During his PhD studies, Jakob Raffn attempted to unpack and address a key challenge of our time; namely that, ‘while societies become increasingly aware of and knowledgeable about sustainability they do not become sustainable’. In their current configurations, our Societal Operating Systems (SOS), i.e. economies, sciences, politics, technologies, philosophies, etc., do not operate in favor of sustainability. Consequently, novel SOSs – capable of handling the challenges of our time – must be created, trialed and refined and the process of doing so rigorously documented and shared.