In order to improve the scientific and educational level of Shandong University (SDU) and Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH), to intensify the existing collaboration and promote new collaboration between the two top universities in China and Sweden, both universities have agreed upon the establishment of the Joint Research Center for Industrial Ecology at Shandong University, Jinan, P.R China. Industrial ecology is an interdisciplinary framework for designing and operating industrial systems as living systems interdependent with natural systems. It seeks to balance environmental and economic performance within emerging understanding of local and global ecological constraints. Some of its developers have called it "the science of sustainability".
Inaugaration of JRCIE by university presidents in October 2005
For more information on Industrial Ecology visit the website of The International Society for Industrial Ecology http://www.is4ie.org/