Where science meets its use - Exploring the emergence of the practical relevance of scientific knowledge in the regional context

siirretty Doriast

Radical Technology Inquirer: a methodology for holistic, transparent and participatory technology foresight

This paper introduces and motivates the Radical Technology Inquirer (RTI) methodology for anticipation of technological breakthroughs and their combined cross-sectoral and social impacts. The primary use of the methodology is long-term policy evaluation and design. The first version of the methodology was published in 2013. This paper reports the current RTI 2018 version, which is based on systematic collection of scientific and technological news and grounded on theory. It combines societal functions with technological opportunities by conceptualising 20 "global value-producing networks" GVNs and 100 "anticipated radical technologies" ARTs. The RTI methodology is participatory, using continuous crowdsourcing and stakeholder evaluations. Each GVN is characterised by a need and an existing and a novel way of satisfying that need and organising the societal function. The methodology combines existing and new foresight methods and concepts to achieve a holistic and transparent approach for anticipating technology-enabled transformative socio-technical developments of the next 20 years. In this anticipation effort, the focus is more on recent weak signals of emerging technological capabilities than on past strong signals, e.g. the diffusion of various technologies

Coolest Student Papers at Finland Futures Research Centre 2016–2017 : Tulevaisuuden tutkimuskeskuksen valittuja opiskelijatöitä 2016–2017

This is the second volume of our Coolest Student Papers series which was launched last year. The collection publishes inspired and inspiring picks from the student essays written by students and student groups in the courses organised by Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC). The topics range from sustainability issues to corporate foresight, from ethics to methodology, from artificial intelligence to futures consciousness. Some of the essays take a critical stance to projects that have been carried out at the FFRC, which is something we especially wish to support. Independent, constructively critical open deliberation of how futures studies should be carried out is one of the core goals of our education and a key to further development of the courses and the whole field of futures studies. The volume is divided to sections by the course. Each section begins with an evaluation made by the teacher after which the student essay(s) follow(s). The essays of the courses studied in Finnish language are at the end of the volume. The essays are from the international Master’s Degree Programme of Futures Studies, the Sustainable Development minor and Futures Studies minor offered in Finnish language. Our PhD programme essays are excluded as we expect postgraduates to aim directly at journal articles

Triggering sustainability communication in a B2B context: combining action research and sensemaking

Purpose The paper explores processes associated with the adoption of corporate sustainability communication in a B2B context. It employs a combined action research and sensemaking approach to document moments that precede the initiation of external sustainability communication. Design/methodology/approach The paper is the outcome of an action research project, where we examine the case of one industrial company that was silent on its multiple sustainability-related practices, but recently decided to become more transparent to the outside world. A processual approach to sensemaking is adopted to show how organisational and non-organisational members actively participated in meaning co-construction. Findings Corporate silence can be disrupted by triggering events that cause moments of sudden realisation for organisational members, eventually leading to the initiation of sensemaking processes inside the organisation. Once this occurs, the possibility of externally communicating sustainability appears a feasible and strategic approach to pursue. We document how different actors are involved in meaning co-construction and how the entire process of sensemaking unfolds. Practical implications A sensemaking approach sheds light on the complexity of sustainability communication, where multiple actors are involved. This is a useful approach to consider in order to couple sustainability with other organisational practices. Moreover, sensemaking opens a window of opportunity for various societal actors' interventions to shape the role and content of sustainability communication. Originality/value The paper offers an original, theoretically informed methodological contribution to the literature on sustainability communication by coupling a sensemaking approach with action research. The approach is employed to examine the role of internal organisational actors in sustainability reporting processes, an area that has received scant attention.</div

Coolest Student Papers at Finland Futures Research Centre 2015–2016 : Tulevaisuuden tutkimuskeskuksen valittuja opiskelijatöitä 2015–2016

Welcome to read inspired and inspirational picks from Finland Future Research Centre’s students papers from the study year 2015–16. With this publication, we at the FFRC want to create a channel for making visible the hard work, academic talent and creativity featured in our courses. This Special Issue covers six courses from the international Master’s Degree Programme in Futures Studies (FUTU), two courses organised by Finland Futures Academy (FFA) (taught in Finnish), and the interdisciplinary teamwork course of Sustainability Studies (KEKO) (includes both English and Finnish speaking teams). FUTU, FFA and KEKO studies are all coordinated by the FFRC. In this Special Issue each course forms its own section with an introduction by the teacher(s), followed by the papers

The fog of innovation: Innovativeness and deviance in developing new clinical testing equipment

Even when innovators know they are working with a potential breakthrough innovation, they face formidable difficulties in assessing the exact ways it will be innovative as well as deviant in regard to extant systems, business and practices. This finding emerges from our case study that spans the 40-year history of an ongoing and by now potentially radical innovation in automated and miniaturized liquid processing. We analyze the changes in the system-to-be and its relationship to its future contexts throughout this period and show how the developers were able to reliably predict technical compatibility, the outcome, the interface points and effects towards the intended environment only some distance ahead. This 'fog of innovation' presents a management challenge not duly met by instruments available in innovation literature.Discontinuous innovation Innovativeness Innovation process Clinical testing Case study

Internal effects of corporate decision to externally report sustainability

The effects of sustainability communication on internal and external stakeholders have been examined to some extent but the implications for organizations have not been devoted much attention. We are interested to examine how the organisational dynamics and the discursive spaces within organizations are altered by the decision to communicate sustainability externally. This is of importance for any organization, as the cultural climate in which employees work may ultimately determine whether responsible actions are successfully implemented.We examine the internal organizational dynamics associated with the decision to externally communicate sustainability. We look at what happens within a case organization that has never communicated its sustainability deeds to the public but which intends to start doing so. Our case company operates within an industry that manufactures complex industrial products and have multiple social and environmental impacts. We conducted interviews with representatives of the case organization and we were able to have participatory observations during project meetings with the case company.Our preliminary results indicate a discursive change occurring in organization after the decision to communicate was taken. The organization was for long the space for multiple, fragmented discourses, all of which emphasised excellency, e.g. excellent occupational health care, excellent products, excellent technologies etc. What happens is that all these "micro-discourses" are reframed and re-aligned to suit the notion of sustainability. While discursive harmonization may not be a harmful phenomenon per se, we warn on the dangers associated with the intention to commercialize sustainability for the purpose of enhancing competitive advantage.</p