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Our latest updates, thoughts, and events — as they roll out.
Finland’s first energy-efficiency Behaviour Change Hackathon took place in the capital earlier this week. Organised by Demos Helsinki and leading energy-efficiency firm Granlund, the event brought together coders, energy experts and behaviour scientists for a one-of-a-kind hackathon. The diverse group of participants was divided into five teams (with one coder, behavioural scientist and…
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The ClimateLaunchpad jury has selected the 12 finalists to the world’s largest climate innovation competition from over 50 applicants. The 12 finalists will be pitching their concepts on a Boot Camp Final Show, May 7th 2:30-4:30 pm at Aalto Design Factory in Otaniemi. Want to join? Sign up for the…
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Europe’s largest cleantech business idea competition, Climate LaunchPad 2015, kicks off its second edition! Students, start-ups and entrepreneurs are invited to submit their cleantech ideas. All entries are judged on their impact on climate change, their growth potential and on skills and enthusiasm. The most promising entries gain access to…
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Drawing on almost five years of Cities Mission implementation, Demos Helsinki and its partners from Dark Matter Labs and the Mission Board argue that mission governance has reached policy readiness. Its mechanisms have been tested, its governance infrastructure is in place, and it offers a transferable model for delivering on EU strategic priorities at scale.
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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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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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Governing with cities: Europe’s overlooked governance infrastructure
July 21, 2026
The Cities Mission functioned as a natural experiment that revealed an overlooked property of European governance: cities do not merely implement policy more effectively; they generate governing capacity and governance knowledge that Europe should intentionally incorporate into policy design through a revised multilevel governance architecture.
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The next MFF should institutionalise what mission governance has proven
July 21, 2026
The challenge for the next MFF is not to invent a new governance model, but to organise European decision-making around the governing capacity that already exists.
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Governments can steer with wellbeing at the core (but nobody said it was easy)
April 28, 2026
Governments keep promising change and then hitting the same walls with the old machinery. Reorienting governance around human wellbeing is both urgent and possible, and the work continues even when the political climate turns.
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