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Public policy requires public support, which in turn implies a need to enable the public not just to understand policy but also to be engaged in its development. Where complex science and technology issues are involved in policy making, this takes time, so it is important to identify emerging issues of this type and prepare engagement plans. In our horizon scanning exercise, we used a modified Delphi technique. A wide group of people with interests in the science and policy interface (drawn from policy makers, policy adviser, practitioners, the private sector and academics) elicited a long list of emergent policy issues in which science and technology would feature strongly and which would also necessitate public engagement as policies are developed. This was then refined to a short list of top priorities for policy makers. Thirty issues were identified within broad areas of business and technology; energy and environment; government, politics and education; health, healthcare, population and aging; information, communication, infrastructure and transport; and public safety and national security.

AbstractSmart Grids are electrical grids that require a decentralised way of controlling electric power conditioning and thereby control the production and distribution of energy. Yet, the integration of Distributed Renewable Energy Sources (DRESs) in the Smart Grid introduces new challenges with regards to electrical grid balancing and storing of electrical energy, as well as additional monetary costs. Furthermore, the future smart grid also has to take over the provision of Ancillary Services (ASs). In this paper, a distributed ICT infrastructure to solve such challenges, specifically related to ASs in future Smart Grids, is described. The proposed infrastructure is developed on the basis of the Smart Grid Architecture Model (SGAM) framework, which is defined by the European Commission in Smart Grid Mandate M/490. A testbed that provides a flexible, secure, and low-cost version of this architecture, illustrating the separation of systems and responsibilities, and supporting both emulated DRESs and real hardware has been developed. The resulting system supports the integration of a variety of DRESs with a secure two-way communication channel between the monitoring and controlling components. It assists in the analysis of various inter-operabilities and in the verification of eventual system designs. To validate the system design, the mapping of the proposed architecture to the testbed is presented. Further work will help improve the architecture in two directions; first, by investigating specific-purpose use cases, instantiated using this more generic framework; and second, by investigating the effects a realistic number and variety of connected devices within different grid configurations has on the testbed infrastructure.

Alkali activation is a highly active and rapidly developing field of activity in the global research and development community. Commercial-scale deployment of alkali-activated cements and concretes is now proceeding rapidly in multiple nations. This paper reviews the key developments in alkali-activated materials since 2011, with a particular focus on advances in characterisation techniques and structural understanding, binder precursors and activation approaches, durability testing and design, processing, and sustainability. The scientific and engineering developments described in this paper have underpinned the on-going scale-up activities. We also identify important needs for future research and development to support the optimal and appropriate utilisation of alkali activated materials as a component of a sustainable future construction materials industry. The contributions of JLP were supported by the European Research Council 7th Framework Programme, through the Starting Grant “GeopolyConc” (StG-335928), those of C. Shi were supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos. U1305243 and 51378196.

EU Integration raises new requirements to energy sector, including municipal energy sector and improvement of local planning. Important role is assigned to development of energy infrastructure, use of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency. In order to use financial support from EU Structural funds for regional energy development, qualified applications will have to be developed in adequacy with the requirements for the use and control of EU Structural funds. The latter should be developed in the context of regional development programs (including energy sector development), which should be based on info systems. The Laboratory of Regional Energy Development at LEI is developing integrated info system "TAUSA" for this purpose. This info system is formed as server of data bases with respective bases and additional analysis modules. Information for the consumers of info systems could be available at Internet website. Besides indicators on district heating, "TAUSA" will accumulate data on distribution and end use of renewable energy sources at regional level, which permits to assess main macroeconomic indicators in the development of this economic activity. Matrix model for economic activity of preparing local fuel will enable to evaluate inter-branch links for district heating sector and the role of local fuel production in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) creating process. The macroeconomic model under development will help to assess economic benefit from the use of renewable energy sources in the region, including the facts that it improves employment, increases the flow of taxes to municipal budget, paid by the companies employed in this sector, give new business development opportunities.

Management of natural resources is pivotal for sustained economic growth—the increasing ecological footprints causing biocapacity deficit threaten the resource conversation agenda. The study identified the potential causes and consequences of natural resource depletion in a broad cross-section of 138 countries. Ecological footprints, international migrant stocks, industrial value-added, and population growth influenced natural resource capital across countries. The results show that ecological footprints, industrial value-added, and population growth are the detrimental factors of resource capital. In contrast, continued economic growth is helpful to conserve natural resources for future generations. The rise and fall in the natural resource degradation are evident in the wake of international migrants’ stocks to support an inverted U-shaped relationship between them. The Granger causality inferences confirmed the one-way linkages, running from international migrant stocks, economic growth, and population growth to natural resource degradation. It verifies migrants-led, affluence-led, and population-led resource degradation. Ecological footprints Granger causes industrial value-added across countries. The forecasting estimates suggested that economic growth would likely to influenced greater in magnitude to resource degradation by its innovation shocks of 4.791%, followed by international migrant stocks, population growth, ecological footprints, and industrial value added by their innovation shocks of 4.709%, 1.829%, 1.247%, and 0.700%, respectively. The study concludes that international migrant stocks should manage smartly, causing more resource degradation via a channel of increasing biocapacity deficit across countries.

The implementation of sustainability-oriented practices in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has been discussed frequently over the years. Recent studies on sustainability have focused mainly on links between ecological and economic sustainability. This exploratory study aims to explore institutional barriers and facilitators regarding the implementation of sustainability-oriented practices in the Indonesian batik industry and to provide policy recommendations. The Indonesian batik industry is well-known for its cultural heritage and for being part of the Indonesian identity. Batik products are mostly hand-crafted by women crafters. The study used in-depth insights from two focus groups conducted with entrepreneurs active in the batik industry, while also building on earlier empirical insights. The lack of customer knowledge and socio-cultural and regulatory factors were found to be barriers to sustainability in batik SMEs. Ecological, technological, socio-cultural, and political factors were found to facilitate achieving sustainability objectives. This study contributes to the sustainable entrepreneurship and women entrepreneurship literature by considering facilitators and barriers as they are experienced by batik entrepreneurs and by furthering the conceptualization of sustainable entrepreneurs as either “committed” or “followers”.