This group focuses its activity on the analysis of the mechanisms and factors involved in the generation of scientific knowledge, processes of transfer of scientific and technological knowledge to the productive and social sectors and on the study of the social and economic impacts of the science. The main target fields concerned are Biotechnology, Life Sciences, Energy and sustainable technologies and Biomedical sciences. The group is also interested on foresight analysis in order to improve the scientific development of the above mentioned fields.

The group carries out economic, political, public policy and sociological analysis of research and innovation systems and RTDI policies

The adoption of the so-called Open Science increases and diversifies both the actors generating research activity and third parties that may be the object of impact studies (scientific, social, economic, environmental, political) of such activity. The description, analysis, and understanding of an increasingly complex system require an interdisciplinary approach that combines the experience of metric studies and the methodological knowledge of the qualitative approach.

Research on Social Policies and Welfare State from a comparative perspective. Analyses concerning reforms in this area of policies, as well as their impact on the social citizenship of post-industrial democratic societies. The comparative analysis of European Welfare regimes and their reforms pays special attention to the articulation of responsibilities (regulation, financing and provision) between State, market and civil society in the articulation of the productive and reproductive spheres.

Research across (and into) processes of change in rural areas from a geographical perspective, with special attention to the interactions between the social, cultural and environmental dimensions of rural change. Besides present interest the theory and history of rural geography and policy-related research. Traditionally rural areas are spaces of change, recently characterized by their intensity and persistence in all dimensions. The contemporary processes of rural change cover all dimensions of rural life.

The Environmental Economics line of research focuses on problems related with methodological advance on integrated national environmental accounting and non-market services economic valuation on the issues of forest management, agroforestry and silvopastoral systems, renewable energies, climate change, biodiversity, water resources and other ecosystems and natural resources subject to increasing scarcity, and which provide essential public and private goods to sustain the economic wellbeing reached in industrialised societies and the improvement of the quality of life in current societies whos

theoretical and applied research in various areas including industrial organization, finance, regional economics, political economy, macroeconomics, growth, public economics, game theory, experimental economics, labor economics. The contents of most of our research are contained in the global area of Society.

Our institute is organized as a single group, mainly because the main research themes we address are interdependent. The group studies the processes of knowledge generation and use, their contribution to innovation in different areas and oganizational settings, and the design and evaluation of policies addressing these themes. All academic and support staff are assigned to this group, and all the technical and administrative staff support it.