MERGE hosts a morning session at the 7th OECD World Forum on Well-being 4-6th November 2024.
Title: Beyond GDP to sustainable and inclusive wellbeing – How can we leverage the impact of EU-funded projects on metrics, models, and policies at EU and international level?
When: Wednesday 6 November 2024, 8:00-8:50
Where: Studio 2, Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone (on site only)
The discussion on beyond GDP has been going on for decades and intensified as the limitations of GDP growth have become undeniable. Dozens of alternative metrics and policies have been introduced and previously separated actors are converging in this field.
MERGE brings together various research fields, civil society actors and policymakers in the European and International context, working towards ensuring that the new paradigm of Sustainable and Inclusive Wellbeing (SIWB) can be fully embedded into policymaking processes. It integrates the emerging frameworks, metrics, models, and policies being developed and discussed as part of a range of ongoing Horizon Europe funded projects. Together, they argue that the conceptual framework of Sustainable and Inclusive Wellbeing is increasingly relevant and has the potential to inform the ongoing policy debate on more inclusive and sustainable economic policies. To transform the current system will require not just scattered efforts but a new integrated system of metrics, models, and policies all aimed at achieving the new goal of SIWB rather than merely seeing economic growth as an end.
The MERGE seminar at the 7th OECD World Forum on Well-being will discuss the novelty of the framework and explore how it can be applied in practice. To this end, a recent policy advocacy paper entitled “A European Agenda To Navigate Uncertain Times – How to steer the EU towards wellbeing for all now and in the future” will be briefly presented. After short inputs by high-level experts in this field, the seminar provides an interactive space to discuss further integrating SIWB at EU and international level.
Preliminary speakers and programme:
- Introduction on Sustainable and Inclusive Wellbeing framework
- Tuuli Hirvilammi (Tampere University)
- Policy Advocacy towards Sustainable and Inclusive Wellbeing
- Rutger Hoekstra (University of Leiden)
- Mario Biggeri (University of Florence)
- Relevance of the Sustainable and Inclusive Wellbeing (SIWB) framework for policy
- Ana Boskovic and Alina Sandor (Joint Research Centre, European Commission)
- Carrie Exton (OECD WISE)
- Enrico Giovannini (L’Alleanza Italiana per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile ASviS)
- Richard Heys (Office for National Statistics, Great Britain)
- Robert Morgan (Head of Sustainable Development at the Welsh Government)
Moderation of the event: Christoph Gran (ZOE Institute for Future-fit Economies) & Jenni Kilpi (Demos Helsinki)
