Sustainability through Information Flows
1 January 2023 – 28 February 2025
Business Finland
Budget UTU: 1 111 610 €
Ongoing

Ship design

The SusFlow project applies a multidisciplinary approach for shared solutions within a network of enterprises representing a multitude of competence areas with an LCA-driven focus. The project promotes sustainability assessments based on real data, a seamless flow of information, and a possibility to discover innovations to benefit the incorporation of sustainability as a practice within the shipyard ecosystem. The aforementioned assessments combined with our company partners’ expertise in value chain sustainability measurement and data generation increase overall sustainability. With strategic collaboration and good flow of information this will improve innovation stimulation, generation, and detection within the shipyard supplier network. The models by which these processes can be implemented are investigated in the wider network and utilized in communicating network sustainability to various interest groups.

The approach creates a multitude of business potential varying from clear savings, enhanced efficiency and innovation potential, social values, environmental values, and raw marketing value. The approach will have an effect and create demand on customer standards and purchasing behavior through a market shaping ideology, thus increasing sustainability transparency requirements in the market. At first the main beneficiaries are the shipyard, shipbuilding network, and shipping companies, internally. The solutions can be scaled, formalized, and incorporated to give the Finnish marine industry a competitive advantage in the cruise ship market.

This project is a collaborative consortium project led by research organizations, University of Turku and VTT, including multiple parallel projects from industry stakeholders throughout the value chain. The publications from our previous projects of the same research area can be found from the following links: SUSTIS and SusCon.

Research Partners

Industry and Supporting Partners

Press Material

Events

13.9.2023, webinaari: Mistä puhumme, kun puhumme vastuullisuudesta? – johdanto vastuullisuuteen meriteollisuudessa

29.8.2024, SusFlow-seminaari, SSAB, Raahe.

27.9.2024, SusFlow-webinaari: Vastuullisuustieto virtaamaan

Publications

The publications from our previous projects of the same research area can be found from the following links: SUSTIS and SusCon.

  • Leena Jokinen, Nicolas A. Balcom Raleigh, Katariina HeikkiläFutures literacy in collaborative foresight networks: advancing sustainable shipbuildingEuropean Journal of Futures Research2023A correction to this article was published in 04 May 2024

  • Heimo, O., Vainio-kaila, T., Kinnunen, K., Hänninen, S., Helle, S., Majaniemi, S., Jokinen, L., Lehtonen, TThe Flow of Sustainability Information Through Interorganisational Shipbuilding EcosystemIn: Beata Mrugalska, Waldemar Karwowski and Stefan Trzcielinski (eds) Human Aspects of Advanced Manufacturing, Production Management and Process Control. AHFE (2024) International Conference. AHFE Open Access, vol 146. AHFE International, USA2024

Ask more

Teijo Lehtonen

Senior Research Fellow

teijo.lehtonen@utu.fi +358 (0)44 440 0005

Kaapo Seppälä

Project Manager

kaapo.seppala@utu.fi +358 (0)40 744 4182