The European Green Deal sets out an ambitious vision for Europe to take the lead in implementing the UN 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals. Science and technology, through technological and social innovation, must play a central role in achieving these goals.
The administration is therefore trying to analyze the shift of STI performance focused on human needs to a more inclusive concept called “ecosystem performance”, which also takes into account the needs of the environment and seeks symbiosis between them.
To support this transformation, the European Commission’s Directorate – General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) published the report ” S&T&I For 2050 ” Ecosystem Performance – Accelerating Sustainability Transitions ). This report examines challenges that have the potential to fundamentally change the dynamics between society and nature.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, there has been a significant change in expectations regarding the development of science, technology and innovation. This change occurred when the fields of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science (NBIC) were recognized as converging disciplines that open up new possibilities for improving human capabilities. Today, societal challenges have shifted towards global threats to human health and the health of the planet. This shift is evident when mapping the most dynamic STI directions today. Currently, more areas of STI are specifically concerned with ecosystem performance than twenty years ago. Among the most dynamic areas , in addition to artificial intelligence, biotechnology, nanotechnology and data science, we also find ecology and environmental health, environmental planning and environmental engineering, agricultural sciences and agricultural engineering.
In order to support research and innovation policy while observing these trends, the administration provides 3 different theoretical frameworks based on the synthesis of different schools of thought :
1. “Protection and restoration of ecosystems”, which refers to the preservation of ecosystems through the management of the impact of human activities;
2. “Co-creation of social-ecological systems”, which refers to the simultaneous development of social practices and ecological processes towards resilience and restoration of sustainability;
3 . “Caring within hybrid collectives”, which focuses on creating caring relationships in new collectives with people and other entities on the same level.
The study used these scenarios to highlight the importance of rapidly developing science and technology in contributing to sustainability and to present different approaches to research and innovation policy-making and programmes.
The findings of this study will further inform the preparation of Horizon Europe’s second strategic plan to improve its support for sustainable development.