Innovation for sustainability
Innovating new sustainable products, services, business models and forms of consumption can help tackle global challenges.
Sustainability in Business (SUB)
Our mission is to provide knowledge about innovative business models and transition paths that enhance sustainable development. As complex sustainability challenges call for multi-disciplinary knowledge and societally impactful research, we co-create solution proposals together with partners from different sectors of society.
Research areas
Sustainability transitions
Our research looks at several dimensions of the transition toward sustainability societies.
Circular economy
Circular economy keeps materials in use longer using strategies like reuse, remanufacture, recycling, and replacing ownership with rentals.
Corporate responsibility
Cross-national governance of businesses make ethical issues urgent.
SUB Publications
The latest publications from SUB researchers
Sustainability teaching
Sustainability course offerings in the School of Business
SUB seminar series
The SUB lunchtime seminar series provides a monthly forum for all interested to discuss topical research in social and environmental issues in management.
Seminar Schedule
Spring 2024
Thursday 11.1., 11:30-12:30
Ekonominaukio 1, U213
Iqra Khan, Aalto University School of Business
Minna Halme, Aalto University School of Business
Customer-enforced sustainability as a means of outsourcing corporate responsibility: Contemporary colonialism in supply chain management
Thursday 11.1., 12:30-13:30
Ekonominaukio 1, U213
Dr. Justine Loizeau, Université Paris Dauphine
Organizing the commons with humans and with the forest: The case of the zad of Notre-Dame-des-Landes
Thursday 25.1., 11:30-12:30
Ekonominaukio 1, U213
Meri Löyttyniemi, Aalto University School of Business
Organizational study on sustainability, hypocrisy and Finnish universities
Thursday 8.2., 11:30-12:30
Ekonominaukio 1, U213
Johanna Ahola-Launonen, Aalto University School of Business
The dualistic nature of techno-optimism in sustainability transitions
Thursday 7.3., 11:30-12:30
Ekonominaukio 1, U213
Matti Pihlajamaa, VTT
Riina Bhatia, VTT
VTT Innovation policy and sustainability transitions
Friday 1.3., 12.30-13:30
Ekonominaukio 1, U213 & online
Laura Albareda, LUT University Business School
Oana Branzei, Ivey Business School, Western University
Biocentric work in the Anthropocene
Friday 15.3., 13:00-16:00
Ekonominaukio 1 & online
Sofia Villo, Aalto University School of Business
How environmental irresponsibility is maintained in Russian MNEs through their interactions with the Russian national and global institutional contexts
Thursday 30.5., 11:30-12:30
Ekonominaukio 1, U213
Annukka Näyhä, University of Jyväskylä
Romana Rauter, University of Graz
Venla Wallius, University of Jyväskylä & European Forest Institute
Collaborative business models in the Finnish forest-based companies
Thursday 6.6., 11:30-12:30
Ekonominaukio 1, U213
Emilia Eräpolku, Aalto University School of Business
Tiina Ritvala, Aalto University School of Business
Inês Peixoto, University of Vaasa
Field-configuring events and the environmental upgrading of global value chains
Awards and highlights
Samuli Patala and Minna Halme
“Responsible Research in Management” Distinguished Winner for article: “Polycentric governance of privately owned resources in circular economy systems.” Journal of Management Studies, 59(6), 1563-1596. With Laura Albareda. 2023. Sponsored by the Academy of Management Fellows & Responsible Research in Business and Management. Read the announcement here.
Minna Halme
Academy of Management, Social Issues in Management Division Best Paper Award of 2023. With Jennifer Goodman and Jouni Juntunen.
