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Our latest updates, thoughts, and events — as they roll out.

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Imaginaries on Sustainability Transformation – Report outlines three positive futures

Imagining futures where society has successfully undergone a sustainability transformation helps us envision a world in which today’s major negative trends have been brought under control. But what kind of positive futures have been proposed in recent years? At the request of the Finnish Expert Panel for Sustainable Development, Demos Helsinki conducted a literature review and drafted three preliminary visions of such futures.


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The anticipatory policy cycle: not just preparing for the future, but influencing it

Governments that invest in foresight-driven policymaking are better positioned to shape the conditions that they operate in. This is how to build policies that both anticipate and influence the future.


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Innovating urban development: Lessons from M4EG & moving beyond growth

Two key lessons from our work in the Mayors for Economic Growth project, in collaboration with UNDP: 1) Innovation needs to occur at multiple levels and 2) If we’re to be effective, we must remain humble.


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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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A time to build – shaping the next generation of public institutions

We are pleased to announce that the UNDP’s Istanbul Innovation Days (IID), taking place in March 2025, will focus on shaping the next generation of public institutions for a secure and prosperous world.


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Experimentation Guidelines for the Latvian Public Sector

Experimentation offers one particularly promising way for navigating the uncertainty and the rapidly changing circumstances. The Guidelines were developed by Demos Helsinki in close collaboration with the Latvian State Chancellery’s Innovation Laboratory and Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI) to define different types of experiments and propose the many ways they can enhance policy-making in Latvia.


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Vision for Trust-based Transformation Through Distributed Ledger Technology

This briefing paper is a reflection of the transformative role of distributed ledger technologies (DLT) in the public sector, aiming to support policy-makers and civil servants all over the world to understand the possibilities of DLT in transforming public services and administration, while identifying changes required in the public sector for meaningful DLT application.


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Characteristics of a 21st Century Government

In this discussion paper, written together with Marcos Bonturi, former director of Public Governance at the OECD, Demos Helsinki shares the recent learnings in the field of public governance, identified four characteristics that describe a desirable future government, and presents inspirational governance innovation -cases from Finland, Brazil, Colombia and Serbia. 


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  • Research
  • Skills & work
  • Society
  • Sustainability & climate action
  • Technology

Anticipatory Policy Innovation and Decision Making masterclass

Demos Helsinki and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Executive Education offer an exclusive masterclass on anticipatory governance specifically tailored for public service leaders. Registration is open!


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