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

Areas of Research 

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

Project Description

The dual impact of hope — as both a motivator and a potential distraction in sustainability efforts — has received growing scholarly attention, yet technological hope is still most often discussed through the 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 how technological hope is constructed, what it means to different actors, and what kinds of effects it has in sustainability transformations. Sustainability transformations are the central societal challenges of our time, accompanied by strong expectations of technology’s problem-solving power. Technological hope can serve as a vital resource for motivation and guiding action, but it can also turn into uncritical optimism that sustains problematic structures and postpones difficult social choices and solutions.

The objective of the project is to develop conceptual and empirical understanding on how technological hopefulness is produced, circulated and institutionalised in different social and organisational contexts. In our research, hope is examined as an affective phenomenon, a belief and a practice guiding action and decision-making. Through this we aim to recognise when technological hopefulness supports changes fostering sustainability and when it turns detrimental.

To deepen the concept of technological hopefulness both theoretically and practically, SUSTHOPE combines philosophical analysis and empirical social research. As a result, the project will develop tools which help organisations and decision-makers to identify and evaluate hopes and promises related to technology critically yet without losing hope.

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).

Please feel free to contact us via email if you are interested in supervision, collaboration or have questions of any other kind!

Profile Texts

The leader of SUSTHOPE, Johanna Ahola-Launonen (PI), is a doctor of social science (practical philosophy, University of Helsinki) and an Academy Research Fellow 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 social 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.

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