To develop knowledge, to promote and to explore the field of regional resource efficiency, Linköping University and Tekniska Verken in 2009 established a ten year research collaboration called the Industrial Ecology Research Program, IERP.
The program takes it starting point in the County of Östergötland and its well-developed systems for transformation of different waste products into new utilities, often replacing fossil fuels. The research program have focused on seed funding for exploring new research areas which has been a successful strategy that later has grown into larger research initiatives. Such areas include landfill mining, biofuel strategies, internationalisation of environmental technologies, district-heating collaboration and resource efficient biogas solutions.