Rate My Professor Teemu Makkonen

Teemu Makkonen is the Professor of Regional Studies and Economic Geography in the Karelian Institute within the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies at the University of Eastern Finland, appointed in December 2019. He received his PhD in economic geography from the University of Helsinki in 2012 and his MSc in human geography from the University of Turku in 2008. Makkonen holds titles of Docent in cross-border economic development from the University of Eastern Finland (2019) and in economic geography from the University of Helsinki (2015). Prior appointments include Research Director at the Karelian Institute (2018–2019), Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Social Research, University of Tampere (2016–2018), Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Surrey (2014–2016), and Assistant Professor in the Department of Border Region Studies at the University of Southern Denmark (2014). He also served as Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (2020–2021).

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”.