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.
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South Sudan builds long-term thinking while addressing present needs
May 22, 2025
Without a shared vision of the future, decisions made today may inadvertently lead us down the most familiar paths, not the right ones.
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New research aims to define what “successful AI” means in society (FORSEE)
April 17, 2025
For those involved in shaping the next phase of European AI policy, FORSEE is a research project that offers both a warning and a roadmap: success must be defined before it can be delivered.
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The Sustainable Urban Net Zero Network for Ukraine – SUN4Ukraine
March 11, 2025
The project supports Ukrainian municipalities in their pursuit of climate neutrality amidst rebuilding efforts. Together with leading EU and Ukrainian partners, including city networks, research organisations and urban stakeholders, Demos Helsinki supports this project by providing arenas for sharing knowledge and testing new methods for engaging citizens and other stakeholders in these processes.
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Circular Economy Green Deal – a steering instrument for collective action towards circularity
November 29, 2024
The Circular Economy Green Deal is a novel Finnish steering instrument that catalyses collective action for systemic change towards circularity based on voluntary commitments. Demos Helsinki had the honour of leading the co-creative process that led to the creation of the Circular Economy Green Deal.
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Impact of algorithmic management on workers
September 23, 2024
In this digital era, the prevalent use of algorithmic management in the workplace has created a new set of challenges for workers and labour unions. This project studies the profound effects of algorithmic management on workers and labour organising in the Nordic context.
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Using economic instruments for sustainable behaviour change
September 9, 2024
Even though economic instruments for sustainability purposes have long been implemented in the national policies across the Nordics, their effectiveness remains understudied. This project evaluates the effectiveness of environmental taxes and charges in shifting behaviours of consumers and producers towards a more sustainable direction in the Nordic countries.
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ARISE – Human-centric, agile, and ethical human-robot interaction (HRI)
September 9, 2024
Demos Helsinki and nine other front-running organisations in technology across Europe join forces in this project towards making industrial human-robot interaction (HRI) more accessible, cheaper, and easier to adopt. The particular focus of the project is on HRI in healthcare, intralogistics and manufacturing.
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MERGE: Building economic policies beyond GDP
April 15, 2024
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.
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CO3: COntinuous COnstruction of resilient social COntracts
March 13, 2024
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.
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MUST: Enabling multispecies transition in urban planning
March 6, 2024
The ongoing biodiversity crisis demonstrates that we need better ways to live with nature in cities. The MUST project, employing a multispecies transition lens, aims to enhance the understanding and visibility of multispecies needs. This, in turn, will foster improved deliberation and action among stakeholders.
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A new logic of care
January 15, 2024
How we care for each other is not an issue of healthcare budgets; it is an issue of a long-term, multi-sectoral change. This project seeks to show that there is no amount of money that can revert the current state of affairs. Instead, the care transition requires that we transform, disrupt and renew almost everything that we do.
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Navigating impactful R&I policy and technology neutrality
January 8, 2024
As technological breakthroughs can play a critical role in addressing societal challenges, research & innovation (R&I) policy needs to shift the focus from merely appreciating the inherent value of technology development to exploring how they can be harnessed for achieving key societal goals. This project aims to produce a knowledge base to ensure Finland’s R&I policy is strategically impactful while remaining supportive of emerging technologies.
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