Commentary
You’ll forget most of today’s top brands – and this is why
Do these chief executives ring any bells: Cyrus Comstock, John Stephenson, Henry Fitz and Roy Stanhope? Thought so. 100 years ago everyone knew them as they were the most valued manufacturers of horse carriages, racing fiercely over market dominance. Obviously we don’t know them because of a now seemingly self-evident paradigmatic…
Read MoreDan Hill and Pekka Sauri on evolvement of Nordic cities
Pekka Sauri, the Deputy Mayor of Helsinki, shares his views at Flow Talks 2015 for Demos Helsinki about the role of the city as an organization, and how has it changed during recent years: Dan Hill, an urbanist and designer from UK, leaves you wondering where we should draw the…
Read MoreRoope Mokka at Fores seminar – Four things you should know about Internet of NO Things
Fores, a Swedish think tank, held a seminar last week about “Internet of NO things”. Roope Mokka from Demos Helsinki was invited and gave a speech about the biggest societal change and productivity leap since the industrial revolution. Mokka sums it up in these four points: Internet of NO things is already happening…
Read MoreWill the Nordic perspective on the hyperconnected planet pull us out of the fire?
The defining correlation of our time is the correlation between the unsustainable use of resources and human wellbeing. Because of the limited resources of our planet, we must seek ways to end this dependence. Finland tops the charts in human wellbeing year after year. But with our current way of…
Read MoreThe Internet of NO Things – Demos Helsinki founder Roope Mokka’s speech at Almedalen Week
Welcome to a journey into the future. I’ll ask you to enter into a thought experiment. We’ll venture ten to fifteen years into the future and try and make sense of it. I’m here to discuss the internet of NO things. It is the point where the internet becomes part…
Read MoreThe Internet of Things is not about things, it’s about us
The Internet of Things is one of the biggest hype words of the 21st century. Real-time connected objects and new information networks are said to lead to huge economical growth. What rarely gets said, however, is that the core of the Internet of Things is not things at all. Rather,…
Read MoreWhy you soon won’t own anything and why that’s a good thing
In the 20th century we got used to a certain way of thinking: if you needed something, you bought it. Cars, houses, records, you named it. Efficient manufacturing and logistics made it possible to create an unprecedented global overflow of stuff. Ownership quickly became about being someone; it was a way of defining who…
Read More3 things all Nordic governments should know about digitalisation
The Nordic countries are stable societies with quality education, making them fertile ground for big digital leaps. We here in the Nordics are able to digitise the more complex and demanding of processes, allowing us to reap the benefits of well increased productivity. Digitalisation allows us to do things smarter and better…
Read MoreThese are Finland´s 3 hottest solutions to climate change
The winners of the Finnish final of ClimateLaunchpad, the largest climate innovation competition in Europe, are the newly founded startups Nanomaji, Loadbro and Tuup. 1. Nanomaji has created a water filter which allows for water to be consumed without it having to be boiled first. The burning of charcoal…
Read MoreHealth 2050: How Finland will make the most out of its aging population and what other nations can learn from it
The Nordic think tank Demos Helsinki’s new Health 2050 scenario report looks at how hidden resources in society and in human beings can be better utilised to tackle wicked problems in health. Populations in Western countries are aging fast and governments are now faced with increasing healthcare costs, especially in Finland: How can perceived health be doubled without…
Read MoreWhat’s the new recipe for developing urban environment?
“The world that the construction field is serving, is changing radically”, were the opening words by Jussi Aho, the CEO of the construction company Fira. Ways of working, ways of living and the logic of retail are changing. “Digitalisation holds a huge potential for built environment. Construction business must invest in immaterial…
Read MoreFrom Cleantech to Cleanweb – The Finnish Cleantech Space in Transition
Now that the worst of the growing pains have been subdued, cleantech has made a respectable comeback onto the global agenda of firms, investors and economic developers alike. One might say it is bigger than ever, with a constantly proliferating range of cleantech companies and business models. In the midst…
Read More