Sustainability transition
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.
More information on Vinnova's website
Sustainable Plastics and Transition Pathways (STEPS)
Funded by MISTRA.
Contact
Johan Miörner
Theme coordinator
Johan Miörner's profile in Lund University's Research Portal
Andrew Karvonen
Theme coordinator
Andrew Karvonen's profile in Lund University's Research Portal
Coffee break with Fredric Bauer
Where he talks about bio-economy and collaboration across industry and sectors for innovation and transformative change (YouTube).