European science conversations
by the community, for the community
In environmental and ecological economics, nature is the metasystem, and embedded in it is society with its subsystem economy. Read more [...]
With Panama papers, we got a clear demonstration how the human societies are spoilt worldwide by the obsession of top-down spheres for compulsive self-enrichement and nepotism. The huge work developed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists will Read more [...]
This issue shares the perspectives from scientists and economics, as well as various actors involved in resolving societal challenges and changing the current economic order from a top-down hierarchy to a more distributed and horizontal governance, to favour localisation and greater equity between all involved. Read more [...]
The huge public funds made available for scientific research after the second World War, were expected to lead to industrial development, economic growth and a general improvement of living standards. Yet, this model has been questioned for a few year. Everywhere in the world, revisiting the social contract between science and society is becoming urgent; it is time to adapt such contract to the realities of the 21st century. Read more [...]
Our democracies have bugs, lack user-friendly features and under-perform. Above all, they are in need of major upgrades. Political and economic systems are failing us because they are structured vertically through top-down hierarchies. Instead we need to adopt a new economic system, driven by principles related to “act local, think global" philosophy. In this stimulating opinion piece, Lorenzo Fioramonti, director of the Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation, in South Africa, shares his vision about creating a highly integrated horizontal economic system.
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Austrian writer Christian Felber proposes to switch the drivers of the economy. Replacing current money-orientated indicators of economic success by criteria such as quality of life, fulfilment of human needs and fundamental values. In an opinion piece, he shares how he believes the economy for the common good could happen. Read more [...]
Common resources are best managed by the people who most benefit from them
In last year’s November sales, the Chinese technology platform Alibaba handled peak traffic of 80,000 orders per second. This is an incredible feat, matched, if not exceeded, Read more [...]
As the forum of social and solidarity economy leaders, dubbed Rencontres du Mont-Blanc, is about to take place between 26 and 28 November 2015, in Chamonix, France, its president, Thierry Jeantet, calls for more scientists to be involved in the social and solidarity economy sector to try and find a virtuous path for growth, hinging on research and innovation. Read more [...]
The positive perception of the public towards science is dictated by its altruistic pursuit of the common good—unlike politics and economics. However, to demonstrate its societal utility, science must point to compliance with expectations from economy and politics. Mastering the interplay between science, politics and economics is a delicate balancing act. And it is one of the major challenges in the way science portrays itself to the public. Particularly in the context where science has increasingly tied this self-representation to economic performance and made its complex processes appear trivial to garner public acceptance. Read more [...]
The State is not just a market-failure fixer, it has to be active in investing in innovation
Mariana Mazzucato is a professor of economics of innovation at SPRU in the University of Sussex, UK. She presents her research in an internationally known book Read more [...]
EuroScientist journal 
