Dissertation: Wood-based innovations are seen as promising, but realizing their potential requires support
What did you study?
In my dissertation, I examined how different societal actors and stakeholder groups, such as companies, consumers, and the media, perceive wood-based innovations and their potential in the sustainability transition. Moreover, I explored stakeholders’ views on the drivers and barriers of wood-based innovations, their development and diffusion. My dissertation utilizes mixed methods and draws on survey data, interviews, and media articles.
What were the main findings of your research?
The results show that many stakeholder groups view wood-based innovations positively and see them as having significant potential to advance the sustainability transition. As such, these innovations can serve as common ground for different forest-related future visions. However, realizing the full potential of wood-based innovations requires increased investments, research, cross-sectoral collaboration, communication, and political support. However, it is important to acknowledge that wood-based innovations alone cannot solve the sustainability challenges of our time, as the sustainability transition also requires broader systemic changes.
How can the results be applied? What new knowledge does the research provide?
This dissertation offers new, interdisciplinary insights into the exploration of forests, forest resources, and wood-based innovations as part of the sustainability transition. In particular, it highlights the perspectives of diverse societal actors and stakeholder groups, which have previously received relatively little attention in research. The results can be utilized to support the development and diffusion of wood-based innovations as well as decision-making related to them. Although the geographical focus of the study is Finland, the findings are applicable to other contexts as well.
M.Sc. (Econ.) Venla Wallius will defend her doctoral dissertation in Corporate Environmental Management “Wood-based innovations in the sustainability transition: stakeholder perspectives” on Friday 10 April 2026 at 12:00 in Auditorium C5 of the University of Jyväskylä Main Building. The opponent will be Professor Erlend Nybakk (Kristiania University of Applied Sciences), and the custos will be Academy Research Fellow Annukka Näyhä (University of Jyväskylä). The language of the dissertation is English.
