Dissertation in Futures Studies [25.3.2022]: Leena Jokinen: "Ideation for future cruise ships. Collaborative foresight in cruise ship concept ideation"

Cruise ships are co-designed for the future 

In the future, the planning and envisioning of a new cruise ship will become more engaging and strategically important as new ship projects are more complex and made in partnership with a growing number of organisations. Visions and insights for a new ship will evolve among designers, engineering planners, managers and collaborators in private, public and voluntary sector stakeholders. Personal social ties at the everyday operational level are essential for getting ideas for a new ship. An equal, high-trust space provides a productive setting for sharing future-focused ideas between organisations. The study contributed to the Futures Studies methodology by highlighting the importance of social ties in constructing futures.

The lead company in the shipbuilding network played a pivotal role in directing future development among network actors, thus indicating that far-reaching collaboration between network actors enhances company sustainability. The study identified four futures images for sustainability development: money rules, the customer is always right, local economy focus, and the most sustainable ships in the world. Compared to performance data, which looks to the past, futures-focused discussions among network actors offer an alternative way to enhance sustainability. The analysis of futures images of sustainable shipbuilding provides a deeper and finer-grained understanding of how discussion flows across ideas for innovation and change. 

The analytical and critical perspective on actors’ social ties helps to expose who within the interorganisational network has a decisive role in creating new ideas. The human-centred approach adds value to corporate foresight beyond scanning horizons and trends or creating alternative scenarios. The critical approach to social relationships illuminates how different actors influence the acceptance of particular ideas during futures construction. The analytical model to explicate the construction of futures images as a proactive process will aid the analysis of how interaction shapes the future.

Lic. Sc. (Econ. & BA) Leena Jokinen defends her dissertation in Futures Studies entitled ”Ideation for future cruise ships. Collaborative foresight in cruise ship concept ideation" on Friday 25 March 2022 at 12.00–16.00.

Place: Turku School of Economics, LähiTapiola-sali (LS 16), Rehtorinpellonkatu 3, 20500 Turku.

Opponent: Professor Kerstin Cuhls, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, Germany
Custos: Professor Toni Ahlqvist, University of Turku

You can follow the dissertation remotely at: ty.fi/defencejokinen

Thesis is available at UTUPub directory

The University of Turku actively follows the coronavirus situation and the authorities’ instructions. The University may change the instructions according to the situation. Audience arriving to a dissertation defence organised at the University’s facilities are mainly required to present a COVID-19 certificate. The certificate is required from everyone over 16 who are not the University’s personnel or students.