Harald Wieser

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Senior Researcher at Austrian Institute for SME Research

The transformative turn in research and innovation (R&I) policy calls for new approaches to monitoring and evaluation, yet most evaluands are still rooted in previous policy paradigms. For evaluators tasked with conducting ex-post evaluations, this situation creates multiple challenges that have received little attention to date. In this ‘voice fro...

It's a PhD thesis - but it can be read and even cited ;) Highlights: - an in-depth analysis of how markets can be transformed to support higher levels of product endurance - a holistic analysis of how changes in product endurance come about - a valuation perspective on market innovation processes - a detailed biography of the mobile phone in the U...

The 'circular economy' paradigm is taking hold in the mobile phone sector as a solution to increasing resource use. This paper explores three dimensions of the consumption of mobile phones: timing of replacement, repair, and reuse. Combining quantitative evidence from a large-scale questionnaire survey (n=988) with 25 qualitative household intervie...

Projekte als Organisationsformen nehmen eine herausragende Stellung in der Bewältigung gesellschaftlicher Herausforderungen wie der Energiewende oder dem Übergang zu klimaneutralen Städten ein. Die Wirksamkeit politischer Initiativen hängt somit entscheidend von ihrer Fähigkeit ab, die Ergebnisse aus einzelnen Projekten mit den entsprechenden gesel...

The social economy comprises organizations that 1) primarily pursue social and/or ecological purposes, 2) predominantly reinvest any profits, and 3) are organized in a democratic or participatory manner. The European Union includes the legal forms of the cooperative, the association, the foundation and the mutual insurance association. Furthermore,...

Leaking water infrastructures, heritage tourism, investments in artworks, failing electronics: Durability lies at the heart of a wide range of seemingly unrelated phenomena. In today's economies, which rest on ever-larger stocks of infrastructures, buildings, machinery and household goods, durable things are both a hugely significant source of weal...

Leaking water infrastructures, heritage tourism, investments in artworks, failing electronics: Durability lies at the heart of a wide range of seemingly unrelated phenomena. In today's economies, which rest on ever-larger stocks of infrastructures, buildings, machinery and household goods, durable things are both a hugely significant source of weal...

Leaking water infrastructures, heritage tourism, investments in artworks, failing electronics: Durability lies at the heart of a wide range of seemingly unrelated phenomena. In today's economies, which rest on ever-larger stocks of infrastructures, buildings, machinery and household goods, durable things are both a hugely significant source of weal...

This study reviews the current and future policy relevance of the five mission areas by assessing the research and innovation (R&I), economic, social and environmental trends influencing each area. The ‘societal relevance’ of each of the five mission areas is not contested as they all address complex challenges facing the EU that require action on...

Zusammenfassung The technical summary is aimed at a professional audience and summarizes the most important findings of the report, but without going into all the details. Each chapter is summarized on approximately two pages. For the relevant statements, an evaluation with regard to agreement and literature basis is given. In contrast to the summa...

Zusammenfassung The Summary for Policy Makers presents the main results in condensed form. The summary is the result of an internal coordination process and is therefore supported by all coordinating lead authors. For each statement, the relevant chapters and the correspondence and scope of the literature are indicated. Details on the statements ca...

Zusammenfassung Ein klimafreundliches Leben erfordert Zugang zu Gütern und Dienstleistungen, die sowohl einen geringen CO2-Fußabdruck aufweisen als auch in ihrer Nutzung möglichst wenig Treibhausgase emittieren. Dieses Kapitel geht der Frage nach, inwieweit die bestehende Versorgung mit Gütern und Dienstleistungen durch österreichische Wirtschaftsa...

Zusammenfassung Ziel des Teils ist die umfassende Diskussion von Strukturen in Österreich, die ein klimafreundliches Leben fördern oder behindern bzw. für den Aufbau klimafreundlicher Strukturen als relevant erachtet werden. Strukturen, die beispielsweise im Recht, im politischen System, in der Wirtschaft oder der Raumordnung verankert sind, wirken...

Zusammenfassung Die Zusammenfassung für Entscheidungstragende gibt die wesentlichen Ergebnisse in verdichteter Form wieder. Die Zusammenfassung ist das Ergebnis eines internen Abstimmungsprozess und wird daher von allen koordinierenden Leitautor_innen mitgetragen. Bei jeder Aussage sind die relevanten Kapiteln und die Übereinstimmung und der Umfang...

