We translate research into innovations that enable organizations to build sustainable, regenerative, and competitive futures through commercialization, data-driven insight, and collaboration. We help companies translate research into practical solutions, strengthen their innovation capabilities, and identify new opportunities through data. We support SMEs in building business models that are both financially viable and environmentally responsible, connecting applied research with real business needs.
Members of the research group
Outi-Maaria Palo-oja
Outi-Maaria, a Chief Specialist, D.Sc. (Econ. & Bus. Adm.), Head of Research Group, specializes in science commercialization and university-industry collaboration. She is particularly interested in how individuals and organizations can work together effectively in innovation processes, despite having different goals and approaches.
Pirjo Rautiainen
Pirjo, a Chief Specialist, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Pirjo specializes in the development of products, services, and organizations in companies' research and concept development projects. She has studied various aspects of customer experience, employee experience, customer understanding, and value creation for over 25 years. She examined the application of anthropological knowledge in business environment in her dissertation.
» ORCID
Riitta Forsten-Astikainen
Principal Lecturer (Commercialization), D.Sc. (Econ. & Bus Adm), MBA, student (M.Sc. (tech) in Industrial Engineering and Management: entrepreneurship and business management). Riitta teaches commercialization and serves as an expert in management training programs. She is particularly interested in commercialization maturity models for companies and organizations from the change management perspective. Additionally, Riitta's research interests include growth strategies for businesses, strategic management and human resource management.
Jaani Väisänen
Principal lecturer, digital business, PhD. Jaani teaches data analytics, business intelligence, and research methods in LAB’s Master’s programs. His research interests lie in the utilization and modeling of data within the context of the commercialization and innovation process. In addition, the systemic change at the intersection of technology, human behavior, and business processes is of particular interest.
Martti Mäkimattila
Development Manager, D.Sc. (Tech). Martti is interested in systemic innovations and socio-technical change, especially how value is created in collaboration with various actors during the system transition and in a responsible manner.
Sami Heikkinen
Senior lecturer, Dr. Sami Heikkinen is a researcher who has successfully transitioned from learning analytics and educational technology to applying advanced analytical methods for understanding micro-enterprise growth factors. Having completed his PhD in learning analytics with expertise in sequence analysis and cluster analysis, Dr. Heikkinen is now pioneering the application of these analytical methods to decode the complex dynamics that drive micro-enterprise success and growth patterns.
» ORCID | Linkedin | Scholar | ResearchGate
Olga Bogdanova
Olga Bogdanova, MBA, is an RDI Specialist at LAB and is a PhD student at LUT. Olga’s research interests encompass entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial finance, university-industry collaboration, and entrepreneurial skills. She brings a wealth of experience from the industry, particularly in investment management and consulting.
» ORCID | ResearchGate | Linkedin
Jyri Hänninen
Jyri Hänninen, Senior Lecturer in Business Administration (MSc,MEd) Focused on the commercialization of AI and value creation. His PhD research explores competitive advantage through AI-human interaction. Extensive experience as an entrepreneur and in entrepreneurial organizations. Commercialization and the creation of business networks as a specialization in funding applications.
Alexander Matrosov
Alexander, M.Sc. (Tech), focuses on evaluating market potential and customer value of research-based inventions, integrating pre-commercialization activities, early-stage business modelling, and industry–research collaboration to enable research-driven venture creation. He is actively exploring PhD topics at the intersection of research commercialization, technology transfer, and science-based entrepreneurship.
Anu Kurvinen
Senior lecturer, International Business, MSc. (Econ). Anu is interested in research related to innovation and R&D activities in companies, harnessing research-based information for business development, commercialization of new sustainable technological solutions and development of business in different value networks.
» Linkedin | ResearchGate
Sofi Granö
Chief Specialist, PhD (Political Science), Sofi specialises in quantitative analysis with a focus on predictive modelling and causal inference. Particular interests include quasi-experimental designs using registry data.
