This perspective invites us to view packaging as more than an isolated physical object. It is a touchpoint connecting packaging value chain actors (industry, retailers etc.), education, policy, and everyday lived experience. Research increasingly shows that innovations developed in isolation often fail to gain meaningful traction. Lah (2025), for example, highlights how “systemic disconnects between sectors and among actors” can undermine even the most promising sustainability initiatives. Because of this, the ResPa project embraces responsible packaging as a collective societal task that demands insights and cooperation across multiple communities.
To support this cross-cutting approach, our work is guided by the ‘Quadruple Helix’ model, introduced by Carayannis and Campbell (2009). The model argues that innovation ecosystems are strongest when four key sectors—academia, industry, government, and civil society—co-create knowledge instead of pursuing parallel agendas. By adopting this framework, we recognise that individuals and citizens are not passive recipients placed at the end of the packaging lifecycle. Instead, they are active contributors (Vidal-Ayuso, Akhmedova & Jaca, 2023) who shape the feasibility and success of sustainable packaging systems through their behaviours, expectations, and everyday decisions.
Seeing consumers as co-creators opens possibilities for new kinds of packaging systems: return-and-refill loops, modular designs, reuse infrastructures, and other approaches that depend on active participation rather than one-directional consumption. This mindset pushes us to integrate behavioural insights and lived practice into design, policy, and innovation processes—not as afterthoughts but as essential elements from the start.
In ResPa, the Quadruple Helix approach becomes a practical tool for collaboration. It enables us to weave together diverse forms of expertise and motivation, helping us develop solutions that reflect both technological ambition and real-world use. By bringing people, organisations, and sectors into dialogue, we aim to build packaging systems that are not only environmentally responsible but also socially meaningful and culturally grounded.
References
Carayannis, E. G., & Campbell, D. F. J. (2009). ‘Mode 3’ and ‘Quadruple Helix’: Toward a 21stcentury fractal innovation ecosystem. International Journal of Technology Management, 46(3–4), 201–234.
Lah, O. (2025). Breaking the silos: Integrated approaches to foster sustainable development and climate action. Sustainable Earth Reviews, 8(1).
Vidal-Ayuso, F., Akhmedova, A., & Jaca, C. (2023). The circular economy and consumer behaviour: Literature review and research directions. Journal of Cleaner Production, 418, Article 137824. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.137824
Text: Maria Salomaa, Principal Lecturer, Innovation management & Nina Kukkasniemi, Senior Lecturer, Built Environment and Bioeconomy
Photo: Pixabay
