The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis: A basis for policy development and multinational development management

The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis is an international, non-governmental, not for profit research corporation chartered to perform research in cooperation with member organization research institutes. Its members represent research organizations in 16 countries both East and West. Its cooperative studies contain both methodological and descriptive approaches to capture the essence of the system under consideration. Its purpose is to provide tools of analysis and decision support systems to policy makers so that they can develop a factual basis upon which to develop a rich set of realistic options for the negotiation of agreements and the management of systems. A few examples will be used from past studies to illustrate the value of such a multi-national, multi-disciplinary, interdisciplinary and multi-cultural research institute in obtaining practical solutions to otherwise nearly intractably complex technical/societal problems.