Together with its CEE partners, ETP-Slovakia (Kosice, Slovakia), the Institute for Environmental Policy (Prague, Czech Republic) and the Institute for Sustainable Development (Warsaw, Poland), the Center for Environmental Studies is organizing an international industrial ecology conference in Budapest.

This conference provides a forum of exchanging ideas, experience, research findings and case studies related to industrial ecology.

Industrial ecology is gaining acceptance as a practical philosophy for achieving a sustainable economy. Its basic concept is to imitate material cycles in natural ecosystems in industrial activities. Similarly to the natural eco-systems, it is based on cyclical processes where the waste material or energy of one production process is used as an input to another process contrary to the traditional linear production processes which point from raw materials to end products. As a result, waste generation can be significantly reduced or, theoretically, even avoided if waste and by-products are completely re-channeled into the system. This helps society to reduce the need for newly extracted raw materials on the one hand and saves the cost of disposing of waste and cleaning up pollution on the other. Industrial economy as a paradigm can make the entire economy more efficient.

The innovation of the concept is that it goes beyond the company boundaries and extends environmental control to a new field, i.e. the area of inter-company relationships. This extended focus entails new conditions for technology development, product development, as well as company management, which affects intra-company conditions as well.

Themes for papers

Papers are invited on the following themes:

• Concept and relevance of industrial ecology
• Developing technologies for industrial ecology
• Possibilities for governmental assistance
• Management issues related to industrial ecology (on national, regional and micro level)
• Cases of successful application of the industrial ecology concept

Keynote speakers

Keynote speakers of the conference include Gunter Pauli, Director of the ZERI Foundation, and Noel Brings Jacobsen from The Symbiosis Institute (Kalundborg, Denmark).

Conference language

Working language of the conference is English. No interpretation will be provided.

Excursion

On 7 June an excursion will be organized to present two industrial ecology projects. One is a spent steep solution reprocessing plant recycling the hazardous waste products resulting from the surface treatment of metals by hot dip galvanizing process and transforming them into wastewater treatment chemicals with zero waste emission. The other project re-processes by-products of an oil refinery.

The excursion will take place in the afternoon, so that delegates arriving in the morning will have time to check-in. Participants of the excursion will be taken by coach(es). They will be picked up at their hotel and taken back after the trip.

Target Audience

The conference is aimed at a diverse audience representing science, academic and governmental institutions, businesses as well as environmental and development NGOs.

Sponsors

The event is sponsored by the International Visegrad Fund and the Foundation for the Technological Progress of the Industry (az Ipar Műszaki Fejlesztéséért Alapítvány).

Conference venue

The event will be organized in the Fortuna Boat Hotel and Restaurant, on the Danube. It can be easily accessed by public transport and it offers a nice view on Buda Castle and the Buda hills. Address: 1137 Budapest, Szent István park, alsó rakpart

Accommodation

Accommodation for discounted rates can be reserved by 17 May. A single room with bathroom costs 58 Euro/person/night (breakfast included). Double room surcharge is 20 Euro/night.

For participants from the Visegrad countries, the conference fee covers accommodation for one night. Accommodation for additional nights can be reserved for 58 Euro/person/night. For Visegrad country participants the deadline for hotel reservation is 31 May.

Fees

Please, transfer the total payable amount to the following account:
   10560000-24781401-22010107,
   IBAN Code: HU 26 10560000 24781401-22010107,
   General Banking and Trust Co., Branch Nr. 4,
   Ráday u. 42-44., 1092 Budapest, Hungary,
   SWIFT Code: AEBB HUHB

Registration

You can register by filling in the registration form and sendig it to any of the organizing institutions. Addresses are as follows:

Környezettudományi Központ 1094 Budapest, Angyal utca 15/b. fszt. 4. Hungary By email:	Ústav pro ekopolitiku Hradební 3, 110 00 Prague 1, Czech Republic By email: eva.kruzikova@ecn.cz
Instytut na rzecz ekorozwoju ul. Nabielaka 15 lok. 1, 00-743 Warszawa, Polska By email:a.kassenberg@ine-isd.org.pl	ETP Slovensko Prazska 2, 040 11 Kosice, Slovakia By email: macakova@ke.etp.sk

Those sending their registration will receive an invoice. Registration will be accepted after the invoice will be settled and the payment will have arrived on the account of the Center. Transfer charges should be covered by the participants. Registration will be confirmed by the Center for Environmental Studies.

No cancellation will be accepted but replacement is allowed.

Instruction to speakers

Those planning to present a paper should submit their abstracts by 9 May 2004. Abstracts will be reviewed by the organizational committee. Selected authors will be requested to submit their paper by 31 May 2004 so that the papers can be included in the conference proceedings and distributed at the conference. Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words and sent in electronic format (on floppy or by email) to the address of any of the organizers.