Joni Karjalainen
M Soc Sc
joni.karjalainen@utu.fi +358 40 702 9691 Korkeavuorenkatu 25 A 2 Helsinki Best reached through e-mail and skype. Working remotely in Accra, Ghana. ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3823-2299(external) Sähköistyminen vertaisyhteiskunnassa - uusi tarina Suomen tulevaisuudelle(external) Kestävät energiaratkaisut ja lähes 0-energiarakentamisen verkkokurssit(external) |
anticipation; foresight; energy transition; Global South; governance; innovation; models; pioneer analysis; scenario; sustainable development
Joni Karjalainen is a project researcher and a doctoral candidate in the Finland Futures Research Centre. His research entails three themes: learning from crises, energy transition, and off-grid solar energy entrepreneurship.
Currently, his research learns from the COVID-19 pandemic, with a view to unexpected events, discontinuities, and how crises affect urban environments. Crises may be previously recognized, unexpected or even unimaginable. Another research theme concerns the energy transition toward a decentralized, digital, emission-free world. Karjalainen is a co-author to “Electrification in Peer-to-Peer Society. A New Narrative for Sustainable Futures”, a science-book, available in three languages: Finnish, English and Spanish.
He is also interested in the uptake of renewable energy technologies in sub-Saharan Africa and the strategies to attain Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) for access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. In his doctoral research, he studies novel business models and innovation patterns in solar energy in the East Africa. Understanding such dynamics may help in exploring and shaping preferred futures.
He is an author of over 10 academic peer-reviewed articles and over 15 scientific research reports. In recent years, Karjalainen has been based in Accra, Ghana, in the Institute for Futures Research (IFR) in South Africa as a visiting researcher as well as acted as a Visiting Fellow in the University of Sussex, Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) in the United Kingdom. He also holds previous experience in international development and innovation collaboration.
Karjalainen has worked in the centre since 2013. Karjalainen has a political science degree (M Soc Sc) from the University of Helsinki.
Currently, Karjalainen is mainly focused on learning from crises, the global energy transition and off-grid solar energy startups.
Crises are a pertinent feature of societies in many sectors: economy, society and the environment. As a case in point, the coronavirus pandemic emerged as a global shock, causing a state of uncertainty. Responses to the COVID-19 crisis concerned debates of a “New Normal”. Multiple sectors and different parts of society were provoked to think what might emerge in the wake of the crisis. The pandemic provoked societies to imagine how to survive any types of crises in the future. Futures dialogues help learn from crises, explore latent expectations, and post-crisis futures.
Secondly, solar energy is increasingly expected to power Africa’s future. Despite a hope of its growing uptake, the penetration of solar products (solar lighting, solar home systems and micro- and mini-grids) and services in African countries has been slow. In the 2010s, the global energy landscape witnessed unexpected changes, as the cost of solar photovoltaics has fallen dramatically. These trends and future trajectories of solar PV for African countries, however, have received limited attention. The uptake of solar energy coincides with a growing fascination for promoting innovation in developing countries. In pioneering markets, such as Kenya and Tanzania, innovative business models, incorporating ICT-based innovations such as mobile banking, machine-to-machine communications and artificial intelligence (AI) have emerged. There has been little analysis of what enabled these pioneering ventures to emerge, the role of global innovation networks, and expectations locally in harnessing these technologies.
Karjalainen performs master's thesis supervision, and is also interested in how capacities to think about futures can be strengthened around the world.
- Peer-to-peer and circular economy principles in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) - New risks and opportunities (2019) Proceedings from the 27th African and International Conference on the Domestic Use of Energy (DUE) - Energy Solutions for the Cities of the 4th Industrial Revolution Karjalainen Joni, Heinonen Sirkka, Shaw Morgan
(A4 Refereed article in a conference publication ) - Peer-to-peer principles in radical renewable energy visions – new risks and opportunities of an electrified circular economy (2019) Energizing futures – sustainable development and energy in transition. Proceedings of the Futures Conference 2018 Joni Karjalainen, Sirkka Heinonen, Morgan Shaw
(A4 Refereed article in a conference publication ) - Pioneer Analysis as a Futures Research Method for Analysing Transformations (2019) Anticipation, Agency and Complexity Sirkka Heinonen, Joni Karjalainen
(A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - New Great Electrification as Cultural Transformation for Post-Oil Era – Everybody on Board! (2018) Joni Karjalainen, Sirkka Heinonen, Nicolas Balcom Raleigh, Hazel Salminen, Morgan Shaw
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - Radical Solar Energy Startups in Kenya and Tanzania (2018) Joni Karjalainen, Juho Ruotsalainen, Sirkka Heinonen, Rob Byrne
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - Sähköistyminen vertaisyhteiskunnassa - uusi tarina Suomen tulevaisuudelle (2018) Sirkka Heinonen, Joni Karjalainen
(E2 Popularised book ) - The Pioneers of Renewable Energy are Around the World - What Can We Learn from Them? (2018)
- Journal of Futures Studies: Epistemology, Methods, Applied and Alternative Futures
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Using deliberative foresight to envision a neo-carbon energy innovation ecosystem – a case study of Kenya (2018)
- African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Yllätyksiin täytyy tottua – energiajärjestelmän murroksen seurauksia energiaturvallisuudelle. (2018)
- Futuuri
(E1 Popularised article) - Clean Disruption for Abundant Futures. Neo-Carbon Energy Futures Clinique III. (2017) Sirkka Heinonen, Joni Karjalainen, Marjukka Parkkinen, Juho Ruotsalainen
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - Culture, values, lifestyles, and power in energy futures: A critical peer-topeer
vision for renewable energy (2017)- Energy Research and Social Science
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Energising Peer-to-Peer Urban Futures - Challenges for Urban Governance (2017)
- Procedia Engineering
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Final Neo-Carbon Energy Countdown – Ready for Renewables (2017) Sirkka Heinonen, Samuli Honkapuro, Joni Karjalainen, Tiina Koljonen, Juho Ruotsalainen, Lassi Similä
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - Hybridimetodi tulevaisuuden energiamurroksen luotaamiseksi - heikkojen signaalien ja transformatiivisten skenaarioiden pohjalta tehty edelläkävijäanalyysi (2017)
- Futura
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Itseorganisoituva hybridikaupunki – tulevaisuuden kaupungit rakentuvat vertaisvoimin (2017)
- Futura
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Neo-Carbon Energy World - What Opportunities for Chile?: Neo-Carbon Energy Futures Clinique IV (2017) Sirkka Heinonen, Noora Vähäkari, Joni Karjalainen
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - Surprise as the new normal – implications for energy security (2017)
- European Journal of Futures Research
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Surprising Energy Futures. Neo-Carbon Energy Futures Clinique V (2017) Sirkka Heinonen, Joni Karjalainen, Marjukka Parkkinen, Juho Ruotsalainen, Sofia Zavialova, Sofi Kurki, Leena-Maija Laurén, Hazel Salminen, Amos Taylor
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - Testing transformative energy scenarios through causal layered analysis gaming (2017)
- Technological Forecasting and Social Change
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Transformational Energy Futures 2050. Neo-Carbon Energy Societal Scenarios (2017) Sirkka Heinonen, Juho Ruotsalainen, Joni Karjalainen
(D4 Published development or research report or study )