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Our latest updates, thoughts, and events — as they roll out.
Are you an entrepreneur with a smart product or a service for urban dwellers? Are you looking for a fast way to find partners and users, test and hit the market? Peloton Smart Retro Acceleration Program offers a highway access for Nordic startups and entrepreneurs to partnerships, mentors, user communities and…
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As natural resources become scarcer, giant companies of the old guard are in trouble. At Flow Talks Even Heggernes from Airbnb, Minister of the Environment Ville Niinistö, Marko Ahtisaari from MIT Media Lab, and Tero Ojanperä from Vision+ shed light on how resource scarcity next turns to transform consumer markets….
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Flow Festival expands as Demos Helsinki together with Slush and Flow bring the sharpest knives from the world of startups, smart cities and social movements to Flow Talks in Suvilahti on the 8th of August. Flow Talks Smartup Summit continues a series of talks on sustainable growth organised by Demos…
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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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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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Amid the complex and persistent challenges of sustainability transitions, experimental governance has emerged as a way to foster reflexivity, learning, and policy innovation through diverse participatory practices. This paper examines the role of transition arena methodologies in expanding and deepening civic engagement in low-carbon transitions, specifically through seven experimental processes focused on “climate-wise housing” in Finland in 2023. These experiments combined digital and in-person facilitation in an attempt to involve citizens in co-producing actionable insights on climate-smart behaviors, building renovations, and renewable energy adoption, hitherto directing the envisioned transition. The research explores three “avenues” of widening participation in transition arenas, namely expanding, complementing, and opening such arenas to explore questions regarding the potential and limitations of widening transition arena participation and the impact of such breadth on the depth of citizen engagement. Findings highlight trade-offs between different scopes and modes of citizen participation and reveal how participatory processes shape public engagement and policy responsiveness. By suggesting four implications on designing and implementing citizen engagement processes, the study contributes to a nuanced understanding of participation in transition governance and its implications for sustainability transformations.
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Tervetuloa Demos Helsingin ja Time-Use Initiativen järjestämään maksuttomaan online-webinaariin “Aika hyvinvoinnin resurssina: suunnittelun katvealue?” Mikä: Webinaarin aiheena on, miten ajan käyttöä tietoisesti ohjaamalla voidaan parantaa organisaatioiden ja kaupunkien hyvinvointia ja tuottavuutta. Tilaisuus pidetään suomeksi ja englanniksi. Missä ja milloin: Zoomissa keskiviikkona 27.5. Klo 14–15.30 Kiire, työn ja vapaa-ajan epätasapaino ja pitkät…
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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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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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Economic policy is no longer enough
April 2, 2026
Economic policy cannot be a replacement for good governance. In this part of human history, it is understanding what is at stake — profoundly human wishes for a dignified and meaningful life — that will have to shape all policy, including economic policy.
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Finland, what is our promise for future generations?
January 20, 2026
Foresight Friday 2025 brought together policymakers and global experts to discuss Finland’s long-term responsibilities to future generations and intergenerational fairness. The question remains open, and it belongs to all of us: what is our promise for future generations?
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