Rate My Professor Teemu Makkonen

His research focuses on regional economic development and innovativeness, especially in cross-border regions. Key areas include regional innovation systems, rural development, smart shrinkage, cross-border tourism, innovation in peripheries and borderlands, environmental innovations, and knowledge spillovers. Makkonen has co-edited Sustainability and the Rural Enterprise Economy: Economic, Environmental and Social Transformations (Routledge, 2025) and The Rural Enterprise Economy (Routledge, 2022). Notable publications are "Geopolitical conflicts, sanctions, and international knowledge flows: EU–Russia collaboration during the Ukraine crisis" (The World Economy, 2023), "Benchmarking the vitality of shrinking rural regions in Finland" (Journal of Rural Studies, 2023), and "The geography of innovation in times of crisis: a comparison of rural and urban RDI patterns during COVID-19" (Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 2024). He has led funded projects such as Rural economic security and vitality (TOTAL, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland, 2024, €156,500) and Public financial flows to rural and urban areas (RAVIT, 2022, €242,500). Makkonen is a member of editorial boards for Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, Management, International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, and Fennia, and serves on the board of the International Geographical Union’s commission “Geography of Digital Society and Connected World”.