The role of co-operation between academia and policymakers for the development and use of sustainability indicators – a case from the Finnish Kymenlaakso Region

In this article, we analyze the co-operation between academia and other stakeholders in the development and use of sustainability indicators. The empirical case is a self-assessment of a Life-Environment project, ECOREG (2002–2004), in which eco-efficiency indicators were constructed for the Finnish Kymenlaakso Region. In the article the relationship between academia and local decision-makers in both the ECOREG Project and the activities thereafter is examined. Contrary to many sustainability indicator initiatives the ECOREG indicators have been updated and used after the original project ended. A main conclusion of the article is that the use of the indicators is largely influenced by how they were originally developed. More specifically, that knowledge was jointly produced instead of being merely transferred from academia to policymakers affected the relevance of the indicators as well as the capabilities of local actors to use, update and further develop the indicators.