The next Sustainability Research and Innovation (SRI) Congress will be held for the first time in Europe, taking place in Helsinki and Espoo, Finland, from June 10-15, 2024. The SRI Congress is the world’s largest inclusive global event for co-produced research and innovation action to advance sustainability. The 2024 Congress builds on a growing knowledge to action movement fostered in previous SRI Congresses held in Australia, South Africa and Panama. More than 2000 international sustainability experts and practitioners are expected to come together in Finland and online from around the world.

“We are excited to bring the Congress to Finland, which is one of the world leaders in sustainability and innovation. The 2024 Congress will also be the first SRI in Europe and in a Nordic country. By bringing the event and its global community to different regions, SRI seeks to initiate new conversations, connections and collaborations, and accelerate an informed sustainability transformation worldwide,” say the SRI Conveners, Erica Key, Future Earth US Global Hub Director, Nicole Arbour, Executive Director of the Belmont Forum, and Veera Mitzner, Future Earth US Hub Associate Director.

SRI2024 will be organized in collaboration with the Sustainability Science Days (SSD), which for six years has convened the sustainability community in Finland and beyond. SSD is a joint effort of the University of Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) and Aalto University.

“The urgency and complexity of the current sustainability crisis challenges us all. At the University of Helsinki we believe passionately that with the power of scientific knowledge and boundary breaking collaboration, we create a fairer, healthier and more sustainable world. We are thus very pleased to co-organize the next SRI congress in Finland, in a country known to be small in population size, but big in ideas, innovation and equality. We look forward to building a transformative SRI event that has a real, global impact on the future,” says Tom Böhling, University of Helsinki’s vice-rector for sustainability and responsibility.

“Building a sustainable future is at the core of all activities. We are very happy that we can join forces and bring together researchers and different stakeholders for Finland’s largest sustainability science conference. We need sustainability science, research and innovations now more than ever,” says Ossi Naukkarinen, Aalto University’s vice president for research.

The SRI Congress series is a collaborative global initiative of Future Earth, an international organization advancing transformative research in global change and informed sustainability decision-making, and the Belmont Forum, an international funding partnership that mobilizes co-produced and co-implemented systemic approaches to global environmental change. 

The Congress spurs meaningful explorations of cross-sectoral and cross-boundary solutions, provides a platform for accelerating innovation, engages with both public and private actors to inspire positive sustainable futures, and fosters an inclusive space for collaboration and transformation – within academia and beyond. SRI attracts a diverse audience, including youth, to lead and participate in workshops, training sessions, networking events, and more.

SRI reaches across the globe offering regional hybrid satellite events and interactive programming to move beyond knowledge-sharing to inclusive solution planning, while also creating a home for the global sustainability community to gather and build its capacity and capability.