Connecting Science Across Borders
Under the theme “Multilateral Scientific Cooperation in a Multiregional Network,” around 100 participants from academia, research management, industry, and government gathered in Munich and Linz from 14–18 June 2026.
The RLS Sciences Conference 2026 was hosted by Bavaria and Upper Austria (Government of Upper Austria in cooperation with the Energieinstitut an der JKU Linz), bringing together partner regions from Bavaria, Georgia, Upper Austria, Québec, São Paulo, Shandong, and the Western Cape.
The conference focused on exchanging ideas on current transformation challenges while strengthening the links between research, industry, and policymaking. Discussions covered a broad range of topics, from energy and climate to digitalization and high technologies, while also exploring new opportunities for international collaboration.
The Energieinstitut contributed to the RLS Energy Network with presentations on hydrogen, industrial decarbonization, Power-to-X, climate policy, sustainable transition pathways, and regional heating infrastructure. In Linz, the Energieinstitut organized and hosted the Energy Network session as well as technical site visits to H2Future at voestalpine and the FutureHeatHighway project at LINZ AG.
A reception hosted by the Governor of Upper Austria, Thomas Stelzer, at the Landhaus in Linz provided a fitting conclusion to the conference and highlighted the strong political support for this international network.
“The RLS Sciences Conference clearly demonstrated the value of long-term international collaboration in applied energy research. The Energy Network, in particular, enabled us to bring together regional experiences, scientific perspectives, and concrete ideas for future cooperation”, said our colleague Sebastian Goers, Coordinator of the RLS Energy Network in Upper Austria.
We would like to thank all partners, organizers, and participants from across the RLS regions for the open exchange and the valuable insights that will help shape our future collaboration.
