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Can Africa leapfrog to low-carbon energy era?

Mobile phones allowed Africans to skip the landline stage of development and jump right to the digital age. Today Kenya is the world leader in mobile payments. Are they now leading the way to low-carbon energy era, too? By definition, leapfrogging means “surpass or overtake another to move into a…


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Only 4 in 10 citizens trust the government

Eroding trust in governments and the recent struggles of democracies dominated the discussions on the first few days of the World Government Summit 2018. We believe that over the next 5 years the world will witness the mainstreaming of several new ways of enabling inclusion, engagement and participation between people…


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Public governance now: 5 point checklist for the 2018 civil servant

Governments around the world are muddling through the first decades of the 21st Century. People’s needs are diversifying, and addressing them is becoming increasingly challenging in the existing interconnected and complex systems. Multiplying wicked problems such as climate change, pandemics, poverty and social injustices further complicate public governance. At the…


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Imagining change through science at Demos Helsinki Research Encounters

In Imagining Change Through Science – Demos Helsinki Research Encounters, we explored how science and research have shaped societal change.


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16 Horizon projects later, our goal is the same

Demos Helsinki is currently involved in 14 Horizon Europe projects. From exploring the societal impacts of new technologies to tackling climate challenges, these projects reflect a growing demand for research that sparks systemic change. Discover how we are working across disciplines to shape fairer, more sustainable futures.


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Demos Helsinki is part of three SRC-funded research projects on democracy and water security

These three research projects are: 1) Reducing polarisation via material participation (MaDem); 2) Coastal waters under pressure – safeguarding a healthy Gulf of Finland in a changing geopolitical and environmental landscape (CoWup); and 3) Safe Water for All (WaterFall).


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Towards more systemic crisis governance: lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic in Finland

Finland managed the Covid-19 pandemic comparatively well. Yet the longer the crisis lasted, the more visible the limits of the governance system became. This brief examines what a prolonged crisis revealed about institutional strength, societal vulnerabilities, and the kind of governance future crises demand.


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Better is possible: why — and how — business leadership can be renewed

Decades of low growth in Finland may be a symptom of a weakened capacity for renewal inside organisations, including the country’s top businesses. In this report, we explore the role that Finnish companies play in the current growth environment and document what business leaders think should be done next. We conclude with key recommendations for boards and executive teams to create the conditions for a renewed purpose in business, one that fits the current Finnish context and reveals underused capacity for renewal.


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Sufficiency in Everything — Understanding and living within the limits of “enough”

Finland, like all countries of the Global North, is currently dependent on economic growth. Yet future growth may be very limited and uncertain – and decoupling it from increasing environmental harm will not be easy. Could the principle of sufficiency help us navigate towards better futures?


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Master class: Institutionalising for impact

Join us for an interactive deep-dive learning experience on imagining, structuring, organising and mobilising for long-term & systemic societal change. Hosted by Transition Collective in partnership with TIAL and Demos Helsinki.


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