GrAT - Center for Appropriate Technology 

GrAT is a scientific association for research and development of Appropriate Technology. Since 1986, GrAT has been proactively responding to a wide range of relevant issues in sustainable development:  

The long-term vision/mission of the association is to establish systematically developed sustainable solutions, and to demonstrate the feasibility of those solutions through successful implementation projects. Coordinated dissemination activities enable more and more citizens and stakeholders to be aware of the alternatives which are better in resource efficiency and beneficial to human well-being. This stepwise approach is believed to contribute to bringing us to the sustainable society.

Exemplary accomplishments of GrAT include the sustainable building demonstration ‘S-HOUSE’, a new renewable material for injection moulding, development and various applications of natural fibre and glue composites, and a supportive toolset for product service system development. Especially with regard to the extreme resource and energy efficiency of the S-HOUSE, GrAT has won many of national and international awards.    

The diverse backgrounds and expertise of the GrAT members in process engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial design, computer science, biology, agriculture, and project management, is one of the strengths of the group. Based on their multidisciplinary knowledge and experiences, synergetic and innovative R&D performances are achieved. Moreover, the associated partner organisations of GrAT in the fields of architecture, cleaner production, and management, flexibly form solution-oriented partnerships in order to take action in a broader variety of themes.

The common conviction of the group is that the new way of technology development contributes to the improvement of our quality of life, and that it should be responsible for its social and ecological consequences at the same time. To reach the goal, it concerns the whole processes of R&D project entailing analysis, planning, design, implementation, monitoring and dissemination. Furthermore, the knowledge gained from those projects is fed into the educational programmes for college and university students, as well as into practical training and capacity building programmes for professionals and individuals.

Today, sustainable solutions are urgently needed not only for developing countries, but also developed ones. GrAT develops independent and long-term solutions, which suit the regional circumstances and demands. It provides innovative and sophisticated consultancy services to governmental institutions, communities, and companies. Through international co-operations, strong cross-cultural partnerships with other European and Asian countries have been built up.

The headquarters of GrAT is based at Vienna University of Technology in the city center of Vienna, and its branch, the B?eimkirchen Center (B?AT), is located in Lower Austria. The website www.grat.at presents information on the projects in sustainable materials, building, cleaner production, and others, and provides technical briefs and contemporary activities.