Commentary
Public Governance Must Be Able to Imagine a Better Future
In uncertain times, people turn their eyes towards central and local government. The importance of public governance and its role in securing the conditions in which people can lead good lives is highlighted especially now, during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article is originally published in the Finnish weekly magazine, Suomen…
Read More“Why Silicon Valley when you can be like Moominvalley” – We must bring people to the heart of smart city thinking
Over the last decade, people have become fascinated by smart cities and how technology can help make cities better places to live. The world’s leading smart city models, the so-called Chinese and Silicon Valley models, have been criticised for increasing public surveillance and the power of global tech companies. In…
Read MoreLetter: Tech vs Covid-19 – Transparency And Trust to the Heart of Public Power
In terms of privacy, the past few months have brought about a tidal wave of actions by governments that a short while ago would have been seen deeply tinged with dystopian undertones. Placing entire cities, countries and regions in lockdown and creating digital applications to track movement have been swift…
Read MoreLetter: The Unkept Promise of Globalisation Does Not Mean Localism Will Alone Solve This Crisis
In the midst of a global pandemic, most countries are opting for national and local solutions, mostly discarding any global or international approaches. Though this path may lead to increased system resiliency and environmental sustainability, sole localism will not be sufficient to solve this crisis or address the other challenges…
Read MoreLetter: Results of Finland’s Basic Income Experiment Will Help Us Build the Post-Pandemic Society
It all started as a curiosity in 2015. Now, the whole world is looking into universal basic income to stimulate the economy. The timing of Finland’s basic income experiment results could not have been better. But what can we learn from it when reimagining the post-pandemic economy and society? It…
Read MoreLetter: Talking about economic growth can no longer be taboo
The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the relevance of reviewing our economic system and how dependent our societies are on economic growth. What will we do if we suddenly find ourselves in a situation where economic growth is simply not possible – or perhaps even desirable – anymore? How can our…
Read MoreLetter: The Three Horizons of Economic Stimulus
When looking at the reactions and implementations of the governments in different countries concerning the ongoing economic crisis, the actions differentiate from previous such crises in two ways: 1) the immediate political response won’t be built around the idea of austerity, i.e. public spending is not to undergo significant cuts;…
Read MoreForesight enables to prepare for crises but also look beyond them
The corona crisis has rapidly changed the way we look to the future. The National Foresight 2020 project mapped how should the Finnish foresight system be developed in order to meet the challenges of the 2020s.
Read MoreLetter: After the crisis, let’s not bounce back. Let’s leap into the future.
March 2020. It only takes a day to receive a text message from the Prime Minister informing you of a lockdown. It only takes a week for unemployment statistics to record-breakingly surge. It only takes a month and the healthcare system is on the brink of collapse. Will it take…
Read MoreReorienting the aim of the economy to increase the transformative capabilities of the EU
In this blog post I’ll first discuss about the purpose of the economy and second, I’ll pinpoint the discussion to one specific solution to a problem of the current economic policy. This solution is called the Economy of Wellbeing. I hope that the insights for these two topics awoke interesting…
Read MoreThree Turning Points From 2019, Three Directions For 2020
Aleksi Neuvonen and Demos Helsinki team summarise three important turning points that shaped the future in 2019. We also list three themes to follow in 2020.
Read MoreWe Need a European, People-First Smart City Model
We must bring the citizens to the heart of European smart city thinking, not focus on the interests of global behemoths or political aspirations.
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