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This report presents the key elements discussed at the symposium 'Interdisciplinarity for the Net-Zero Transition', organised on 3 November 2022 in the lead-up to COP27. The event discussed the actions that universities and research organisations are taking to tackle the climate crisis. Speakers presented examples and experiences from their organisations to inspire other organisations to engage with the Net-Zero Transition. The goal is to mobilise other stakeholders to join efforts to more effectively and rapidly address climate change.

This report aims to identify activities for science-informed policy making, to map those funded and performed by Science Europe Member Organisations, and suggests some recommendations. It is based on a survey held among Science Europe Member Organisations and a subsequent focus group.

The climate crisis and digitalisation are complex societal challenges requiring science-based knowledge to address. While, interdisciplinarity is a long-standing challenge, together with related notions such as trans- and cross-disciplinarity, which Science Europe addressed in 2018 (see the “’Symposium Report on Interdisciplinarity”). Interdisciplinary research is commonly considered better suited to tackle the so-called ‘Green and Digital Transition’ as it can mobilise different disciplines working together for a common goal. While science and scientific disciplines constantly evolve and have no fixed borders, this report proposes to conceive interdisciplinarity as a space for experimenting research practices. This experimental approach is strategic and needed for both research funding and performing organisations, as well as for other actors of the research ecosystem who want to address the climate crisis and digitalisation. From this perspective, this report aims to address two main objectives. Mapping the existing experiences of interdisciplinary research addressing the Green and Digital Transition funded and performed by Science Europe (SE) member organisations; and, Proposing recommendations to reinforce, develop and improve interdisciplinary research activities for the Green and Digital Transition. &nbsp

Report of the 8 November 2021 Symposium 'Science for Net-Zero Transition', co-organised by CESAER, the International Sustainable Campus Network, Science Europe, and the University of Strathclyde, as a side-event to COP26.

Sinds de jaren 1980 zijn bedrijven en openbare besturen geneigd zich op hun kernactiviteiten te focussen en taken als IT, beveiliging, catering en schoonmaak uit te besteden. De jongste jaren zien we echter een omkering van deze tendens in vele organisaties, die sommige van deze activiteiten opnieuw intern gaan uitvoeren. Een proces dat we “backsourcing” noemen. Het doel van dit artikel is om te onderzoeken in welke mate activiteiten werden uitbesteed in de Brusselse gewestelijke besturen, wat de impact daarvan is op de betrokken medewerkers en organisaties en hoe de belanghebbenden staan tegenover een eventuele backsourcing van laaggekwalificeerde banen. In het kader van een multidisciplinair project van BSI voor Talent.Brussels hebben onze bevindingen aangetoond dat beslissingen over in- en outsourcing complex en multidimensionaal zijn en dat ze niet enkel gebaseerd mogen zijn op kostenoverwegingen.

While R&D activities are known for being unevenly distributed across space, how EU policy contributed to their regional dynamics is less explored. Since the 1980s, the EU Framework Programmes (FP) have promoted and supported transnational R&D projects through open and highly competitive calls for funding driven by ‘scientific excellence’ regardless of location. This paper aims to show the drivers of this spatial distribution and evolution of FP participations, arguing that this depends on cumulative effects of regional economic development and growth, while scientific specialization rarely is the best strategy to improve regional competitiveness in terms of FP participations., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

This chapter explores the functioning of ‘ordinary’ citizen knowledge in decision-making processes of urban planning, policy and development processes. It aims to understand how urban governance can better utilise non-expert types of knowledge as a way to respond to pressing societal challenges in the 21st century. By presenting a controversial case study about the wastewater injections in the Dutch Twente region, located in the east of the Netherlands, the chapter highlights the importance of combining diverse types of (expert and non-expert) knowledge and expertise to achieve a more holistic form of ‘smart’ urban governance in the future.

The Netherlands has pioneered the use of open data by public authorities, driven by a desire to exploit existing local government information and data to help solve other kinds of policy problem, to improve transparency of decision-making and to stimulate data commercialisation. But recently emphasis has shifted from improving transparency to improving municipality service delivery and policy development. In this chapter we question whether open data can improve regional decision-making. Drawing on a case study of a region in the east of the Netherlands, we identify potential opportunities for, and barriers to, using open data in delivering smart social cities.

While knowledge is intangible, research and development (R&D) activities are known for being unevenly distributed across space. Since the 1980s, cross-national knowledge flows have dramatically increased, and the EU has played a major role in this field with policies such as the Framework Programmes (FP). In this perspective, the “European Research Area” (ERA) was proposed as a framework to support transnational R&D projects and to enhance mobility of students and scholars. Although the ERA is without geographical scope, these policies have different territorial impacts. For this purpose, we aim to propose a geographical perspective of the ERA with a specific focus on Brussels as the “European research capital.”

How to build the local capacity to address grand societal challenges such as climate change, ageing and unemployment? While routine policy making is already challenging, addressing complex challenges also requires advanced knowledge, in terms of information on complex phenomena, models to interpret this information, and tools that can be implemented. However, cities have limited staff and few resources to carry out context-specific research to deal with complex issues. Focusing on the role of knowledge for policy making, this contribution aims to provide an innovative framework on how cities could manage and develop their cognitive resources to improve their capacity to cope with grand societal challenges and thereby develop strategies that will promote ‘policy resilience’ of European cities.