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Our latest updates, thoughts, and events — as they roll out.
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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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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21st-century governments face many complex difficult and long-term challenges: from handling demographic transitions to climate change, navigating the fourth industrial revolution to managing pensions. Public finance in the 21st century must be anticipatory—what we refer to as Anticipatory Public Budgeting—to accelerate thinking and action, on how public finance can be better adapted to long-term strategy.
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The vocabulary related to equality is partly overlapping and in public debate different terms are sometimes used interchangeably. The publication, created in a project with the Culture and Leisure division of the City of Helsinki, has made a distinction between “accessibility”, “inclusion”, and “participation” in terms of digital equality.
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How can an organization or a society become wiser? This paper by Demos Helsinki Fellow Geoff Mulgan shares some answers with a framework that cuts across different disciplines, including philosophy, psychology, computer science and organisational design.
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Initial comments on the European Commission’s Affordable Housing Plan
December 18, 2025
Housing must be made affordable while protecting the ecological systems on which we all depend. The EU could lead this transformation but it requires new ways of thinking about policy, governance, and action.
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Doomed to grow or ready to transform?
December 3, 2025
Economic growth used to be a cause that had effects, and the desired and expected effects were a matter of political and public debate until the 1990s recession. The meanings and expectations towards growth changed over time, and the idea of economic growth evolved within the debates and the very varied perspectives to growth. Our report “Doomed to Grow” calls for acknowledging growth’s historical recent origins and past pluralism in how economic growth has been discussed.
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20 years of trying
November 28, 2025
For 20 years, we have been fighting for a fair, sustainable, and joyful next era. These are the beginnings of our journey.
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