The Finnish public service has been praised as an exceptional case combining strong institutions, stability, trust, transparency, and ambition to apply innovative approaches. In the last decade, the country nurtured a widely acclaimed ecosystem where foresight leverages multidisciplinary expertise, encompasses different levels — such as ministry and regional — and…
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Ecosystem for social innovation in Finland
September 5, 2022
Demos Helsinki has supported the Finnish Ministry of Employment and Economic Affairs to build the conditions for the launch of Finland’s competence centre for social innovation in 2023. The final report was published in November 2022. EU increases commitment to social innovation initiatives Social innovation is increasingly attracting the attention…
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Training Agile Leaders in Bahrain
June 20, 2022
Ever since the publication of its Economic Vision 2030 in 2008, the Kingdom of Bahrain committed an ever-increasing amount of resources and efforts to the intentional promotion of public sector innovation. Their approach entails a two-pronged strategy based on the creation of an environment conducive to innovation (for example, through…
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Capacities for anticipatory policymaking in North Macedonia
June 20, 2022
Building capacity around foresight helps policymakers find better pathways to desired futures while learning to prepare for risks and looming challenges. That is why we are working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to…
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Training Future Leaders in the Finnish civil service
June 20, 2022
The Finnish public service has been praised as an exceptional case combining strong institutions, stability, trust, transparency, and ambition to apply innovative approaches. In the last decade, the country nurtured a widely acclaimed ecosystem where foresight leverages multidisciplinary expertise, encompasses different levels — such as ministry and regional — and…
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Train-the-Trainers program for Latvian policy planners
June 20, 2022
Founded in 1993, the Latvian School of Public Administration is one of the leading training centers in the Baltics region. Every year, it serves the development needs of +12 000 civil servants and public administration employees. Aiming to advance a learning culture across the whole of the Latvian public sector,…
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Think Sustainably: Incentivising sustainable choices in cities
May 23, 2022
Think Sustainably is an online service that incentivises and encourages sustainable choices in city living and urban tourism. Currently in use both in Helsinki and Tampere, it has been an essential tool for accelerating the cities’ transition to carbon neutrality. Cities can drive the transformation For a while now,…
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Anticipatory migration policy in North Macedonia
April 27, 2022
Migration is a fast-changing and increasingly complex field: trends change fast, and the causal roots are typically multidimensional. Our current governance models and management practices, which rely on linear causal relationships and plans based on past trends, are not suitable for tackling the complexity and the pace of change inherent…
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Humble Timber: A project for urban carbon-neutrality
March 9, 2022
A 9-actor alliance has formed in Finland to provide a tangible way forward for a carbon-neutral urban environment. The alliance, called Humble Timber, presents an opportunity to build long-lasting and sustainable cross-sector collaboration that will speed up the adoption of timber in Finnish construction. Finland has a strong commitment…
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NetZeroCities — Helping European cities reach net zero by 2030
March 3, 2022
Demos Helsinki is working as part of a consortium of leading European organisations to support cities in collectively finding new ways to drastically cut their emissions by 2030 through the NetZeroCities project. NetZeroCities is a Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme which supports the EU Mission for “100 Climate-Neutral…
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Experimental governance meets emerging tech
February 1, 2022
New project in collaboration with Open Loop: Can experimental governance help assess the impacts of emerging technologies? Can it build openness, transparency and trust in how technology is developed and impacts societies and people? We believe that it is time to collectively build openness, transparency and trust in how…
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WELGO — Safeguarding welfare in times of pandemics
January 25, 2022
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…
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Getting to a 1.5° life in 3 Finnish cities
November 5, 2021
Reducing one’s carbon footprint is already a reality for many people. Yet, cities and municipalities need to recognize their role in promoting 1.5° living. Resolving the climate crisis depends on our ability to imagine better futures. Living within the climate goal is already within reach for many people. Twelve…
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