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Trust, failures and coffee breaks – How work communities enable innovation
Technology organizations invest in R&D, yet many struggle to translate that expertise into tangible innovations. We sat down with Antti Arasto, Vice President at VTT, to discuss the conditions that make innovation possible. Three things stand out: it cannot be commanded from above, failure must be tolerated, and human interaction is essential.
Innovation dominates conversations about competitiveness and the green transition. Yet the environments where it actually happens – and the leadership those environments require – get far less attention.
You can’t schedule a breakthrough
Most engineering organizations have no shortage of smart people or technical ideas. What they lack is the organizational conditions that turn those ideas into something real. Arasto argues that this starts with leadership: One of the most common misconceptions is that innovation can be led through a strict top-down approach.
For Arasto, innovation leadership comes down to one word: trust. “Leaders can create circumstances where innovation can happen. That means trusting the people in the organization and giving them space to think and experiment,” he says.
Trust is closely connected to psychological safety: the idea that employees should feel safe presenting unfinished ideas, questioning assumptions, and discussing difficult topics without fear. Without it, creativity and experimentation quickly disappear.
When people know they won’t be punished for failure, they dare to try new things.
Antti Arasto, Vice President, VTT
When VTT celebrates failure
Innovation inevitably involves risk, and with it comes failure. For Arasto, the ability to learn from failures is a crucial element of innovative work. “If you try something once and succeed, that’s great. But you may not fully understand why you succeeded,” he explains.
Looking at failures often reveals the underlying mechanisms behind success or mistakes. This learning process can be particularly valuable when developing new technologies or business models.
At VTT, this mindset has been taken quite literally. The organization hosts an annual event called the Gala of Failures, where employees share stories about projects that fell short or other, sometimes quite personal, missteps. The goal is to surface lessons learned and celebrate the courage to try. “When people know they won’t be punished for failure, they dare to try new things,” Arasto says.
Engineering alone doesn’t solve problems
A technical breakthrough alone does not guarantee impact. Turning an invention into a viable product or service requires understanding markets, users, economics, and environmental implications.
Arasto points to climate change as an example: even proven engineering solutions stall without cost modeling, regulatory navigation, and user adoption. “There are countless brilliant inventions and patents that have never been used,” he notes.
The value of accidental conversations
Work has changed rapidly in recent years. Remote and hybrid work have become common, and new generations entering the workforce are accustomed to communicating in digital environments. While remote work sustains individual productivity, it reduces the spontaneous cross-team interactions that drive new ideas. Scientific evidence still suggests that meeting people in person matters.
Something different happens when people meet in person, Arasto says. “You might meet someone during a coffee break who works in a completely different field. A short conversation can introduce a perspective that sparks a new idea.” How to replicate those encounters in hybrid environments is still an open question – and one Arasto thinks about often.
Direction without control
According to Arasto, leaders must balance two elements: clear guidance and autonomy. “Leaders need to provide a clear direction,” he says. “At the same time, people must be empowered to decide how they reach that direction.”
Different teams may prefer different ways of working. Some rely on workshops and structured collaboration, while others thrive through informal discussions or digital tools. There is no single correct model. What matters is that people are allowed to find practices that work for them.
Introducing ENGINEERING PULSE
– our new podcast
Antti Arasto
Vice President, VTT
Antti leads energy research at VTT, one of Europe’s leading research and technology organizations. He has several decades of experience working with innovation, especially in the fields of energy and climate.
Karoliina Joensuu
Senior Vice President, Elomatic
Karoliina leads Elomatic’s Industry business unit. She has 20 years of experience in energy and sustainability, with a focus on the green transition and industrial decarbonization.
Listen to the full conversation on the Engineering Pulse podcast, hosted by Elomatic’s Karoliina Joensuu.
Want to know more? Check out these articles:
Diverse teams create better solutions
International Women’s Day is a reminder that diversity and equality are not just values. They directly translate into better experiences, solutions and innovations in work life. Although the number of women in students and professionals of technical field has increased over the years, it remains clearly lower than that of men. This is why competence-based selection, equal opportunities, and the intentional building of diverse work communities are essential for the development of the entire field.
Visionary – Tero-Seppo Tuomela
Tero-Seppo Tuomela, Senior Vice President at Elomatic, has spent over two decades at the company. Today, his primary focus is making innovation happen systematically, not by chance. In a time of compounding disruptions, he sees systematic innovation management more urgent than ever.
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