This is the 6th issue of the LIAISE ('Linking Impact Assessment Instruments to Sustainability Expertise') Innovation Report. The aim of this series is to shed light on the science-policy interface of policy Impact Assessment (IA). The application of analytical tools in policy IA is a means to include scientific knowledge in IA exercises and the policy process. Tools are used to capture the causal relationship between planned policies and its likely social, economic and environmental impacts and hence inform the analytical process of the assessment. The development of analytical tools which are readily applicable for IA is an emergent field of research. The European Commission, in its Framework Programmes (FP) on research funding, has also invested in research promoting those tools.
