Technological innovations for achieving the SDGs
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure peace and prosperity for all. A global research initiative established by IIASA provides information and guidance to policymakers for the successful implementation of these important goals.
Pioneering a new approach to systems transformations
One of the greatest challenges the world faces is how to limit climate change to below 1.5˚C. A groundbreaking IIASA study demonstrated the benefits of following an end-use, low energy demand (LED) strategy that does not rely on so-called negative emissions technologies.
Analyzing potential shocks to financial systems
Understanding the dynamics of an emerging economy like Mexico requires insight into the shocks that could impact its external financial account and particularly its stock market. IIASA researchers analyzed interactions between risk and financial interrelations to provide policy recommendations aimed at lessening or avoiding risk.
Improving descriptions of biodiversity dynamics
Eco-evolutionary models are becoming increasingly important for biodiversity management as they enhance the realism of how underlying processes are represented. IIASA researchers contributed towards improving descriptions of biodiversity dynamics by using newly available data and incorporating evolutionary processes into ecological models.
Policy advice informed by evolutionary fisheries science
Fishing not only affects the numbers of fish, but also their heritable characteristics through evolutionary changes. IIASA research in this area sheds light on how fish reproduce under increasing fishing pressure, which has important implications for the regulation of fisheries.
Facilitating the sustainable use of common resources
Ensuring the sustainable use and preservation of common resources is one of the major challenges facing humanity over the next century. Three studies undertaken by IIASA researchers in 2018 looked into conditions that would make this possible.
Understanding ecological resilience through network science
People depend on ecosystems for food and other environmental services. In 2018, a number of IIASA projects focused on methods from network science that link resilience with the structure and interconnectedness of these systems.
Supporting decision making under uncertainty
The need to account for uncertainty when making decisions is at the core of systems analysis, be it for decisions around crop allocation or the choice of technologies in the energy and water industries.
Exploring the impact of digitalization
With the advent of the internet and the expansion of the digital economy, an increasing portion of consumption cannot be evaluated in monetary terms and attributed in the traditional way. IIASA research explored the impact of digitalization on economies.
Enhancing resilience to systemic risk
The chance that the collapse of one institution leads to the collapse of an entire system is known as systemic risk. IIASA researchers investigated this emergent phenomenon in networks and suggested approaches to its management.