Zusammenfassung Die technische Zusammenfassung richtet sich an das Fachpublikum und fasst die wichtigsten Ergebnisse des Berichtes zusammen, ohne aber alle Details auszuführen. Jedes Kapitel wird auf ungefähr zwei Seiten zusammengefasst. Hierbei wird bei den relevanten Aussagen eine Bewertung mit Hinblick auf Übereinstimmung und Literaturbasis ange...

The Austrian Research and Technology Report 2023 provides an overview of Austria’s federally funded research, technology and innovation (RTI). Besides the presentation of recent trends in research policy, covering the status of implementation of the RTI Strategy 2030 and the research-relevant sub-strategies as well as the latest developments in hig...

Die jährlich zu erstellenden österreichischen Forschungs- und Technologieberichte widmen sich den aktuellen nationalen und internationalen forschungs- und technologiepolitischen Themen durch Analysen aktueller Entwicklungen und Trends und der Aufbereitung umfangreichen Datenmaterials zu Forschung und Entwicklung. Seit 2020 ist ein jährliches Monito...

This is a first assessment of the implementation of the EU Cities Mission after 2-3 years of implementation. Focusing on cross-sectoral, systemic, and place-based solutions, the ‘Cities Mission’ represents a major effort to achieve climate neutrality in specific urban environments and identify the key levers in the governance and achievement of ur...

Die Zusammenfassung für Entscheidungstragende gibt die wesentlichen Ergebnisse in verdichteter Form wieder. Die Zusammenfassung ist das Ergebnis eines internen Abstimmungsprozess und wird daher von allen koordinierenden Leitautor_innen mitgetragen. Bei jeder Aussage sind die relevanten Kapiteln und die Übereinstimmung und der Umfang der Literatur a...

In der vorliegenden technischen Zusammenfassung werden die wesentlichen Aussagen der Kapitel des APCC SR Strukturen für ein klimafreundliches Leben zusammengefasst. Der Bericht bewertet auf Basis wissenschaftlicher Literatur unterschiedliche Ansätze zur Transformation von Strukturen, damit klimafreundliches Leben in Österreich dauerhaft möglich und...

This technical summary provides an overview of the main statements of the APCC SR Structures for Climate-Friendly Living chapters. Based on scientific literature, the report assesses different approaches for transforming structures in order to make climate-friendly living in Austria possible and make it permanently and quickly the new status quo.

Die Klimafreundlichkeit von KI und dessen Potenziale für den Klimaschutz gewinnen zunehmend Interesse. Vor diesem Hintergrund bietet die Studie eine Wissensgrundlage zur Beurteilung des Klimaschutzpotenzials von KI-Anwendungen und verschafft einen Überblick zu bestehenden Entwicklungen und Praktiken in der Unternehmensförderung. Die vorliegende Ana...

Der Forschungs- und Technolgoiebericht 2022 gibt einen Überblick über die aus Bundesmitteln geförderte Forschung, Technologie und Innovation (FTI) in Österreich. Neben der Darstellung aktueller forschungspolitischer Entwicklungen, die den Stand der Umsetzung der mit Ende 2020 verabschiedeten FTI-Strategie 2030, forschungsrelevante Teilstrategien un...

This article investigates how Theories of Change for transformation-oriented R&I programmes can be designed to better grasp system transformation processes and thereby set the basis for a deeper understanding of transformative impact mechanisms and programme learning. The analysis is based within the realm of the energy system, which is an area of...

The emergence of intellectual property rights (IPR) support services dedicated to valorisation and business hyper-growth represents a relatively recent phenomenon. Focusing on IPR-backed financing, this report provides a guide for business consultants, public authorities, and accelerators on how to design and implement suitable support services for...

Circular Economy frameworks have become central to debates and interventions that aim to reduce global resource use and environmental despoilment. As pathways to both systemic and micro-scale transformations, there remain many challenges to making Circular Economy actionable. One such challenge is facilitating the emergence of the ‘circular consume...

This is a report of the Austrian federal government to the National Council in accordance with Section 8 (2) of the Research Organisation Act (FOG) on the position and the needs of research, technology and innovation in Austria has just been published. Table of Contents Executive Summary p7 1. Current Trends 15 1.1 RTI Strategy 2030 16 1.2 Researc...

Von der Politik wird zunehmend erwartet, dass sie aktiv zur Erreichung gesellschaftlich bzw. politisch festgelegter Umweltziele beiträgt. Vor diesem Hintergrund kann in den vergangenen Jahren auch eine verstärkte Berücksichtigung der Wirkungen der FTI-Politik auf die natürliche Umwelt beobachtet werden. Dies drückt sich sowohl in der Festlegung v...

