Welcome to the International Conference: Environment, Innovation and Sustainable Development
The Conference will take place in Chania during the period October 6 to 10, 2010.
Twenty years after the Brundtland report, the concept of sustainable development is still considered as innovative, even if it is subject to many criticisms. To be sustainable, development must integrate three dimensions: economic, social and environmental. The accomplishment of these three dimensions calls for radical technical and socio-economic innovations.
The climatic preservation and the environmental issue require their transformation into individual and collective "needs". Economic forces and populations, starting with the rich countries, have to recognize that. During the very strong growth of the post-war period, there was an acceleration of the cumulative set of environmentally destructive mechanisms that occurred simultaneously with mass production and consumption. But since these mechanisms have been associated with an important rise in the standard of living, governments, companies, and various associations have tacitly remained silent on ecological questions. Today, the seriousness of the situation is becoming known. Now the modification of the techno-economic paradigm requires cooperative action by all economic and social actors. Sensitizing, and before all the education of the producers and the consumers, is necessary to facilitate the reorientation of economic activities and the creation of new spaces of valorization of productive resources. Collapse of the viability of the "fordist" model (the undifferentiated production and mass consumption), teaches us the strict relationship between public education, aspirations, and the launching of innovative process that must be reconfigured within the paradigm linking technology to economy, and ultimately to social regulation.
The debates on sustainable development have largely dealt with energy and with industrial sectors. Innovation must now be considered as a requirement of environment protection and sustainable development. Alternatives forms of production, consumption and organization in agriculture, services and industry have remained in the background of the debate. It is surprising if one considers their weight in the added value of developed countries and the problems of sustainability faced by some of them, notably in the transport and communication services, new environmental friendly products, energy consumption, etc.
Merchant and non merchant services for example are at the centre of a myriad of technical, social and organizational changes. For these changing sectors, sustainable development is a set of constraints as well as of opportunities. The content of technological, social or organizational innovation must be better understood and subject to analysis.
Communication proposals should take account of the problematic of environment and innovation, with three main dimensions: economic development and innovation, the management of innovation and applied research, and engineering. They should relate to the fields of economics, management, law, engineering, or be interdisciplinary. The proposals should be academic but they may also present practical experiences, in enterprises and other institutions. The following list of themes is not restrictive and a proposal of sessions is possible (with four to five communications each).
