Latest content
Our latest updates, thoughts, and events — as they roll out.
In Imagining Change Through Science – Demos Helsinki Research Encounters, we explored how science and research have shaped societal change.
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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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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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This policy brief focuses on short-term action (2026-2028) around AI governance and provides practical guidelines for experts and policymakers. It introduces a framework that embeds democratic pillars — participation, freedom, equality, transparency, knowledge, and the rule of law — directly into the entire AI lifecycle.
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While substantial efforts have been made to identify and address issues of environmental justice in urban areas, the question of how to consider and plan for the concerns of humans and other species remains a major challenge. This paper provides a conceptualisation of what ‘justice’ might mean from a multispecies justice (MSJ) perspective within the contexts of nature-based solutions (NBS) and urban sustainability planning. We offer a wider conceptualisation of representation, distribution and agency compared with dominant framings in NBS scholarship and provide exemplar cases on how to integrate these concepts in planning discourse. We critically discuss some of the challenges and opportunities of considering MSJ when confronted by established procedures and practices in NBS science and decision-making, focusing on (i) moving beyond existing standards for biodiversity conservation; (ii) embracing MSJ as a process and practice; and (iii) building the capacity of NBS planners to work with MSJ.
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The report provides insights into how the dominant ways of thinking about growth have taken shape and become entrenched: What has changed over the decades? And what might the future look like? Finnish discourse is also placed in the broader context of international societal and scientific debates, as well as global shifts in the operating environment.
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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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Building Zero Waste Society
May 26, 2017
Imagine the world without over-consumption and waste? How can we make it happen? Where to start? Building Zero Waste Society project aims to educate local zero waste initiatives, community activists, civic society groups, municipalities and wider society about impact of consumption on the environment and people. We seek to empower…
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World’s Best Cities
May 4, 2017
To learn from the best, to improve one’s own nest and to think about the rest. This is what happens to the Finnish urban professionals when joining the one-week excursion to Portland, Oregon. The Finnish Urbanism Foundation (Urbanismisäätiö) invites biannually a number of Finnish urban strategists, planners, developers and thinkers…
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Why IoT leads to the platform economy?
April 26, 2017
1. There is nothing new about platforms An emergence of digital platform economy is driving fundamental changes in our societies. But there is nothing new about platforms. Platform refers to a product, technology or organization that enable direct interactions between two (or more) distinct actors. For example most General…
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