Faculty of Management and Business

From innovation ecosystems to business ecosystems through the CICAT2025 project

CICAT2025 ‘Circular Economy Catalysts: From Innovation to Business Ecosystems’ is a project with the aim of accelerating the transition from a linear economy to a circular economy. The project supports the Finnish Government’s goal of making Finland a leading country in circular economy by 2025 through identifying factors that support the circular economy and providing companies and political decision-makers with solutions that can expedite the transition. The project will be active between 2019 and 2023.

Over the course of the project, Tampere University researchers will examine the stakeholder effect as a circular economy catalyst. A wide range of scientific publications and policy recommendations have been prepared based on the project research, along with posters, conference releases and webinars aimed at stakeholders. Tampere University’s efforts related to the project focus particularly on how stakeholder cooperation can support and promote the transition to a circular economy, which is seen as a means of building an ecologically, socially and financially sustainable society.

A project to support the ecosystems of sustainable industrial operations

The Sustainable Industry Ecosystem (SIE) project involves research organisations supporting the on-going digital transition of Finnish industry through financial, ecological and socially sustainable means by combining spearhead research in circular economy, robotics, industrial technology, energy production, innovative digital solutions and artificial intelligence. Tampere University is responsible for the spearhead research covering circular economy and robotics. The project was active in 2021–2022.

The SIE will create a service model that merge existing pilot lines, digital platforms and innovations hubs to form a combination that enables interdisciplinary testing and research to serve trade and industry.

Over the course of the project, the education and research opportunities that are based on the prior work of research organisations and have been facilitated by the new networking ecosystem will be highlighted to Finnish trade and industry through seminars and workshops, for example.

The project cooperates with a variety of ministries, financiers, companies and networks.

Solutions to challenges related to climate mobility through the HUMANE-CLIMATE project

Tampere University’s SPARG (Space and Political Agency Research Group) research group is involved in the HUMANE-CLIMATE research project (1 September 2022–31 August 2026), which is leveraging critical pedagogy and climate activism to respond to the topical challenges presented by climate mobility with the aim of supporting equitable encounters within the ‘humanitarian boundary.’ The empirical research will take place in Athens and Tampere. The research identifies climate citizenship as a phenomenon which can only be understood by young people if they are provided with non-territorial perspectives into climate change and the cross-border nature of forced migration.

The ‘Empowering Urban Cyclists with Citizen Science (BiciZen)’ consortium research project (ECIU)

Tampere University’s SPARG (Space and Political Agency Research Group) is included in the ECIU SMART-ER pilot project, which is focused on the development of urban cycling in four European cities: Barcelona, Enschede, Aveiro and Tampere. The project’s aim is to increase awareness of urban mobility, communal engagement and cycling through cooperation between people cycling within the cities and municipal stakeholders. The project will involve developing a mobile app that cyclists can use to document their cycling experiences and talk about their mobility practices, thereby producing important data on cycling practices, communal commitment and information processing. The project will be active between 19 May 2022 and 31 October 2023.

The purpose of the consortium research project is to mobilise the urban cycling community to find perspectives and templates in context of urban cycling. The project will support democracy and sustainability with the cities.

Using a project to ensure the occupational safety of social welfare and health care workers in work tasks conducted in another person’s home

The SafeKoti project involves improving the occupational safety of social welfare and health care workers in work tasks conducted in a client’s home. The study produces information on factors related to the occupational safety of workers in the social and health sector, and on risk assessment and the management of occupational safety in work tasks carried out in a private person’s home. Another aim is to produce a range of validated tools and methods.

Tampere University’s research group for Safety Management and Engineering is involved in carrying out the project in close cooperation with the target organisations. The project will be completed between 1 February 2022 and 29 February 2024.

The UPCE project studies the living lab platforms of cities

The multidisciplinary profiling project University Platform for Circular Economy (2018–2022) focuses on the utilisation of living lab platforms to promote circular economy in cities. From Tampere University, the units of environmental technology, industrial engineering, aerosol physics and environmental politics are involved. The research focuses on the Hiedanranta living labs and nutrient recycling in particular. The research group studies the impact of various stakeholders on living labs from the perspectives of technological development, implementation, coordinating stakeholder cooperation and economy.

