28 January 2014. The research results are intended to provide scientifically founded decision-making bases for trade and industry and for politics. In this way, the University of St.Gallen and its partners from academia and practice will make a contribution to the implementation of the Swiss Energy Strategy 2050.

“The success of the energy turnaround does not only depend on technological factors but is also crucially determined by economic and societal questions. With the new competence centre, we want to develop innovative solutions to the challenges of the future of energy. Besides interdisciplinary basic research, we will also pay a great deal of attention to application- and outcome-oriented approaches in research, teaching and executive education,” says Prof. Dr. Rolf Wüstenhagen. The holder of the Chair of the Management of Renewable Energies at the Institute for Economy and the Environment of the University of St.Gallen will run the newly created Center, which will become operative from May 2014.

Expert knowledge for the energy turnaround
Besides the Institute for Economy and the Environment, another four institutes are involved: the Institute for Operations Research and Computational Finance (ior/cf-HSG), the Institute of Technology Management (ITEM-HSG), the Institute for Political Science (IPW-HSG) and the Research Institute for Information Law (FIR-HSG). “I’m particularly pleased that the new Center will pool the expertise of five institutes of the University of St.Gallen from the fields of management, finance, political science and law. The Center is therefore very much in line with our vision of providing impulses for current problems in the economy and in society as a globally recognised place of thought leadership,” says HSG President Prof. Dr. Thomas Bieger.

Close cooperation with external research partners
The City of St.Gallen, which plays a pioneering role with its 2050 Energy Concept, will be in close cooperation with the new Center. “We expressly welcome this initiative and perceive a concrete need for application- and outcome-oriented research for us. We therefore support the Center and expect answers to questions asked in economic and social science research, as well as crucial impulses for the implementation of St.Gallen’s Energy Concept,” says Fredy Brunner, Director of Municipal Utilities.

St.Gallen Center as part of a nationwide initiative
The Center for Energy Innovation, Governance and Investment (EGI-HSG) is part of the Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research (SCCER CREST) in the sphere of activities “Economy, Environment, Law, Behaviour”. This national competence centre is being funded by the Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI) with a budget of CHF 11m for the period of 2014-2016. CHF 2.4m of these funds will flow to St.Gallen.

The CTI plans that these federal funds will be bulked up by the actors’ own resources and third-party funds at a ratio of 3:1. For this purpose, the institutes involved will apply for further competitive fields of research and cooperate with research partners from industry and public administration. The scheme is scheduled to continue in the period of 2017-2020, provided that the SCCERs fulfil expecations.

Picture: Photocase / bit.it