Niina Karvinen is an RDI specialist and Erasmus+ Innovation Alliance Blueprint project coordinator at the Diaconia University of Applied Sciences (Diak), where she leads the European Social Innovation Campus (ESIC) – a large-scale European initiative advancing skills development, curricula reform, and ecosystem-building in the social economy and social innovation across Europe. Her work focuses on translating European policy priorities into concrete learning, innovation, and collaboration infrastructures through transnational partnerships.

Alongside her project leadership, she is a doctoral researcher in Social Entrepreneurship in the Arts and Culture, exploring culture- and arts-based social enterprises as agents of civic wealth creation and regional development. She holds a Master’s degree in Service Design, which informs her approach to co-design, participatory research, and systems-oriented development.

Niina’s expertise lies in social innovation education, social economy skills strategies, and collaborative governance. Her work bridges academic research, European policy, and practice through co-design, positioning her as a practitioner-scholar contributing to the development of inclusive and future-oriented social innovation ecosystems in Europe