Prof. Ahlqvist's research focuses on regional planning and policy, spatial political economy, futures studies, and technology foresight. Currently he is working at the university level thematic collaborations Digital Futures and Sea and Maritime Studies. He has lead numerous research projects that have covered, e.g., emerging technologies, construction and uses of futures knowledge in organizations and regions, strategic development of industrial branches, such as forest industry in South Australia, and varied aspects of knowledge-based society. His most recent projects have dealt with potential societal antagonisms of radical emerging technologies and futures of land use planning in Finland. Prof. Ahlqvist’s research has been published in such journals as Technological  Forecasting and Social Change, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, New Political Economy, Geopolitics, Geografiska Annaler A: Human Geography, Space and Polity, Technology Analysis and Strategic Management, Futures, Foresight, and Science and Public Policy.