The 2009 "Lund Declaration" concluded that European research and innovation must focus on the grand challenges of our time, finding solutions to problems associated with ageing societies, pandemics, public health, security, global warming and the increasingly difficult access to sources of energy, water and food. This typically involves a variety of technological and social innovations, behavioral and institutional change, and a diversity of societal actors.

Research on sustainability transitions has brought about important insights into the specificities of innovation for overcoming grand challenges. The findings point to the relevance of a systemic understanding of innovation, the role of experimentation, the interplay between actors at different geographical scales – local to global – or the formulation of explicitly transformative innovation policy.

Sustainability transitions has been a key research theme at CIRCLE for years, with several current CIRCLE researchers as well as CIRCLE alumni contributing to developing the field. The theme gathers researchers from different traditions, departments, and faculties, primarily from LTH (the faculty of engineering) and the faculty of social sciences for collaboration in different projects on sustainability transitions.

Research focus

Research in the theme is focused on:

• providing evidence-based recommendations for the design and evaluation of transformative innovation policy
• understanding barriers for sustainable innovation and transitions in industries with global value chains
• appreciating the opportunities for sustainability transitions experimentation in cities

Ongoing projects

Swedish Transformative Innovation Policy Platform – STIPP 

Funded by Vinnova

Sustainable Plastics and Transition Pathways – STEPS 

Funded by MISTRA.