THE INSTITUTE

The European Institute of Law, Science and Technology (EILST) is a non-for-profit, research organization, established in 2004, that seeks to improve international, regional and national laws and policies by better integration of scientific and technological achievements in laws and promote innovation for the benefit of humanity.[1] EILST headquarters are in Athens, Greece by its Statute of incorporation, while it has held offices in Brussels, Belgium. The Member of the Board of Directors originate from Belgium, Spain and Greece, while the participants and researchers of the EILST originate from more than 20 countries all over the world.

Over the last decade, EILST keeps building effective platforms for dialogue among legal experts, natural scientists, innovators, Governments and the business community, while it promotes research and innovation in six (6) pillars:

  1. environment, climate change, water and renewable energy;
  2. air and space technologies;
  3. telecommunications and IoT;
  4. biosciences and research in genetics;
  5. intellectual property and artificial intelligence and
  6. social sciences, including psychology and law.

EILST puts a special emphasis on projects and technology transfer to developing countries, while it has a special section on Woman, Law and Sciences, and Youth Empowerment and Education for all. EILST supports a low carbon economy, a zero-waste society, a smart inclusive sustainable development and a high level of education for all. EILST promotes the Development Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals.

EILST offers state-of-the-art advisory services in the aforementioned fields of expertise. It provides legal advice, including intellectual property issues, that relates with innovations and project ideas; it initiates and leads innovative projects especially in the fields of environment, climate and energy; it runs platforms for finance for innovative projects, as well as educational seminars. EILST has also issued a peer reviewed e-journal, the European Journal of Law, Science & Technology (Eur. J. Law, Science & Techn.).

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The initial idea of founding the EILST was inspired the work of Justice Stephen G. Breyer, a major scholar and Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, who is among the authors that have developed important scholarship on regulating environmental issues, among others, along the lines of Plato’s philosophy, based on scientific knowledge. Moreover, he was the founder of the Institute of Law, Science and Technology, a consulting and research organization based in the United States, which aimed to further integrate existing scientific knowledge into policy and law-making processes in areas where existing technologies and scientific knowledge were able to provide more effective solutions to contemporary issues than traditional decision-making processes.

The work of the Institute of Law, Science and Technology combined with the inspirational lessons offered by Prof. Lisa Heinzerling, Georgetown University Law Center, about international environmental law and climate change motivated us to establish the EILST.

At the same time similar discussions where happening inside the European commission, such as the Directorate – General for Legal Services, on how they could better link research with law and other expert groups within or outside the Commission, while, up to that point, there was no such mechanism to link innovative technological advances with the legislation process of the European commission at that time. On that occasion, EILST was first established in Brussels and then Athens in 2004 being among the very first European institutions to address, in depth, the issue of knowledge management, covering, beyond the environmental aspect, a multitude of other issues.