Welcome to SYSTRA

SYSTRA is Fraunhofer ISI's internal research program on system transitions to sustainability.

System transitions are fundamental changes in the way societal functions are fulfilled. Transforming such systems towards more sustainable modes of production and consumption is a cross-cutting endeavor: system-wide sustainability transitions typically result from a series of interrelated sectoral transitions, e.g. technological, social, economic, and political changes.

Cutting across all of Fraunhofer ISI's Competence Centers, SYSTRA seeks to bundle and leverage Fraunhofer ISI's existing expertise in sustainability transitions to provide cutting-edge research on, and real-world application of, system transitions.  

Beginning in 2019, the first phase of SYSTRA explored five basic themes of transitions research. The themes were identified in an Fraunhofer-ISI-wide, bottom-up process and explored in five working groups:

1. The status quo of current research and Fraunhofer ISI expertise in system transitions
2. Different types and dimensions of systems and transitions
3. Actors and the roles they play in transitions
4. Governance and policy for transitions
5. Interactions within and between systems in transition.

Since 2020, the second phase of SYSTRA has funded 14 research projects led by and involving scientists from all of Fraunhofer ISI's Competence Centers. Additionally, a webinar series will inform about SYSTRA's work and provide a forum for dialogues, e.g. between systems transitions scholars or between scholars and practitioners.