On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Energieinstitut an der Johannes Kepler University Linz, this year’s Forum Econogy 2022 offered, in addition to a short review of the development of the Energieinstitut, an exciting outlook on the importance and perspectives of energy research in the next 20 years. The Ukraine war as well as the current price developments clearly reflect the necessity of intensifying the transformation of the energy system, which was intensively addressed during the event.
Landesrat Markus Achleitner, President of the Energieinstitut an der JKU Linz, again performed the official opening of Forum Econogy this year. He congratulated the Energieinstitut an der JKU Linz on its 20th birthday and emphasized in his opening remarks the importance of energy research for Upper Austria as a business location and for the European economies.
Afterwards, Dr. Robert Tichler, Managing Director of the Energieinstitut an der JKU Linz, gave a brief overview of the developments at the Energieinstitut over the last 20 years and also referred to the most important factors for successful energy research “Success is based on three key factors: on an outstanding team of researchers*, on optimal framework conditions by the stakeholders and on exciting and constructive cooperation with other institutions”, said Robert Tichler.
This year’s keynote was held jointly by Prof. Dr. Claudia Kemfert (DIW Berlin), who was connected virtually, and Prof. Dr. Friedrich Schneider, Scientific Director at the Energieinstitut. Both presented in detail the challenges as well as the economic benefits of the energy transition.
This was followed by a discussion on “The role of energy research in the context of society as a whole” with the participants Prof. Dr. Claudia Kemfert (DIW Berlin), Markus Achleitner, Prof. Dr. Reinhold Lang (JKU Linz) and Prof. Dr. Thomas Kienberger (University of Leoben).
In the second part of the event, a discussion round was held on the topic of “Which developments will have a significant influence on the energy system in 2040?” with General Director Prof. DDr. Werner Steinecker (Energie AG), Board Director Mag. DI Josef Siligan (Linz AG), Ass.-Prof. Dr. David Finger (Energieinstitut) and DI Theodor Zillner (BMK).
The basic tenor of the discussion was that the importance of energy research for our society continues to increase, but that above all it must be possible to make the results more accessible to the specialist public and the general public.
