Balaton Group Balaton Group The Balaton Group (The International Network of Resource Information Centers) is a global network of researchers and practitioners in fields related to systems and sustainability. The name “Balaton Group” refers to the Lake Balaton region of Hungary, where the Group was first constituted, and where most of the Group’s annual meetings have taken place. The Balaton Group aims to accelerate and deepen the world’s general understanding of systems, long-term perspective and commitment to achieving positive change. The Group believes that these factors are fundamental to sustainable development. The Balaton Group was founded in 1982 by Dennis Meadows and
Lake Balaton on Lake Balaton, including Balatonfüred and Hévíz, have long been resort centres for the Hungarian aristocracy, it was only in the late 19th century that the Hungarian middle class began to visit the lake. The construction of railways in 1861 and 1909 increased tourism substantially, but the post-war boom of the 1950s was much larger. The last major German offensive of World War II, Operation Frühlingserwachen, was conducted in the region of Lake Balaton in March 1945, being referred to as "the Lake Balaton Offensive" in many British histories of the war. The battle was a German attack by Sepp