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Research Areas 

1. The role of technological optimism in sustainability transitions
2. Methodological development of technology impact assessment and anticipation
3. Study of meaning structures related to technological optimism in organisations engaged in sustainability transitions

Video: Johanna Ahola-Launonen's presentation on technological optimism in the sustainability transformation at the YHYS Policy Dialogue 2025 event (Only available in Finnish). 

Project Description

The dual impact of hope both as a motivator for climate action and as a misleader is increasingly being studied, but hope for technological solutions is mainly addressed in a polarised discourse of technological optimism and pessimism.

'Towards Sustainable Hope: Exploring the Harmful and Beneficial Effects of Techno-Optimism (SUSTHOPE)' is a research project that examines the role of hope placed in technology in sustainability transitions. Sustainability transitions are key social challenges of our time and there are strong hopes for technological solutions. Technological hope can, at best, serve as a resource for motivation and guiding action but it can also turn into uncritical optimism that sustains existing structures of consumption and fails to support the needed social change.

The objective of the project is to develop an understanding of when technological hope supports changes promoting sustainability and when it hinders them. SUSTHOPE examines hope both as an affective phenomenon and as a belief that is constructed and maintained in social and organisational contexts. We aim to develop conceptual and empirical tools to identify when technological hope is constructive and when it becomes harmful.

The study combines philosophical analysis and empirical social research to deepen the concept of technological hope both theoretically and practically. The aim is also to develop tools to help organisations and decision-makers identify and evaluate hopes and promises related to technology realistically and critically.

The project is funded by the Research Council of Finland (2025–2028), the Finnish Cultural Foundation (2024, 2028–2029), and the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation (2024).

The leader of SUSTHOPE, Johanna Ahola-Launonen (PI), is a doctor of political science (practical philosophy, University of Helsinki) and academy researcher at the Research Council of Finland. Her research lies at the intersection of applied philosophy, science and technology studies, technology philosophy and political philosophy. Her previous research has addressed, among other things, questions of technological expectations and justice in bioeconomy and health distribution.

The coordinating researcher of the project, Olli Tiikkainen, is an interdisciplinary researcher working in intersections of sustainability transition studies, economic sociology, and science and technology studies. Olli, who is currently finalizing their PhD in sociology at the University of Helsinki, has broad expertise in qualitative research design, including ethnographic field methods, expert interviews, and practice-oriented document analysis. Olli’s previous research has investigated the dynamics of impact finance in its efforts to govern socio-technical change towards sustainability

The research assistant of the project, Oskari Kautto, examines models of technology assessment and anticipation. Oskari has a bachelor’s degree in political science (practical philosophy) and is writing their master’s thesis at the University of Helsinki researching the sustainability crisis from the perspectives of social philosophy and philosophy of technology. In their master's studies, Oskari has focused on philosophical questions relating to society, sustainability, scientific knowledge production and the relationship between science and public decision-making.

Related Event:

The 2025 Policy Dialogue: Technological Optimism in Sustainability Transformations (only available in Finnish). Event co-organized by the Finnish Society for Environmental Social Science (YHYS) and the Forum for Environmental Information (Ympäristötiedon foorumi).