Toni Ahlqvist

Road‐mapping the societal transformation potential of social media

Purpose – This paper seeks to discuss the outcomes of a road‐mapping research on social media project completed at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Social media refer to a combination of three elements: content, user communities, and Web 2.0 technologies.Design/methodology/approach – The paper utilizes socio‐technical road‐mapping to study the potential transformations of social media in the virtual and physical spheres.Findings – Road‐maps were constructed in three thematic areas: society, companies, and local environment. The results were crystallized into five development lines. The first development line is transparency and its increasing role in society. The second development line is the rise of a ubiquitous participatory communication model. The third development is reflexive empowerment citizens. The fourth development line is the duality of personalization/fragmentation vs mass effects/integration. The fifth development line is the new relations of physical and virtual worlds.Originality...

Neoliberalisation in a Nordic State: From Cartel Polity towards a Corporate Polity in Finland

In this paper, we present an outline of state transformation in the context of a Nordic welfare state. We use Finland as an example of the transformation process in which a welfare state form we call a cartel polity is shifting towards a corporate polity, a particular adjustment of the competition state. We conceptualise the corporate polity as a spatio-temporal fix under construction. The corporate polity is both an on-going process to build a corporation-inspired management model for the Finnish state and a novel state ethos that is underpinned by constant concern about the states international competitiveness in front of ‘nature-like’ market forces, transnational investors and highly skilled labour. We propose that the imaginary of a corporate polity is endorsed by a discursive practice that constructs a ceaseless crisis condition in the Finnish state, through repetitive and mundane activities related to state governance. Through the empirical analysis, we single out four dimensions of the corporate polity: fiscal-managerial, digital, capacity-oriented and territorial. Finally, we provide brief reflections on the potential state transformations in the future.

Management of Foresight Portfolio: Analysis of Modular Foresight Projects at Contract Research Organisation

While the expansion of foresight scope towards systemic processes and societal considerations has provided significant opportunities for learning and synchronised action between different business units and/or policy fields, it may also have caused digression and ambiguity in the practice and theory of the management of foresight processes. This is true, in particular, in contract research organisations that have faced major challenges to reorganise their foresight activities as part of the changes in their innovation practices. The paper examines the exercises and consequent responses to this shift at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. The paper develops and applies a coherent classification framework for foresight exercises. The framework provides practical support for the design and management of foresight projects, as well as supports the overall management of the portfolio of different kinds of foresight activities. The findings also point out the need for the modular process design that helps adjusting foresight exercises in different contexts.

Systemic transformation, anticipatory culture, and knowledge spaces: constructing organisational capacities in roadmapping projects at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

This article suggests that, in the current interlinked innovation meta-system, research and technology organisations (RTOs) would benefit from developing two systemic capacities: partial structural openness enabling flexibility in organisation and an anticipatory culture that builds on an anticipatory agency, that is, a proactive participatory approach that leads to action. In this article, we explore the questions of systemic transformations and the building of an anticipatory culture in the context of VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. First, we discuss the strategic development paths, anticipatory culture and systemic transformation capacities in the context of RTOs. Second, we show how process-based roadmapping can be applied in building the systemic transformation capacities and anticipatory culture. Third, we illustrate these notions by analysing four roadmapping projects as case studies.

ENGINEERING SPATIAL FIXES: RELATIONAL SPATIAL PRACTICES, STRATEGIC‐TOPOLOGICAL APPROACH AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF A FINNISH SCIENCE‐TECHNOLOGY DISTRICT

Abstract It can be argued that the relational approach, and especially the so‐called relational economic geography, would benefit from deeper engagement with the practical and strategic dimensions of spatial relations. The article proposes a notion of engineering spatial fix as a way to conceptualize these dimensions. The idea is to widen the conceptual sphere of relationality from spontaneous ties or abstract networked power effects towards relational spatial practices. Theoretically, the article aims to bridge the strategic‐relational and the network‐topological approaches through a stylized meso‐level practice‐oriented approach. It is suggested that in economic geography, relations can be grasped through two basic perspectives: relations as analytical lenses and relations as spatial practices. The article proposes that the relational spatial practices can be divided into two dimensions: topological and strategic. The article presents a case study of a science‐technology district of Turku in 1985–2001, which fleshes out the theoretical elaborations. In the process, the relational concept of synergy is utilized as a context‐specific strategic resource as the district evolves from an initial separate building to a distinct and materialized geographical structure.

