JIASA: Developing aResearch Strategy

theprojects. We wantedtolearnmoreaboutIIASA's Whenwechosethename"International Institute forpotential, andwewerestriving tofindtheunique contriApplied Systems Analysis" weconsidered systems analysis bution IIASA could maketoscience, andtointernational notasatechnique orsetoftechniques butasanapproach problem-solving toproblem-solving. Ourapproach includes careful definition Inretrospect, ourapproach wasright. Ithaspermitted ofaproblem anditsbounds, theobjectives ofthepolicy- us,inonlytwoyears, torealize promising scientific results. maker, andthealternatives hefaces. Ourjobisnottomake Whenwestarted toimplement aresearch plan, westarted thedecision, buttoorganize theavailable information so fromstrength. Early inournegotiations, Ihadenjoyed astoenable thedecision-maker toevaluate hisalternatives several longdiscussions withWolfHaefele, adistinguished andmeethisobjectives effectively. nuclear physicist fromtheFederal Republic ofGermany. During theplanning meetings thatimmediately followed Deeply concerned about theenergy options available inthe thesigning oftheCharter, itwasvirtually impossible to longterm-in theyear2000-and thesystems implications achieve aconsensus ononeortwomajor research areasofthoseoptions, Prof.Haefele longed toinitiate an forIIASA.Theindividuals present andtheinstitutions international effort tosystematize existing knowledge and andgroups they represented hadverydifferent ideas aboutformulate amethodology forcomparison ofoptions. Knowlhow IIASA's research programshouldbestructured. -edge wasfragmented, pockets oftechnical expertise existed Furthermore, there werenoguidelines tohelp usnarrowthe ineachcountry, andacoordinator ofexisting research was field. No oneknewwhichprojects wouldsucceed; whichsorely needed. WithProf. Haefele asleader, IIASAcomwouldfounder. We could notpredict theinstitutional and menced onaproject toprovide that coordination. scientific barriers thatmight arise toprevent eventhe Ibelieve ourdecision waswise. Bytheendof1974, wehad bestconceived plan fromsucceeding. We hadfewnotionsalmost completed acomprehensive description ofthenuclear ofwhichscientists we wouldbeabletorecruit during option, withspecial emphasis onenvironmental effects, and ourfirst twoorthree years. hadbegunphasing inananalysis ofsolar power. Thisyear, Asaresult, ourrather complex negotiations yielded a wehavebegunactual comparison ofthenuclear andsolar portfolio ofinterrelated projects. Theportfolio included options andstarted workoncoalandother fossil fuel options. By1976, weshall bereadytoexamine thegeo