14 Environmental Informatics and Industrial Ecology – Scientific Profiles of Two Emerging Fields Striving for Sustainability Ralf Isenmann 1 Abstract This paper provides an approach that could be used to compare the fields of research of Environmental Informatics and Industrial Ecology. Based on supposed overlapping areas, this approach further facilitates the linkage between their associated communities. From a theoretical perspective, the approach makes clear whether the fields of research may have common objects, similar tools, and shared principles, values, and value judgements. No less important, the approach is also helpful from a practical point of view as it helps to identify issues for fruitful institutional co- operation and joint projects. It is argued here that a proper method for a comparison between Environmental Infor- matics and Industrial Ecology would be an epistemological point of view. Such an “out of the box” perspective fi- nally helps to describe the emerging bodies of theory and clarifies contours of their certain scientific profiles. The proposed approach is illustrated in the form of a pyramid, structured in layers like an architecture, and built with the help of tools of philosophy. It has its methodological basis in a generic framework used in epistemology. This ge- neric framework is further conceptualised through document analyses identifying certain issues that are prototypical for the current communities and literature both, for Environmental Informatics and Industrial Ecology. Keywords Body of theory, Environmental Informatics, epistemology, Industrial Ecology, scientific profile, sustainability 1. Introduction Environmental Informatics and Industrial Ecology are two emerging fields of research striving for sustain- ability. The object of Environmental Informatics is to analyse information processing, support information management, and develop information systems related to the environment in its broadest sense while us- ing methods, techniques, and tools of computer science, thereby – it is hoped – contributing to environ- mental protection (Page et al. 1990a, 1990b; Page and Hilty 1995; Rautenstrauch and Patig 2001) and fi- nally to a more sustainable future (Hilty and Gilgen 2001; Dompke et al. 2004; Hilty et al. 2005; Isenmann 2008a). The object of Industrial Ecology is to study industrial systems and their fundamental linkage with natural ecosystems, with the aim to contribute to a more sustainable future (Isenmann und von Hauff 2007a). According to White (1994) the focus of Industrial Ecology is „the study of the flows of materials and energy in industrial and consumer activities, of the effects of this flows on the environment, and of the influences of economic, political, regulatory, and social factors on the flow, use and transformation of re- sources“. More than two decades ago, Environmental Informatics (Pillmann et al. 2006) and Industrial Ecology (Erkmann 2007) were launched. In the early 1980s, the fields have started single attempts, and they have become a somewhat fuzzy movement, first: Environmental Informatics as a part in applied informatics 1 Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI), Germany, email: ralf.isenmann@isi.fraunhofer.de EnviroInfo 2008 (Lüneburg) Environmental Informatics and Industrial Ecology Copyright © Shaker Verlag, Aachen 2008. ISBN: 978-3-8322-7313-2