Institute of Baltic Studies
Balti Uuringute Instituut
IBS is an independent non-profit research and development centre that aims at assisting the development of public policy in the Baltic Sea region by providing high-quality socio-economic analysis. The IBS main areas of expertise fall into three broad domains: science, technology and innovation policy, industrial economics and regional development; social cohesion policies in the areas of labour, migration and development, immigrant integration and gender aspects; and policy analysis, policy and programme evaluation and impact assessment studies related to the abovementioned. As IBS has a long and proven track-record in scientific research funded by the European Commission, IBS is one of the most successful non-university research organisations in Estonia in terms of participation in European Framework Programmes. Over the years, IBS has implemented dozens of joint projects (mainly FP5, FP6 and FP7) as well as numerous national and cross-regional projects with government, academic and business institutions and NGOs from all around the world.
Role in the project
IBS will coordinate and carry out several analytical and evaluation tasks of the project and is responsible for the Replication WP in the project. IBS will contribute mostly into WP 2 for methodology developments and solution engineering, in addition to supporting the execution of tasks in Tartu LH. IBS will also develop the participative foresight methodology for the consortium and test this process throughout the project with the aim to integrate these methodologies for each city planning process and enable the planning of involved cities to be truly smart and ensure innovative ecosystems in the long run.