Projects

The study contributes in the framework of the measure „Enhancing the Knowledge Intensity of Entrepreneurship in Ida-Viru: Developing Research Capacity in Ida-Viru County to Establish a RDI Network” during 2024-2028 to the development of a theoretically grounded framework for transition processes as well as methodology and models for empirical monitoring of relevant aspects of transition. The study consists of three themes: just transition governance, Ida-Viru innovation system, and changing business models of Ida-Viru companies. The aforementioned three thematic work packages contribute together with the remaining four (monitoring and prognosis of Ida-Viru employment, development of Ida-Viru technology intensive innovation niches, vulnerability of local population and innovation potential, health impacts of transition and development of health services) to the development of the transition processes framework and are implemented in cooperation with UT research teams.

The FINEST Twins project will build a multidisciplinary smart-city Center of Excellence that will match the leading smart city research centres globally and focus on all five key domains of clean and sustainable smart city development: mobility, energy and built environment glued together by governance and urban analytics & data management (research streams). The FINEST Twins will have a globally unique focus on developing user-driven clean and sustainable smart city solutions that are “cross-border-by-default” in the context of emerging twin city between Tallinn and Helsinki

Although there is a clear need in Estonia to make economic policy more responsible and smarter, the call for projects highlights the challenge of a lack of unified understanding of what sustainability entails across different sectors in the long term. Most of the described pain points are also noted in strategic documents guiding Estonia’s sustainable economic development. Hence, the key problems are more evident at the policy implementation level, where public sector interventions have sometimes yielded opposite results, had minimal impact, or progressed too slowly. The project aims to analyze and solve these problems through the following activities First, to analyze and synthesize what opportunities does the green transition offer for Estonia, and what prerequisites are needed to realize them? We will validate some of these opportunities, create cross-sectoral links, and obtain a realistic picture of what the green transition entails in sectors most crucial for sustainability transition. Second, clarifying the above and mapping the way forward will allow for a deeper investigation into necessary changes in policy measures: which public sector interventions should be increased, newly created, reduced, or discontinued. Third, to achieve real change in businesses, we will collaborate with the Client to design novel interventions for the next period's economic policy. We expect long-term results, as the project coincides with policy design for the 2027-2034 budget period, enabling the public sector to acquire skills that are more effective for solving today’s and future problems. The output will be policy recommendations (measure design and skills) implemented from 2027 onward.

Public administrations across Europe face double pressure to adjust to the digital age while inducing sustainable development. As they do so, the governments need to develop new, and redevelop old, public administration and policy capabilities. The current project rests on the assumption that public administrations form a pivotal yet often neglected cog in social shaping of technological progress driving the sustainable future. The objective of the PAFSD project is to create a new generation world-class research, teaching and knowledge transfer capabilities at the cross-roads of public administration, digital transformation and sustainable transition at TalTech, Estonia. This will be achieved by complementing the existing unique knowledge base of TalTech with training a new generation early-career researchers, exchanging new knowledge between senior researchers and support staff, developing new educational capabilities, actively engaging in policy networks internationally, enhancing organizational capabilities and doing a hands-on small-scale research project. The PADST project will pool the competences of three of the leading European research universities - KU Leuven, Universiteit Utrecht, and University College London - with TalTech to develop an international cutting-edge research center studying and shaping public administration capabilities fit for the digital and sustainable future in Estonia, Europe and beyond.

Catching-Up along the global value chain: business models, determinants and policy implications in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is a project built on a multidisciplinary and multi-sectorial exchange program focused on unravelling the process of Catching-Up from different sectorial perspectives at a country level. It analyses the role of business models (BMs) in entering, learning and upgrading the Global Value Chain (GVC), aiming at recognising the determinants and challenges faced by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in tackling the process of upgrading in a globalising economy. The outcome of the project will be the definition of policy tools and frameworks to support effective policy-making actions in the implementation of Research and Innovation Smart Specialization Strategy (RIS3), with respect to the new agenda of Europe 2020, mainly for low-income EU countries.

The proposed project ‘BoostEuroTeQ’ aims at strengthening the research and innovation dimension of the EuroTeQ Engineering University. It strongly builds on synergies with its education-focused activities (funded by Erasmus +) to reinforce institutional change towards responsible research and innovation. It aims, in particular, at enabling individuals in technology value creation to interact with stakeholders of the wider society to ensure desirable and socially robust pathways for societal transformation. The work plan set out in BoostEuroTeQ strengthens and complements core parts of the EuroTeQ Engineering University. In a first pillar, the project will develop a concept for training learning professionals at universities and position them as key actors facilitating knowledge transfer and co-creative innovation between the university and the wider ecosystem. By defining a EuroTeQ upskilling strategy it will help establish the partner institutions as constant companions in the lifelong learning journeys of engineers in Europe. This will enable the consortium to develop and implement an improved strategy for strengthening human capital and will re-inforce the cooperation with non-academic actors. In a second pillar, the project will analyse the EuroTeQ partners’ needs in terms of institutional strategies for reflexivity and develop a “EuroTeQ manifesto” for institutionalization. It will investigate how universities can engage with their surroundings by developing “learning networks” and will design an approach to evaluate the impact of co-creative education for innovation and understand its scalability. With that, BoostEuroTeQ will reinforce the impact of university research and innovation and build sustainable involvement and engagement with citizens and civil society. In sum, this complementary project will strengthen the EuroTeQ Engineering University’s role as change maker and role model for institutional transformation in Europe.

The basic structure and dynamics of Estonian energy and transport systems can be traced back to Western industrial states in the interwar era. Currently both systems produce large negative environmental impacts: furthermore, unequal distribution of these impacts intensifies social inequality. Estonia's success in the field of information technology might help to alleviate these tendencies. However, studies show that careless application of ICT-s might lead to worsening environmental and social conditions. The project focuses on three Estonian systems – energy, transport, communications – aiming to analyse their history and to design interventions for shaping their development onto sustainable and just path without repeating the past mistakes of industrial societies in developing, applying and regulating technologies. It is based on a novel Deep Transitions framework, conceptualizing the evolution of industrial society through the interactions of socio-technical systems.