MERGE: Building economic policies beyond GDP

Despite being an established indicator of economic growth, GDP is debated to overlook the true essence of citizens’ quality of life and overall wellbeing. This project aims to improve knowledge on indicators beyond GDP, alternative and more sustainable policy options, and scenarios for a sustainable future.

Read More

CO3: COntinuous COnstruction of resilient social COntracts

The social contract encounters mounting challenges in contemporary society, leading to friction and distrust among citizens towards democratic institutions. The CO3 project is dedicated to developing and promoting a democratic, inclusive, and open model of social contracts, embodying political and social resilience amongst significant societal challenges, crises, and anti-democratic tendencies.

Read More

KT4D: Fostering democracy through knowledge technologies

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems can undermine democracy via the cultural disruptions they create, the power dynamics they shift, their tendency toward opacity, and the speed at which they change. The KT4D project investigates how democracy and civic participation can be facilitated in an era of rapidly changing knowledge technologies — such as AI and big data, thereby mitigating the risks of such technologies and identifying how they can be used to reinforce democratic governance and trust in public institutions.

Read More

REPAIR and renewal of algorithmic systems

What does the rapid expansion of AI mean for society? Driven by pressures to do more with shrinking resources, public sector authorities are deploying and planning to deploy automated service delivery. The pursuit of efficiency, combined with the lack of well-defined operational models and insufficient regulatory oversight, creates pressure towards…

Read More

Regions4Climate — just transition to climate resilience in European regions

The Regions4Climate project aims to collaboratively develop and demonstrate a socially just transition to climate resilience for European regions.   Increasingly frequent extreme weather conditions due to climate change, concomitant with unsustainable historical resource use and management practices, create the perfect storm — threatening our livelihoods, wellbeing, and environment. A…

Read More

Building a better world through alternative protein sources

The EU Horizon-funded LIKE-A-PRO project aims to promote the transition to sustainable and healthy diets by shifting promising alternative proteins and products from niche to mainstream — making them more available, accessible, and acceptable to all population groups.   LIKE-A-PRO has set out to: Understand what determines consumer behaviour and…

Read More

TANDEM: Citizens envisioning a just transition

What determines a just transition to low-carbon futures? In July 2021, the European Commission launched the ‘Fit for 55’ climate policy package, designed to bring many of the EU policies up to speed to achieve a 55% reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Recognising that these technical mitigation…

Read More

WELGO — Safeguarding welfare in times of pandemics

Demos Helsinki has partnered with a consortium of researchers to identify the ideas, structures and collaborations needed to manage future health crises in a project called WELGO. The WELGO project is funded by the PANDEMICS programme of the Finnish Strategic Research Council. Within WELGO, Demos Helsinki conducts scientific research together…

Read More