This chapter takes a critical approach to circular economy research, focusing upon time, space and evolution. It explores the varying roles of products in the CE and the divergent claims in CE discourse relating to the temporal reconfiguration of material flows. The discussion of alternative CE strategies reveals a fundamental tension that sets str...

• The Covid-19 crisis and the response of ‘lockdown’ has globally disrupted the normality of everyday lives, resulting in people abstaining from previous practices, or altering and substituting them; they also learn and adapt to new practices and ways to coordinate and organize everyday lives within the home (page 12). • Understanding the impacts o...

In practice, environmental policy is only moving slowly from a focus on promoting environmental technologies to a focus on greening socio-technical systems. Policy measures to stimulate resource efficiency (RE) typically address the national, sectoral, or company level. This article shows how an analysis addressing practices that citizens engage in...

The 'Circular Economy' (CE) and the 'Sharing Economy' (SE) are two imaginaries of a more sustainable future that gained significant prominence in policy discourse and academic literature in recent years. A central promise and assumption, especially of the latter, is that they deliver more convenient solutions to consumers, relieving them from vario...

Predicted by popular theories of acceleration, such as the theory of planned obsolescence and the rise of a throwaway society, the ever-faster replacement of durable goods is widely assumed in the literature. This paper confronts this assumption with long-term empirical evidence from three distinct cases – wheat seeds, automobiles, and mobile phone...

In the following article the core findings of a research project conducted on behalf of the Chamber of Labour in Vienna will be presented. Using a representative, online questionnaire plus qualitative interviews, the question was posed of how long products were used in private households and why these were then replaced. The investigation did not e...

Im folgenden Artikel werden die zentralen Ergebnisse einer im Jahr 2015 von der Arbeiterkammer Wien durchgeführten Studie vorgestellt. Mittels einer repräsentativen Online-Umfrage sowie einer qualitativen Befragung wurde der Frage nachgegangen, wie lange Produkte in privaten Haushalten genutzt und warum diese ersetzt werden. Die Erhebung orientiert...

The socio-cultural assessment of ecosystem services has been proposed as a promising tool for eliciting people’s preferences towards ecosystem services. Despite an increasing integration of the socio-cultural perspective in ecosystem service research, little knowledge exists about linkages between landscape and the socio-cultural values people assi...

Shrinking product lifespans, whose side-effects include increased natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions, are negatively impacting the environment. The circular economy and bans on built-in obsolescence are widely embraced as solutions to today’s “throwaway society”. The serious limitations of both strategies, however, can be illustrated...

This chapter illustrates that broadening the analysis of practices to characteristics on the part of practice-carriers, as well as to systemic factors, bears improved understanding of reasons for practice variability and opens up practice research to more quantitative methodological approaches. Reminiscent of Reckwitz’s (2002) frequently cited defi...

In this paper, we present empirical evidence from a large-scale questionnaire survey on the average use-times of durable goods and the consumers' desired lifetimes. The results show that consumers' want durable goods to last between 1.7 and 3.6 times longer than they are used. Moreover, we emphasise the difference between desired and expected lifet...

*English abstract - see below* In den vergangenen Jahrzehnten hat sich der materielle Konsum immens beschleunigt, mit der Konsequenz, dass die Umwelt sowie individuelle KonsumentInnen zunehmend unter Druck geraten sind. Vor diesem Hintergrund untersuchte die vorliegende Studie die Nutzungsdauer und Obsoleszenz von Gebrauchsgütern. Dazu wurden im Z...

Five sustainable food shopping practices are investigated: regional, seasonal, non-processed, organic food and meat/fish consumption. For each practice, the constitutive elements as well as country differences are examined. In a second step, the practices are compared and set in relation to each other in order to identify possible spillover effects...

Food consumption is the domestic consumption domain with the largest environmental impact. Fostering change towards more sustainable food purchases is thus key for reducing environmental pressures. In this paper, we adopt a social practice approach to investigate the practice of sustainable food shopping. Using quantitative survey data (n=1,217) an...

Food consumption is the domestic consumption domain with the largest environmental impact. Fostering change towards more sustainable food purchases is thus key for reducing environmental pressures. In this paper, we adopt a social practice approach to investigate the interconnectedness of sustainable food shopping practices. Using quantitative surv...