Towards long‐term foresight for transport: envisioning the Finnish transport system in 2100

Purpose – This paper aims to introduce a process for constructing long‐term visions of the transport system. The vision building process is demonstrated by creating a concise test vision of the Finnish transport system in 2100.Design/methodology/approach – The vision building process combines four futures methods that support the long‐term foresight approach: transition management, PESTE analysis, the futures table and the Delphi method. The process is validated with a test vision.Findings – A three‐step vision building process for long‐term transport system visions is structured. The three consecutive steps of the process are environmental scanning, constructing futures tables and visions, and describing visions. In addition, a demonstrative test vision is created to describe a possible future transport system in 2100 in a metropolitan Finland. The successful application of the developed method supports further work on creating full‐scale strategy‐driven visions.Originality/value – Futures studies analyz...

Entering the ‘Darwinian Markets of Europe’: Strategic Management of Space–Time in Two Regional Strategy Processes in Southern Finland, 1990–94

Abstract This paper provides an analysis of the strategic orientation towards regional transformation through the notion of ‘strategic management of space–time’. It argues that regional strategy processes are about a construction of selective semiotic economic imaginaries, controllable ‘slices’ out of the messiness of the ‘actually existing economy’. The paper presents a three-dimensional framework to analyse regional strategy processes focusing on strategic gaze, strategy sites and the spaces of strategy. In the framework, strategy process is perceived as partially ‘hermetic’ space that produces its own worldview, its distinctive perspective, out of the hybrid contextual materials. The perspective is the central ‘product’ of the regional strategy process; it strongly frames the landscape of potentialities (what is possible, what is plausible, what is desirable) created in the process. The paper exemplifies this framework by studying two strategy processes realised in Southern Finland in 1990–94. In both of these, the strategic gaze was built on an optic of Europe as a new kind of ‘Darwinian market space’ in which the economic survival and success would require specific regional capacities.

New industrial platforms and radical technology foresight: the case of 3D printing in Finland and Europe

This article presents futures oriented analyses of 3D printing, which are based on technology foresight study performed in Finland in 2013. The methodological framework of the Finnish technology foresight study is shortly introduced and explained in this article. The analysis reflects current discussion about 3D printing technology options in Finland, as is reflected in report of Linturi et al. (2013, 2014). The analyses of 3D printing provided in this article are also linked to broader international and European context. TechCast study (Halal, 2013) and FutMan scenarios of JRC (Geyer et al., 2003a, 2003b) are elaborated. The analyses reveal several emerging aspects and bottlenecks of 3D printing and new industrial revolution. The emerging aspects are related to the rise of new technological possibilities and new production processes. The bottlenecks include issues such as lacking capacities and competencies of industrial actors in adopting new technological solutions, uncertainties in the efficiency and performance of 3D printing solutions, problematic of wider societal transition, and potential risks potentially generated by 3D printing systems and technologies.

Building Innovation Excellence of World Class: The Cluster as an Instrument of Spatial Governance in the European Union

European spatial governance is becoming an intriguing mix of ideas from the economic, political and cultural spheres. This article asserts that, in the EUs spatial planning, the cluster is increasingly part of a hybrid spatial politics, here named the ‘cluster gaze’, based on the interplay of innovation-oriented political rationality and spatial governance. To study this process, the article provides an empirical investigation into selected EU documentation. The investigation is based on two perspectives. First, the cluster is analysed as a mediating instrument to stimulate and rescale transnational market developments in the EU. Second, the cluster is studied as an instrument of spatial management — one that builds on a business managerial ethos and endorses a specific hierarchical spatial imaginary and a cluster evidence base to assess the productivity and efficiency of European clusters. Both of these perspectives pave the way for a European ‘politics of cluster excellence’ that is about the constant sharpening of cluster practices, continuous evaluation and ranking, and the enhancement of cluster performance to rise from the ‘European league’ towards the ‘world class’.

On Foresight Design and Management: A Classification Framework for Foresight Exercises

The gradual paradigm shift in innovation research and policy from linear to systemic innovation models has also challenged also the conventional technocratic technology-driven forecasting practices and called for new participatory and systemic foresight approaches (Smits and Kuhlmann 2004). In the 1980s, publicly funded foresight activities were commonly seen as an instrument for assisting in the development of priorities for research and development (R&D) resource allocation (Irvine and Martin 1984). Later on, stakeholder participation and networking have been regarded as increasingly important elements of foresight activities for ‘wiring up’ the multilayered innovation systems both in the public (Martin and Johnston 1999) and private sectors (e.g. Salmenkaita and Salo 2004). Reports from recent foresight projects have, in turn, emphasized the importance of common vision building as a step towards the synchronization of the innovation system (Cuhls 2003). In these developments, the locus of foresight activities has tended to shift from positivist and rationalist technology-focused approaches to the recognition of broader concerns that encompass the entire innovation system, including its environmental, social and economic perspectives. The High Level Expert Group appointed by the European Commission crystallized these trends by defining foresight as follows (European Commission 2002): ‘A systematic, participatory, future intelligence gathering and medium-to-long-term vision-building process aimed at present-day decisions and mobilizing joint action’.