Latest content
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.
→ Continue reading
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).
→ Continue reading
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.
→ Continue reading
An economy of wellbeing serves amongst other things, individual and community happiness, safety, cultural identity, education, and participation. In this study, Demos Helsinki partnered up with SOSTE and THL to assess what an economy of wellbeing in Finland might look like, and what next steps would facilitate a peaceful transition.
→ Continue reading
Achieving an impactful decrease in homelessness — and preventing it from happening in the first place — requires significant structural and operational changes. While Housing First holds great potential to enable systemic change in homelessness, it also risks being interpreted and deployed as a mere housing management tool — a misunderstanding of tragic consequences.
→ Continue reading
This briefing paper is a reflection of the potential transformative role of distributed Ledger technologies (DLT) in the European public sectors, aiming to support civil servants and decision-makers to navigate the rapidly changing environment of new technological possibilities and required societal transformations.
→ Continue reading
- All
- AI
- Business
- Career opportinuty
- Cities
- Civil service
- Construction
- Democracy
- Economy
- Foresight
- Health & Wellbeing
- Industry & innovation
- Justice
- Public governance
- Research
- Skills & work
- Society
- Sustainability & climate action
- Technology
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!
→ Continue reading
Imaginaries on Sustainability Transformation – Report outlines three positive futures
May 19, 2025
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.
→ Continue reading
The anticipatory policy cycle: not just preparing for the future, but influencing it
May 14, 2025
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.
→ Continue reading
Innovating urban development: Lessons from M4EG & moving beyond growth
April 17, 2025
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.
→ Continue reading