and environmental sustainability. For details on WWWforEurope and available research results see: www.foreurope.eu
