XPRO Consulting works to build a bridge between Science, Technology and Policy
STEP-WISE is a project funded by the European Commission, EC, under the Framework Programme 7 (FP7, grant agreement no.: 265308) and it started on the 1st of January 2011 and will run till 31st December 2012
The main goal of the STEP-WISE project is to facilitate bridging the gap between Environmental Science and Policy. The key idea is to expand the already existing WISE-RTD Web Portal, which was implemented under the SPI-Water project. The current version of WISE-RTD serves as a dissemination tool, linking diverse EC Water Framework Directive policy aspects to the EU FP Research (RTD and LIFE) results, thus bridging the science policy gap through information exchange.
XPRO Consulting and its partners will amend WISE-RTD to include also other (EC) Directives that relate to water policies and will expand the current set of intricate algorithms that define science-policy interactions. In addition, the WISE-RTD structure will include environmental technologies focusing on water. FP (and LIFE) funded environmental research projects and results with high EU added value will be identified and selected using preset criteria. By uploading these projects/RTD results using a dedicated tool WPIS (Web Portal Input System) to the WISE-RTD Web Portal, the information automatically become linked to the diverse sets of policy instruments.
The WISE-RTD Web Portal will facilitate the evaluation of whether policy questions have been answered by the RTD outcomes (top down, scientific support to policy), and whether needs from identified stakeholders, e.g. from the environmental water technologies sector, are covered by policy issues (bottom-up). Merging of these two approaches will form the gap-analysis, recommendations towards a better uptake of FP environmental RTD results with tangible impact on economic growth and social welfare.
The policy and science related contents of WISE-RTD, and the two-way gap analyses will form the basis for dissemination using different user-friendly media, including social media. Innovative dissemination tools and activities will direct to different audiences/stakeholders at targeted national and/or international level including policy makers, researchers and industries.