Climate-positive industrial areas and value chains for cities

The aim of the Climate Positive Industrial Areas and Value Chains (ILPO, 2020–2022) is to support cities in achieving their ambitious climate goals. The ILPO project involves the value chains and circular economy clusters of companies in the climate efforts, which require all operators within society.

The aim is to help companies find new low-emission and carbon-absorbing solutions and cooperation models, prepare carbon roadmaps for circular economy clusters and create internationally enticing reference cases of climate-positive industrial areas. The carbon roadmaps can be used to verify emissions, find solutions to minimise climate impacts, and achieve climate-positive operations and processes. As regards value chains, the project will examine energy, raw material and material flows between companies.

Tampere University’s research group studies the economic sustainability of solutions seeking climate-positive synergies, and focuses on the value potential of cooperation between ecosystem operators and the financial assumptions and preconditions of individual ecosystem operators.

Information about energy communities and their future roles through the ProCemPlus project

Prosumer Centric Energy Communities – Towards Energy Ecosystems, i.e. the ProCemPlus project (2019–2021), studies the shaping of various energy communities into economy-oriented energy ecosystems. The project aims for a holistic view on the impact of various factors on the development of energy communities and microgrids. It also studies the roles of energy communities and microgrids in the energy ecosystem of the future. Tampere University’s research team focuses on studying new business models and the customer’s role and identifying challenges related to commercialisation.

Making buildings more energy efficient and sustainable with Prelude

PRELUDE is a Horizon 2020 project funded by the European Union, which involves researchers studying the energy efficiency of buildings, self-consumption of renewable energy sources and the improvement of building interiors. The project members are developing an optimisation system based on energy consumption forecasts and data on the indoor conditions of buildings. The system enables better retrofitting investments, improves end user development models and enables the optimisation of building automation systems. Tampere University’s Industrial Engineering unit studies the transformation of end users into active energy producer-consumers and the new business models generated in the ecosystem of smart construction. The project will be active between 2020 and 2024.

Tampere University explores innovations for reducing food loss

Wastebusters, a research group based in the Faculty of Management and Business at Tampere University, is involved in the international LOWINFOOD project launched in 2020. The goal of the project is to work together with stakeholders in the food supply chain to co-design low-waste value chains by supporting the demonstration of a portfolio of innovations for the fruits & vegetables, bakery products and fish value chains as well as for at-home and out-of-home consumption.

The four-year project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme and involves 27 partners from 12 European countries.

Projects develops ground rules for marketing food to children

The EPELI project conducted between 2020 and 2021 explored the marketing of unhealthy foods to children. The project looked into the marketing of food to children and young people and the criteria for defining unhealthy food and proposed ways to protect children and young people from unhealthy food marketing.

The project brought together researchers specialising in nutrition, marketing, consumer research and the law. The project involved researchers from the University of Helsinki, Tampere University and the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE).

The research was funded by the Finnish Prime Minister’s Office.

Project improves the safety and well-being of gig workers

A research project titled Sustainable Gig Work seeks to improve occupational safety, health and well-being among gig workers as well as within staffing agencies and SMEs that employ gig workers and thereby improve productivity and competitiveness. The project is a collaborative undertaking involving Tampere University, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, the University of Oulu and Satakunta University of Applied Sciences. The project is funded by the European Social Fund (ESF).

Study reveals the power of change agents in breaking circular economy barriers

Launched in 2020, the Waste Matters — Change Agents in the Breaking of the Circular Economy project analyses how change agents participate and engage in the transition towards circular economy (CE) business ecosystems.
The project focuses specifically on consumer citizens, consumer communities and start-ups with the desire and opportunity to transform business ecosystems into more sustainable ones.

Study on the current state of and future alternatives to fur farming

Tampere University researcher Eija Vinnari has analysed the current state of Finnish fur farming and how a structural change in the field could be carried out in a controlled and fair manner. The report was prepared by commission of the Animalia animal rights organisation within the framework of the ORSI research project.