» ORCID | Linkedin | ResearchGate
Publications
Palo-oja, O.-M., Rinkinen, S. & Mäkimattila, M. (2025). AI in innovation: Impacts on management functions. Organization Management Journal, 1-16.
Väisänen, J. (2025). Benefits and importance of digital technologies as digital maturity drivers: A case study of Finland. In European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (pp. 776-784). Academic Conferences International Limited.
Heikkinen, S. Väisänen, J., Kaikonen, H., Makkula, S. & Markkanen, P. (2025). Analysis of customer journey video data using eye-tracking and multimodal AI. Innovative Perspectives on Computational Intelligence and Data Science.
Granö, S., & Bergh, J. (2025). Does local context matter for individual level turnout? Analysing the effect of the social context in the neighbourhood, in Norwegian elections. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 1-22.
Bogdanova, O. (2025). Crowdfunding for university research commercialization: A scoping review. In European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (pp. 68-76). Academic Conferences International Limited.
Palo-oja, O.-M. (2025). Science commercialization in Elgar Encyclopedia of Innovation Management. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Brusila-Meltovaara, K., & Bogdanova, O. (2025). Knowledge Sharing and Creation Through Seed Funding. In Proceedings of the 25th European Conference on Knowledge Management (2 vols). Academic Conferences and publishing limited.
Bogdanova, O., Mukerji, M., Vuorela, T., Poulsen, E. S., & Van, N. Designing an Impact-Focused Entrepreneurship Course: Insights from a Europe-India Collaboration. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Education Research. Academic Conferences and publishing limited.
Väisänen, J. (2025). Leveraging Scientific Research for Business Improvement: A PRISMA Review. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Education Research. Academic Conferences and publishing limited.
Bogdanova, O. Collaborative Innovation Ecosystems as Platforms for Sustainable Entrepreneurship: A Regional Case from Lappeenranta, Finland. In Proceedings of the 21st European Conference on Management, Leadership and Governance. Academic Conferences and publishing limited.
Palo-oja, O. M. (2025). The Courage to Cross Over: A Case Study of Identity Evolution in Academic Entrepreneurship. In European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (pp. 542-548). Academic Conferences International Limited.
Cristea, T. S., Heikkinen, S., Snijders, C., Saqr, M., Matzat, U., Conijn, R., & Kleingeld, A. (2025). Dynamics of self-regulated learning: The effectiveness of students’ strategies across course periods. Computers & Education, 228, 105233.
Heikkinen, S., & Myyryläinen, H. (2025). Validating the Contemporary Business Soft Skills Instrument. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 23294906251317717.
Heikkinen, S., Saqr, M., Malmberg, J., & Tedre, M. (2025). A longitudinal study of interplay between student engagement and self-regulation. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 22(1), 21.
Heikkinen, S., Saqr, M., Malmberg, J., & Tedre, M. (2024, October). The interplay of engagement and learning regulation in online learning. In International conference on technological ecosystems for enhancing multiculturality (pp. 427-436). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.
López-Pernas, S., Heikkinen, S., Tlili, A., Majumdar, R., & Saqr, M. (2025). Unpacking learning in the age of AI: Bridging AI, Complexity, and Precision Education. In Advanced Learning Analytics Methods: AI, Precision and Complexity (pp. 1-14). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
Kukkonen, I., & Palo-oja, O. M. Lecture Capture in Finnish High Schools: Teachers’ Perspectives. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Education Research. Academic Conferences and publishing limited.
Projects
INNOVATE
The INNOVATE project is part of the national Innovation and knowledge networks theme, and its actions promote the creation of knowledge-intensive business ecosystems, increase research activities connected to business life, and support business life-oriented renewal of skills and thus the growing business of companies.
KAUKAS Project
KAUKAS Project (Growth for SMEs through Commercialization Capabilities) focuses on strengthening the commercialization skills of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through research and practical collaboration.
Contact info
lab [dot] fi