Visions of Sustainable Economic Growth: A Transatlantic Dialogue on Energy, Water, and Innovation

The Organizing Committee for the US-EU Summit on Science, Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Economic Growth met to conclude the Summit “Visions of Sustainable Economic Growth: A Transatlantic Dialogue on Energy, Water, and Innovation”.  The meeting was held on September 11, 2012.

The purpose of the Summit was to examine the critical impacts of investments in science, technology, and innovation on sustainable economic growth.  While the Summit was designed to address the general issue of science, technology and innovation’s impact on sustainable economic growth, it gave specific attention to the critical areas of energy and the environment, and the necessary innovations for achieving a low carbon economy.   The concluding meeting provided a wide ranging discussion of these issues.

The Summit was a two year collaboration of the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy, the European Commission, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and the European Commission.

The meeting had two panel sessions, with the morning session devoted to looking out 30 years for some very specific technologies and energy uses. The afternoon panel looked at a longer time frame, 30 to 50 years, and rather than looking at the future of specific technologies and energy uses, took a broader view and examined specific scenarios that might be feasible for achieving a low carbon future.  The proceedings of the final meeting of the Summit will be published in a special issue on low-carbon futures in the journal Futures.