The La Follette School of Public Affairs and the University of Wisconsin–Madison European Union Center of Excellence sponsored a research roundtable exploring questions around urban mobility and the automobile of the future on October 7.
More than 25 faculty, students, and local and state government officials discussed public policy and the reinvention of the automobile industry; energy mix and distribution; the interface among business, urban design and environmental regulation; and workforce and business competitiveness in the globalized economy.
Matthias Weigand, head of trans-media law for Bavaria’s environmental ministry, gave a welcome and challenged the group to improve and advance Wisconsin’s Green Tier law through which the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and businesses establish contracts and charters to streamline environmental requirements and encourage environmental technologies.
Research by La Follette School professors and students informed advisory committee meetings from 2000 to 2003 during which major elements of Green Tier were developed. Based on a model developed in Bavaria, Germany, Green Tier helps environmentally responsible companies achieve environmental and economic gains. Graham Wilson of Boston University and Gary Herrigel of the University of Chicago, facilitated the roundtable, which was held at the La Follette School.
The roundtable followed a conference in which experts from business, government and education examined how the Midwest can learn from German’s experience with changes in the auto industry and urban infrastructure. The October 6 conference, “Reinventing the Industrial Heartland: Supply Chain Sustainability and the New Automotive Industry” was sponsored by the American Council on Germany, UW–Madison Center for German and European Studies, and the German Marshall Fund, with logistical help from the La Follette School’s outreach office and state agencies.
— posted October 17, 2011