International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

History

IIASA was established by a charter signed on 4 October 1972 by representatives of the Soviet Union, the United States, and ten other countries from the Eastern and Western blocks at The Royal Society in London. It was the culmination of six years’ effort driven forward by both the US President Lyndon Johnson and the USSR Premier Alexei Kosygin. For IIASA, it was the beginning of a project to use scientific cooperation to build bridges across the Cold War divide and to confront growing global problems on a truly international scale. The first scientist arrived at IIASA in June 1973.

IIASA built international multidisciplinary teams to confront innumerable global challenges both long-standing and emerging. For example, a study on water pollution carried out in the 1980s by a team of IIASA chemists, biologists, and economists still forms the basis of modern water policy design in Japan, USA, and the former USSR.

IIASA's approach of bringing together different nationalities and disciplines to work toward common goals has now been widely imitated, for example, in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme.

Instead of closing in the 1990s upon the end of the Cold War, the institute broadened its mandate from bridging East and West to a general global focus. Today, IIASA brings together a wide range of scientific skills to provide science-based insights into critical policy issues in international and national debates on global change.

Current research

The IIASA mission is to provide scientific guidance to policymakers by finding solutions to global problems through applied systems analysis in order to improve human well-being and protect the environment. The institute is at the forefront of promoting science diplomacy and fostering debates about how science can help build trust between nations and support foreign policies.

The Vienna Statement on Science Diplomacy, a document created by IIASA, advocating for a renewed global commitment to international scientific cooperation to help countries build stronger relations for the benefit of all of humanity, has been endorsed by close to two hundred eminent personalities from the academic and policymaking community, including H.E. Ban Ki-moon, 8th UN Secretary-General and Co-chair of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens, and H.E. Tarja Halonen, 11th President of the Republic of Finland and member of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation.

In 2021, IIASA embarked on a new strategy to develop and apply systems science to support transformations to sustainability. Building on almost fifty years experience in systems science, the IIASA Strategy 2021-2030 positions the institute to be the primary destination for integrated systems solutions and policy insights to current, emerging, and novel global sustainability challenges, threats, and opportunities. The strategy combines three integrated pillars—research, impact enhancement, and implementation—to deliver on this vision.

To support the IIASA strategy, the institute also implemented a re-designed research structure to enhance the integration of scientific work across the institute and so strengthen IIASA as it navigates the global system of systems. The new structure has two tiers consisting of six research programs which are in turn split into research groups, with the option to activate or deactivate groups as priorities change: Advancing Systems Analysis, Biodiversity and Natural Resources, Economic Frontiers, Energy, Climate, and Environment, Population and Just Societies, and Strategic Initiatives.

Major projects

Ten IIASA scientists were among the authors of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (the work of the IPCC, including the contributions of many scientists, was recognized by the joint award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize). IIASA researchers are major contributors to Working Groups II and III of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report and are invited contributors to Working Groups I, II and III of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report.

The Greenhouse Gases – Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS) model was launched in 2006 as an extension to the RAINS model which is used to assess cost-effective response strategies for combating air pollution, such as fine particles and ground-level ozone. The Chinese Government officially adopted GAINS in 2019 to strengthen air quality management in the country.

The IIASA led Arctic Futures Initiative (AFI), in collaboration with the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs culminated in a report that considered how different Arctic actors define and address issues around the human dimension, governance, international cooperation, environmental protection, pollution, climate change, security, safety, economy, tourism, infrastructure, and science and education.

IIASA is a core member of the Food and Land Use (FOLU) Coalition that brings together stakeholders from academia and the public and private sectors to identify and advance solutions that deliver food security, healthy and affordable diets, halt biodiversity loss, restore and protect ecosystem services, and mitigate climate change and environmental pollution.

A partnership with the Global Environment Facility and the UN Industrial Development Organization, the Integrated Solutions for Water, Energy, and Land (ISWEL) project, developed tools and capacities for the cohesive management of water, energy, and land resources in the Indus and Zambezi basins.

Together with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), IIASA initiated the Food Agriculture Land Use Biodiversity and Energy (FABLE) Consortium as a knowledge platform. FABLE brings together research and policy teams from 20 developed and developing countries to advance analytical tools and model-aided decision support to analyze the ability of development pathways to meet national aspirations, while also collectively aligning with, among others, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.

The IIASA Challenges and Opportunities for Economic Integration within a wider European and Eurasian Space project served as a platform where key stakeholders could engage in evidence-based dialogue. In 2018 the project published three reports containing analyses and recommendations in several important areas. The first report compared product standards and technical regulations in the region and revealed that the Eurasian Economic Union has already adopted international standards more fully than previously realized. The second report on foreign direct investment highlighted that capital flows between the European Union and Russia are declining. The third report looked at trans-Eurasian land transport corridors and argued that enhancing trade between Europe and Asia would require increased capacity, the removal of infrastructure bottlenecks, harmonization of regulatory environments, and enhanced associated investments.

Since 2010, IIASA is one of the three "pillar institutions" of the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital.

The IIASA's Global Energy Assessment was released in 2012. The report was a result of the collaborative and integrated work of over 500 authors, analysts and reviewers worldwide who contributed independent, scientifically based and policy-relevant analysis of current and emerging energy issues and options. The assessment provides an analysis of energy-related issues including sustainable development, poverty eradication, climate change mitigation, health, energy security, and energy access.