Systems and Society

The research under Systems and Society theme takes a system-level perspective on grand challenges and societal change towards sustainability. Our societies face large-scale and complex problems such as climate change, biodiversity loss, poverty and inequality. These problems form hard-to-solve grand challenges. Understanding the underlying complexity and solving these challenges calls for transdisciplinary approaches and diverse collaboration and co-creation between organizations and actors.

We examine how system-level change is orchestrated and how institutions and organizations interplay and co-create sustainable innovations. Our research team comprises a wide range of disciplines, including regional studies, rural studies, ecological economics, industrial management and marketing. In our research, projects and events, we engage with policymakers and other stakeholders at supranational, national, regional and municipal levels. A good example of such projects is the two-year Practicing Mission-Oriented Innovation Policy project, funded by Business Finland, staffed by InnoLab researchers and joined by a number of internationally acclaimed scholars.

Our work contributes primarily to the following United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (9), Reduced inequalities (10), Sustainable Cities and Communities (11), Responsible Consumption and Production (12), and Climate Action (13) and secondarily to Gender Equality (5) and Affordable and Clean Energy (7).

Selected publications

• Tolonen, E., Shakeel, S. R. and Juntunen, J. K. (2023). Promoting Just Transition or Enhancing Inequalities? Reflection on Different Energy Community Business Models in Terms of Energy Justice. In M. Shafie-khah and A. S. Gazafroudi (Eds.) Trading in Local Energy Markets and Energy Communities, vol. 93: 151–180. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
• Woodson, T. and Williams, T. (2020). Stronger Together: Inclusive Innovation and undone science frameworks in the Global South. Third World Quarterly, 41(11).
• Juntunen, J. K., Halme, M., Korsunova, A. and Rajala, R. (2019). Strategies for Integrating Stakeholders into Sustainability Innovation: A Configurational Perspective. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 36(3): 331–355.
• Kalliomäki, H. (2018). Re-Contextualising Oregon’s Urban Growth Boundary to City-Regional Planning in Tampere, Finland: The Need for Strategic Bridge-Building. Planning Theory & Practice, 19(4): 514–533.
• Heino, H. and Hautala, J. (2021) Mobile futures knowledge: From research policy to research and public policy? Geoforum, 118, 83–92.