Kristina Leppälä’s blog text on the article “Sustainable Plastic Circular Economy: Alternative Futures” (Kestävä muovin kiertotalous – vaihtoehtoisia tulevaisuuksia) by Ville-Veikko Piispanen, Kristina Leppälä and Hanna Lehtimäki. The article was published in Futura (Vol. 45, No. 1, 2026) and examines how the future of the plastic circular economy may develop under different societal, technological, economic and regulatory conditions. Plastic […]

Kristina Leppälä’s blog text on stakeholder sensemaking and the future value of personalized medicine. How do organizations persuade stakeholders to invest in innovations whose value remains uncertain? This question sits at the heart of many healthcare innovations, particularly in the field of personalized medicine. Although advances in genomics, diagnostics, and data analytics create new opportunities […]

News article (in Finnish) about Hanna Lehtimäki’s trip to Brussels.

Kristina Leppälä’s blog text on CECE morning coffees. Milestone for the morning coffee UEF CECE morning coffees have been a popular activity and going strong for seven seasons! Our mission is to share knowledge about the circular economy in a clear and transparent way, and to do this with a united spirit. Now is a […]

Ville-Veikko Piispanen’s blog text on why corporate sustainability does not lead to transformation. Sustainability has become a central part of corporate strategy. Companies talk about climate change circular economy, responsibility, and impact more than ever before. Stakeholder engagement is widely promoted as the key mechanism to make sustainability meaningful, legitimate, and effective. And yet, despite […]

The University of Eastern Finland’s Research Center for Sustainable Circular Economy (UEF CECE) is celebrating its third anniversary, marking a period of remarkable growth, vibrant collaboration, and concrete societal impact. Since its establishment, CECE has evolved into a multidisciplinary hub uniting researchers from the Business School, Law School, and Geographical and Historical Studies within UEF […]

Ville-Veikko Piispanen’s blog text on the intersection of digitalization and sustainability. What we learned from studying an industrial front-runners? Across industries, two major forces are reshaping how companies operate: digitalization and sustainability. Traditionally, organisations have treated these as separate strategic tracks one focused on efficiency and automation, the other on climate goals, circularity, and social […]

Ville-Veikko Piispanen’s blog text on sustainable startups. Sustainable startups often step into markets that seem unwelcoming at best and hostile at worst. Customers hesitate, regulations lag behind, and established players hold tight to old habits. Still, these entrepreneurs move forward with determination. In our recent research by Ville-Veikko Piispanen, Hanna Lehtimäki and Kaisa Henttonen Navigating […]

Ida Parkkinen’s blog text on stakeholder relationships shaping innovation. In my doctoral dissertation, I explored personalized medicine as an emerging multistakeholder innovation. What I found was not a linear path or a ready-made model, but a process that is unfinished, uncertain, and constantly evolving. This insight became the main argument of my dissertation: multistakeholder innovation […]

Ida Parkkinen’s blog text on how to lead the transition to a circular economy in companies. Blog is based on educational materials and insights from CECE – UEF Research Center for Sustainable Circular Economy. Transitioning to a circular economy is not a one-size-fits-all journey. Every organization starts from its own context, with unique strengths, values, and […]