Sustainable innovation and IPR law

Application period: 11 June – 10 August, 2026

Research project description

This PhD research project explores how legal and regulatory frameworks shape innovation from idea to successful commercialization. It examines how existing law, such as intellectual property rights (IPR), data and market regulations, support or constrain innovation in bio-based industries. The study analyses specific emerging challenges in securing IPR protection and compliance with existing legal IPR standards. The project aims to identify legal barriers and opportunities and provide recommendations for navigating and improving the regulatory landscape to foster responsible, competitive and sustainable innovation practices. It adds to know how on navigating IP infrastructure, legal design and informed decision-making in R & D processes in ONE of the following themes:

EU AI Act and sustainable models for data-based innovation and commercialisation
EU food labelling law and marketing healthy consumable innovations
EU patent law, business method patents and trade secrets protection for new service platform providers in e.g. eco and health tourism sector

Academic background and skills of the applicant

An ideal candidate holds a master’s degree in law or a closely related field and has a strong legal background in intellectual property regulation, particularly in patent law, trademark law, or EU intellectual property law in the context of the Digital Single Market. The candidate is expected to be familiar with the basic framework for the legal protection of intangible assets (IP law) at the global level, including how inventions may be protected through patents, trade secrets, and trademarks, how innovative service platforms may be designed in relation to AI and data law, or how innovative products may be promoted to consumers under labelling and marketing law. Demonstrated knowledge of EU data law, contract law, or commercial law is considered an advantage. The selected candidate must also fulfil the language skills requirements of the Doctoral Programme of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies at UEF (see the https://www.uef.fi/en/degree-programme/doctoral-programme-of-the-faculty-of-social-sciences-and-business-studies (Eligibility and admission criteria)).

Doctoral programme and research group

Doctoral education in the University of Eastern Finland is arranged in seven discipline specific or thematic doctoral programmes. This research project will be located in the Doctoral Programme of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies, and the submitting department is the UEF Law School.

The candidate will join Commercial and Trade Law Research Group that focuses on emerging markets and the evolving regulatory framework for commerce.

Partners / Secondments

The potential partners/secondments depend on the selected project focus.

Other interdisciplinary, international and/or intersectoral collaboration

Intersectoral and interdisciplinary collaboration is strengthened through DP-FOBI’s three summer schools involving academic supervisors, non-academic partners, and other stakeholders, enabling hands-on interaction and knowledge exchange.

Supervisors and related research

Katja Weckström

Professor Katja Weckström leads the research group in commercial law at UEF Law School since 2013. Weckström’s research focuses on trade law, digital single market law and intellectual property law and she has supervised numerous doctoral and post-doctoral projects on intellectual property law, food law and international trade agreements. She is a recognized international expert on international intellectual property and communications law issues in the EU. Her research focuses on emerging markets, the evolving regulatory framework for platform commerce and the role of law and trade in shaping the global economy, which directly impacts national and regional economies. The research targets regulation that may enable growth and remove barriers to trade and commercial development. Global transactions impact the regulator’s ability to control actors and digital content as well as reducing risks and preventing harm to consumers. Hybrid governance models and legal design are necessary to govern international distribution chains and protect innovative value creation.

Digitalization transforms international chains of commerce and creates opportunities for new business innovations, which revolves around digital content and the service economy. Weckström’s research projects focus on grey areas or gaps in commercial regulation.

The focus on IPRs relates to distinguishing unlawful activity and utilization of protection schemes to further entrepreneurship, especially protecting innovative SMEs in global markets and developing countries and capitalizing on the potential in food innovation to enhance food security and sustainable business models in food development.

Krista Rantasaari

Krista Rantasaari‘s research focuses on innovation, patents, and technology transfer, with particular emphasis on the role of intellectual property in supporting start-ups and growth companies. Her doctoral thesis (2021), “Patent Litigation in Europe: Can Start-ups and Growth Companies Defend Their Rights”, examined patent enforcement from the perspective of smaller firms and was the first European doctoral study in law to focus specifically on this area. Prior to entering academia, she worked in the venture capital industry for 10 years, which provided her with a practical understanding of innovation ecosystems. She has supervised several bachelor’s students and graduate´s students, and one doctoral student.

Weckström, K., Montagnani, LM. & Klafkowska-Wasniowska, K. (Eds.) (2025) Governance of Digital Single Market Actors, EE Publishing. link

Klafkowska-Waśniowska, K. & Weckström, K. (2023) Online Intermediaries and Sustainable Market Regulation – a Smart Mix of Liability and Exemptions, Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies, 16, 28, 103-129, DOI: 10.7172/1689-9024.yars.2023.16.28.6

Weckström Lindroos K. (2020): Fairness and ordre public in certified global food chains in Gervais D. & Underwood, M. (Eds.) Fairness, Morality and Ordre Public in Intellectual Property, (EE Publishing).

Rantasaari, K. (2025): Innovation, AI and Patent law in Tasnim Ahmed and Adam Snow (ed.) Governance, Regulation and Emerging Technologies: Frameworks, Challenges in the Fourth and Fifth Industrial Revolutions (Routledge 2026, forthcoming).

Rantasaari, K. (2025): Accelerating Sustainable Innovation: The Role of Patent Law, Compulsory Licensing, and IPR Pledges in Green Technology Diffusion in Tamar Khuchua and Martin Stierle (ed.) Patents and Sustainability: Contemporary Research Perspectives (University of Luxembourg, forthcoming in 2026).

Rantasaari, K. (2024): The Role of Sustainability and SDGs in Patent Valuation, Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, vol. 31(4), p. 469-486. DOI: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1023263X241270285.