The mission of IPTS is to provide customer-driven support to the EU policy-making process by developing science-based responses to policy challenges that have both a socio-economic as well as a scientific/technological dimension.
We call this “techno-economics”. Our techno-economic research is carried out by multi-disciplinary teams that bring together socio-economic and scientific/technological expertise. Their analyses are underpinned by specialised research tools, both quantitative, for example modelling, and qualitative, for example foresight.
The Institute's main competences consist in providing policy option analysis and policy impact assessment, analysing the socio-economics of new technologies, delivering techno-economic tools and platforms to our customers, and managing information exchange and consensus-building among policy-makers and stakeholder on highly complex techno-economic issues (something that we call "bureau services").
The Institute's activities mainly contribute to the conception and development of EU policies, but some IPTS projects also support the monitoring and implementation phases of the policy cycle. Our research focuses on policy challenges of strategic importance to the European Union.
The Institute's work programme, based on "Actions" (or macro-projects), cover the fields of research policy and techno-economic foresight, sustainable development, industrial and clean technologies, energy, transport, agriculture and rural development, and the information society.
