The IFZ is a research institute dealing with issues of socially and environmentally sound technology design and innovation. IFZ attempts to improve the understanding of technology’s role in society and the social shaping of technology. Based on this theoretical background new approaches are developed to support the design and diffusion of sustainable technologies and innovations. The IFZ focuses on identifying more appropriate organisational and institutional frameworks for the development of socially and environmentally sound innovations, and to organise this process in a democratic and reflexive way. The IFZ works on an interdisciplinary basis, initiates social and institutional learning processes, and involves stakeholders in the research process.