Minna Halme
Alfred Kordelin Prize for key future actors who have created the conditions for a stronger, diverse, and sustainable society as well as a better future, 2022
Minna Halme, Leena Lankoski and Mika Kuisma
Article "When Is There a Sustainability Case for CSR? Pathways to Environmental and Social Performance Improvements" (co-authored with Jukka Rintamäki and Jette Steen Knudsen) received Business & Society’s 2020 Best Paper Award
Inês Peixoto
Finalist for the EGOS Best Student Paper Award with the paper “Risk organization and moral multiplexity in the EU biofuels market” (presented at EGOS Edinburgh 2019)
Minna Halme
HSE Support Foundation Societal Impact Award, 2019
Elizabeth Miller
Thesis "Trash to Treasure: A Multiple Case Study of Finnish Companies That Create Economic Value from Waste Materials" received award for top university master's thesis, Association for Environmental Management (Ymparistöjohtamisen yhdistys ry), 2018
Samuli Patala and Minna Halme
Article "Polycentric Governance of Privately Owned Resources in Circular Economy Systems" received Carolyn Dexter Award for international papers, Academy of Management 2018
Jouni Juntunen, Minna Halme, Angelina Korsunova and Risto Rajala
Article "Powering sustainable innovations: Strategies for collaborating with deviant partners" won Best Academic Paper at R&D Management Conference 2016, University of Cambridge
Minna Halme, Sara Lindeman and Paula Linna
Article "Innovation for Inclusive Business: Intrapreneurial Bricolage in Multinational Corporations", Journal of Management Studies, 2012 received the Emerald Citations of Excellence for 2015
The latest from SUB
Dive deeper into SUB's work through our blog posts and news articles.
Kestävyysmurroksen pyhä kolminaisuus (external link)
Kestävyyden ajan tavoitteiksi pitäisi nostaa eko-sosiaalinen hyvinvointi, pitkän aikavälin taloudellinen kannattavuus ja resilienssi.
Can circular economy replace collapsing global supply chains? A polycentric governance perspective - Management Studies Insights Blog (external link)
Blog post for Journal of Management Studies by Samuli Patala, Laura Albareda and Minna Halme
The New Sustainability in Business online course strengthens knowledge of sustainable business
How can companies create sustainable value for the economy, the environment and society?
SUB scholars win Business & Society’s 2020 Best Paper Award
SUB scholars Minna Halme, Leena Lankoski and Mika Kuisma have won Business & Society’s 2020 Best Paper Award.
Sustainability in Business (SUB) group awarded funding to research transition risks for low-carbon shipping and aviation
The newly funded T-Risk research project aims to shed light on transition risks in the maritime and aviation sectors, crucial for global trade and transportation.
Jouni Juntunen nominated to Network for Business Sustainability Sustainability Centres Community (SCC) Advisory Board
Jouni Juntunen has been nominated to Network for Business Sustainability Sustainability Centres Community (SCC) Advisory Board for a three year period starting from 2021.
Aalto sustainability news
Campus for people, plants and pollinators
The Otaniemi campus nature is managed with respect to biodiversity and the characteristic species of habitats.
Key Skills for Sustainability Experts: Collaboration and Communication
As industries increasingly focus on sustainability, the demand for sustainability expertise is growing. But what specific skills do employers seek in sustainability experts?
How to prepare our students to be professionals in an uncertain future?
Our graduates need various skills to navigate in the future of working life
Introducing three new professors at the School of Electrical Engineering
Assistant Professors Gopika Premsankar and Johannes Arend and Associate Professor (tenured) Marko Kosunen were appointed to the career path of professors during January-June 2024.Events
Public defence in Mechanical Engineering, M.Sc. Nurul Anwar
Inorganic foundry binders for sustainable sand molding (Title of the Thesis)
Summer school: Measuring the Sustainability Potential of Your Research
Aalto University Bioinnovation Center organizes a summer school: Measuring the Sustainability Potential of Your Research (5 ECTS). Join us in the legendary Haikko Manor & Spa in the beautiful seaside location in Porvoo, southern Finland. The course is targeted to doctoral students interested in sustainability aspects of bio-based materials and products.
Kudos – a library for material relations
Architecture as a collaboration between humans, clay and fungi.
Using satellites to save our peatlands – how and why?
Monitoring peatland rehabilitation from space.Who we are
Member of the Sustainability Centres Community
SUB is a member of the Sustainability Centres Community (SCC), hosted by the Network for Business Sustainability (NBS).
Get in touch
Address
Väre, Otaniementie 14
02150 Espoo
Contact
Elizabeth Miller
[email protected]
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