Making the invisibles visible: a study on the visibility of animals in sustainable accounting

Tampere University researcher Eija Vinnari and University of Helsinki researcher Markus Vinnari have studied the inclusion of animals in sustainable accounting. In their article, they suggest that animals could be taken into account as a separate dimension of sustainability. The article also provides practical examples of indicators that organisations could use to measure the well-being of animals and the achievement of goals related to their rights.

Research team explores accounting and reporting practices to build a more sustainable society

The fundamental question that the Sustainability and Critical Accounting research group at Tampere University is looking to answer is whether and how accounting practices can help to promote the transition to a just and socially and ecologically sustainable society.

The group is theoretically and methodologically open-minded and approaches research topics from a critical perspective. The group considers accounting to be a powerful social institution that has an impact on various levels of society. Interdisciplinarity is therefore a defining feature of the group’s research.

A research group that studies and develops safety management and engineering

The Safety Management and Engineering research group conducts research and development in close cooperation with companies, public organisations, authorities and other experts in the field to promote working life that is sustainable and respects human rights. The research group provides education on occupational safety, safety technology, safety management, environmental management and environmental safety, strengthening the expertise of students from the perspectives of social and environmental responsibility. The research group’s mission is to improve the safety and well-being of individuals, the environment and organisations.

Research on responsible management at Tampere University

Tampere University’s RESPMAN research group studies the relationships between businesses, society and the environment from different perspectives, including responsible management, firm-stakeholder interaction, corporate responsibility and sustainable development. The research group has been operating since 2006 and is also responsible for the Master’s Degree Programme in Responsible Business.

Creating a resource-efficient electrical system is a collaborative effort

The EL-Tran consortium comprises researchers from Tampere University, the universities of Eastern Finland and Turku, Tampere University of Applied Sciences and the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. The consortium studies the development of a resource-efficient electrical system and its implementation. In addition, the consortium looks into the policy problems that may be encountered in the implementation of a resource-efficient electricity system and how they can be addressed in Finland and beyond.

Responsible Business Research Seminar

The Responsible Business Research Seminar has been held for more than a decade now. The seminar is organised to support and increase the visibility of the responsibility, sustainability and ethics of business operations. The seminar is held in Finnish and English and will be organised in a hybrid format in 2023.

Becoming a sustainability specialist through the Master’s Programme in Sustainable Business

The aim of the Master’s Degree Programme in Sustainable Business is to train sustainability specialists and informed decision-makers. Those who complete the programme gain a wide-ranging understanding about business and the related responsibility perspectives. The Master’s Programme covers sustainable development from all three viewpoints: ecological, social and financial. The Master’s Degree Programme in Sustainable Business is part of the Business Studies, and the programme annually produces 20 master’s theses.

Educational video series on the link between project activities and sustainability

An informative educational video series was published in the autumn of 2022 on the link between project activities and sustainability. The series of videos can be used for teaching purposes in any field, for example. The videos are freely available to everyone in Finnish and English, and subtitles are available in both languages.

English versions of the videos.

Finnish versions of the videos.

Tampere University researchers involved in coordinating the #ScienceForUkraine initiative

PhD candidates Annina Lattu and Katri Mäkinen-Rostedt serve as coordinators of the #ScienceForUkraine project in Finland. #ScienceForUkraine is a grassroots-level volunteer initiative which took shape once Russia began its war of aggression on Ukraine. The initiative encourages academic organisations throughout the world to offer their support to Ukrainian researchers and students, collects the supports measures of various countries on its website and distributes information to Ukrainians on study and work opportunities through reception centres, for example.

Space for Science and Hope promotes the cultural change required to tackle the ecological crisis

Puistokatu 4, A Space for Science and Hope, champions the rapid cultural change needed in our current ecological crisis and provides a safe space for research, work and discussion about the crisis. Puistokatu 4 is a joint project of the Tiina and Antti Herlin Foundation and Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation. The Puistokatu 4 building is an old villa which was purchased and renovated by the Tiina and Antti Herlin Foundation in the Kaivopuisto area of Helsinki. Tampere University’s PhD candicate Annina Lattu has been a member of Puistokatu 4’s steering group since April 2022.