Publications Sustainable Production, Challenges and Objectives for EU Research Policy

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Publications : Growth (Competitive and Sustainable Growth)



This is the final report (ref EUR 19880) produced by the Expert Group on 'Competitive and Sustainable Production & Related Service Industries in Europe in the Period to 2020', within the programme of 'Competitive and Sustainable Growth'. The group was established by the Commission services using Experts drawn from the STRATA (strategic analysis) data base. It met six times in 2000 and 2001 to consider the requirements for sustainable production systems in Europe and the implications for RTD policies in the EU.

The purpose of the report was to address:

• the specific objectives and priorities in this area, and in particular actions to be supported at EU level.
• the appropriate combination of means of action to achieve these objectives, consistent with the broad policy framework defined in the Commission's communication 'Towards a European Research Area'
• the articulation and complimntarity between research policy and other policies, and between their instruments.

The context is that production systems have considerable economic, environmental and social significance. Presently manufacturing contributes some 20% of European gross value added, employs around 30% of the European workforce and contributes about 25% of the waste, green house gasses and NO₂ generated in Europe.

The working group developed a vision of a European system of production for the prospective period in which human ingenuity, capital, resources and needs are harnessed and governed so people can live better lives while consuming less material resources and energy. This system is sustainable when production and consumption support the quality of individual and social life in ways that are economically successful while respecting environmental limits within the changing context of local/global conditions.

The report suggests that this vision requires a more integrated view of the area of inovation, with a focus on sufficiency. The report outlines the thinking that guides this orientation, rather than setting out more concrete policies and actions. This fits with the notion that innovations have to be designed by actors who know a specific production system, rather than by a small group of experts.

In particular the report suggests that accelerating the shift towards self-sufficiency requires broader, more flexible policy instruments than are provided by nthe present support for collaborative R&D projects. Some suggestions include:

• 100% funding for search exercises for key socio-techical systems to generate ideas about sufficiency
• funding support for remodelling R&D infrastructure to meet the new context of interaction with industry the establishment of international competence networks
• changes in policy administration, to be multi-disciplinary, possibly open to continuous interaction with EU experts and supported RTD partnerships, that might involve continous process evaluation of and mid-term correction in projects.

A design framework of six concurrent processes is proposed as a response to the deficiencies of the present system of RTD and the obstacles to sufficiency in Europe. These include:

• The generation of ideas for innovative approaches
• Understanding of socio-technical systems
• Resolving the barriers to change
• Supporting enabling technologies
• Engaging various actors to participate in the process of learning and change
• Demonstrating and disseminating these processes.

The proposed framework, it is suggested, provide the elements for 'design guide for sufficiency'.

These ideas are developed and expressed in more detail within the following section heads:

• Task and content
• Introduction and background
• An Integrated Arena for Innovation
• Analysis
• Linking Competitiveness and sustainability in business
• Overall policy challenge
• Conclusions
• Appendix 1. Examples of sufficiency through product extension
• Appendix 2. Selling performance versus selling products