Towards a Sustainable Finnish Re-Manufacturing Industry (SuFiRe)
Duration of the project
Source of funding
Business Finland Co-Research
Total funding
340 000 €
SuFiRe is a multidisciplinary research project where three research groups join together to understand how the green transition can be furthered in businesses and what business opportunities the transition presents.
SuFiRe focuses on the Finnish manufacturing industry. The larger project goal is divided into three objectives: To identify what aspects of Ecodesign regulation (ESPR) are most critical for businesses and how they can adapt to them, to study new business opportunities that emerge from the new environmental regulations, to develop ways to motivate employees to increase their consideration of sustainability in their daily practices.
Materials for designing circular business
Process and Value Mapping -canvas
The Process and Value Chain Mapping Canvas supports organizations in mapping processes and value chains to develop a shared, holistic understanding of how products, services, materials, and value flow across the entire lifecycle. The canvas helps make current practices visible, identify value creation and value loss, and reveal where circular economy improvements and RDI opportunities exist.
Circular Economy Life Cycle Opportunities -canvas
The Circular Economy Life Cycle Opportunities Canvas guides participants to explore how products, services, business models, technologies, and practices can be improved or reimagined to better support circular economy and sustainable transition goals. It encourages looking beyond incremental improvements to identify opportunities related to durability, reparability, recyclability, resource efficiency, energy efficiency, value recovery, and new forms of value creation.
Sustainable Reporting Needs -canvas
The Sustainable Reporting Needs Canvas supports organizations in identifying and structuring key sustainability questions and performance indicators across the entire value chain. It helps identify the data points needed for ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) reporting, as well as the gaps between regulatory requirements and daily operations, ensuring that sustainability data is not only collected but also used to drive meaningful change.
Sustainable Reporting & RDI -canvas
The Sustainable Reporting & RDI Canvas is designed to bridge the gap between mandatory corporate reporting and active research, development, and innovation (RDI). This tool helps organizations move beyond mere compliance by using sustainability data to identify gaps in product design, services, and processes, ultimately turning regulatory requirements into competitive advantages.
The Future Opportunities -canvas
The Future Opportunities Canvas helps identify and shape future opportunity areas based on emerging changes and uncertainties. It supports clarifying desirable futures through shared values and translating these insights into practical change management guidelines that enable purposeful and forward-looking development.
Star Model -canvas
The Star Model Canvas is used to define how we must lead change to realize a future opportunity. It helps align strategy, structure, processes, people, and motivation around what needs to change—not what exists today. The focus is on identifying concrete leadership actions, behaviors, and decisions required for success.
Additional materials available
An updated list of links related to the Ecodesign Regulation (ESPR); sum-up of additional materials available.
Partners
Meet the team
PhD Johnny Långstedt
Deputy Research Group Leader in Entrepreneurship and Value creation, Turku UAS
I am SuFiRe’s consortium leader and implement our work package on developing values-based change leadership for the participating companies.
Dr. Annika Holmbom
Leader of Research on Circular Business Models, Turku UAS
I focus on innovating new circular business opportunities for the participating companies. Facilitate workshops on process and value chain mapping, ESG data points, future opportunities and on making a sustainable strategic plan and roadmap.
Johanna Liipola
Specialist in Circular Business Models research group, Turku UAS
I plan, develop and execute circular economy workshops in SuFiRe. The topics of the workshops are 1. Process and value chain mapping; 2. ESG data points; 3. Future opportunities; and 4. Making a sustainable strategic plan and roadmap.
Professor Nina Tynkkynen
Regulatory landscape impact analysis research group, Åbo Akademi University
My research explores environmental policy and regulation in multilevel governance. I help companies understand how evolving policies affect their strategies, operations, and opportunities by translating complex developments into actionable insights. This supports informed decision-making and drives innovation in response to sustainability challenges.
Phd Candidate Taina Lahtinen
Regulatory landscape impact analysis research group, Åbo Akademi University
I conduct research on regulatory changes through desktop research, interviews, and focus group session in SuFiRe-project. I am working with both the company representatives and policy actors to study the impacts of the changes in the regulatory landscape deriving from Ecosustainable Product Design Regulation (ESPR) on Finnish mechanical engineering industry companies.
Meet the research team
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Research teams
Circular Business Models
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Research teams
Entrepreneurship and Value Creation
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