IUWA – The Institute for Eco-Industrial Analyses, Heidelberg was founded in 1992 in the form of a non-profit research institute. The institute is committed to the task of analysing and designing solutions for problems in the field of environmental economics, with a special focus on developing and implementing ecological programmes for individual businesses and intercompany networks, both on a national and an international scale. IUWA works on the basis of forming links between theory and practice in order to gain theoretical-scientific knowledge, which enables the formation not only of new concepts, but also of strategies that can be implemented on a practical level and that will contribute to a more environmentally friendly management.
These objectives are carried out in close cooperation with our business partners (industrial enterprises, chambers of industry and commerce, environmental management networks) and key political decision-makers (ministeries, municipal environmental protection agencies and business promotion agencies) who also serve as cooperation partners in national, international and regional research projects. IUWA Heidelberg has financed itself solely through such research projects since its establishment, including projects on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Federal Foundation for the Environment, the Federal Länder, municipalities and also foreign funding institutions within the EU, Austria and China. The theoretical foundations on which these projects are built were developed in close cooperation with the Heidelberg University. In order to improve communication between science, politics and the economy, IUWA is currently involved in the development and operation of several networks, which are also the subject of scientific research.
As finding solutions to complex eco-industrial problems requires a series of interdisciplinary approaches, the scientists working together at IUWA have different academic backgrounds (economics, social sciences, geoecology, geography, engineering, planning and IT). The events and working groups organised by IUWA promote a creative exchange between science, practice and the business.
Since 1994, IUWA has been publishing the journal “UmweltWirtschaftsForum” (from 2018 “Sustainability Management Forum”), which was founded by IUWA and published by Springer Heidelberg.