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P 091230Z APR 09
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UNCLAS UNVIE VIENNA 000157 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR R/PPR Helen Zoltanski, OES/SAT Hodgkins, STAS Reynolds, 
Please also pass to Special Adviser to the Under Secretary for 
Democracy and Global Affairs 
White House for OSTP, Please also pass to NSF 
USDA for Forest Service 
DOE for Office of Science 
SECSTATE PLEASE PASS USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KSCA NAS AORC PGOV AU
SUBJECT: IIASA Council Accelerates Strategic Planning 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1.  (U) The IIASA Council, governing body of the International 
Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), met on March 27 to 
discuss the new strategic plan and agreed to core principles that 
will guide the process toward the June Council meeting.  The Council 
reached consensus on the need for IIASA to narrow its focus to a few 
major global problems, increase its policy relevance, and focus on 
interlinkages, rather than sub-systems.  New Director Detlof von 
Winterfeldt, who assumed his post on January 1, 2009, has nominated 
a writing committee that will produce a draft strategic plan by the 
end of April to the National Member Organizations (NMOs).  NMOs will 
then have several weeks to review and comment on the paper and a 
second draft will be distributed shortly before the Council meeting 
on 7-9 June.  End summary. 
 
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Director Seeks Streamlined Research, More Engagement 
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¶2.  (U) In a meeting the week before the Council meeting, von 
Winterfeldt said that the last strategic plan, which was implemented 
in 2000, had mixed results.  Although its objective of globalizing 
IIASA's membership was met, the research plan was too disparate, 
balkanizing the Institute and detracting from one of its core 
strengths, interdisciplinary systems analysis.  The director wants 
to streamline IIASA's 12 programs and four special projects into 3-5 
core clusters that conduct research on interconnected global 
problems. 
 
¶3.  (U) Another priority is increasing engagement with NMOs and 
establishing a dialogue to make IIASA more responsive to member 
state needs.  Von Winterfeldt wants to establish links within 
government agencies to ensure that IIASA's work has policy impact. 
He is preparing customized brochures for each NMO summarizing how 
IIASA has benefitted individual states.  He praised his predecessor 
Leen Hoordijk for globalizing IIASA's membership, calling it his 
greatest legacy.  He noted that Estonia had resigned its membership, 
but Malaysia was close to joining, and the Institute continued to 
pursue the membership of the U.K. and France. 
 
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Scientists Call for "Solution-Oriented" Programs 
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¶4.  (U) Arild Underdal of Norway, Chairman of the Scientific 
Advisory Council (SAC) presented the views of the SAC on the 
strategic plan.  The SAC agreed that IIASA needed a more focused 
research agenda, with better integration of programs, and with 
science at the core of the mission.  The SAC proposed increasing 
IIASA's policy relevance by making its programs "science-based and 
solution-oriented" and by providing menus of options for policy 
makers.  IIASA's strategic plan should build on its strengths, which 
the SAC identified as science-based modeling and analysis, focus on 
global problems, integrated interdisciplinary assessments, policy 
independence, and networks and collaboration. 
 
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Member Organizations Weigh In 
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¶5.  (U) Representatives from 15 National Member Organizations (NMOs) 
were present (Austria, China, Egypt, Finland, India, the 
Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Republic of Korea, Russia, 
South Africa, Sweden, Ukraine, and the United States), and nearly 
every country contributed to the discussion.  The South African 
representative emphasized that the first task should be refining 
IIASA's identity, especially in light of the expanded membership. 
Furthermore, capacity-building should be integrated into IIASA 
programs rather than added as an afterthought.  Pakistan shared this 
view.  The U.S. said the only way to attract NMO interest was 
through a broad global agenda.  Pakistan agreed, adding that the 
proposed holistic approach that linked climate change, food, water, 
and energy was very fruitful.  The U.S. NMO also said that 
"negotiation" should be added to the list of core strengths, an 
allusion to the Processes of International Negotiation (PIN) 
program, and India said that the "science" in science-based modeling 
should include social science.  Russia recommended an influx of new 
brains and new ideas, which should be facilitated by a mandatory 
rotation of IIASA staff, a proposal supported by Sweden, which also 
called for integrating gender equality into all IIASA programs. 
 
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Emerging Consensus on Strategic Plan 
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¶6.  (U) After discussions, von Winterfeldt presented a list of 
principles to guide the writing team in the preparation of the first 
draft of the strategic plan.  This consensus included: 
 
-- focus on 3-4 major global problems 
-- increase policy relevance 
-- conduct global research with local collaboration 
-- focus on interlinkages, not sub-systems 
-- develop multiple capacities, including systems integration, 
innovation, and outreach 
-- strengthen education and capacity building. 
 
The writing team will produce a draft strategic plan for review by 
the end of April.  NMOs will then have several weeks to submit 
comments and a second draft will be distributed shortly before the 
next Council meeting on June 7-9. 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶7.  (U) New director Detlof Von Winterfeldt's clear vision of 
IIASA's future orientation is well-articulated and enjoys broad 
support both within IIASA and among the national member 
organizations.  His experience in development in the U.S. university 
system should help make IIASA more responsive to member 
organizations.  His proposals to streamline and focus IIASA's 
research program will help raise awareness and increase the impact 
of the Institute's work.  We particularly welcome the recognition of 
the need to increase policy relevance by engaging directly with 
relevant government agencies.  Such dialog is central to the 
long-term health of IIASA, particularly as governments begin to look 
more closely at the costs and benefits of IIASA membership in light 
of the economic downturn.  The success of the strategic plan will 
depend in large part on the extent to which IIASA can carve a niche 
for itself in a crowded policy advisory community, and on this score 
we are optimistic, because IIASA's comparative advantage remains the 
quality and diversity of its scientific staff, which lend it a 
unique capacity to conduct high-quality, interdisciplinary systems 
analysis.  End comment. 
 
SCHULTE