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How Nokia backcasted its way out of a dead end – and why your company should do the same

Imagine being CEO Rajeev Suri, leading what was once known as the world’s largest mobile phone brand and one of the most valuable companies on the global market: Nokia. Image: Nokia press office Your firm is now heading to oblivion after selling its mobile phones to Microsoft. The economy of Finland is…


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Learning about the Future through Scenarios

What use are scenarios? The word scenario is derived from drama, meaning a sketch of the plot of a play. In foresight, a scenario is a story with plausible cause and effect links that connect a future condition with the present, while illustrating key decisions, events and consequences throughout the…


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This is why Finland is able to implement the basic income experiment

BBC, Forbes, Independent, Mashable, Telegraph, Time and Quartz among other media outlets have have written about Finland’s experiment with basic income on a national level. However, none of the articles uncover the reason why Finland can pull off such ambitious policies in an age where so many government are left…


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How to reveal alternative futures for nations?

For the past two months, Demos Helsinki has worked in collaboration with Tanzania Commission of Science and Technology and National Planning Commission on how to create capabilities and use foresight and co-creation by conducting research project with a headline “the Future of Forests as a Resource for Tanzania”. The research…


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From Five-Year Plans to Alternative Futures: 7 Ways to Be Smarter about the Future

I spent the past week in Dar es Salaam teaching scenario thinking to the Tanzanian Planning Commission, Ministry of Communication, Science and Technology (MCST), and several regional leaders. The visit was part of the TANZICT project, a bilateral collaboration between the MCST and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland….


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Can strong foresight orientation make a nation successful?

Foresight on different terrains Foresight understanding is critical to any company these days – wicked problems, disruption caused by ICT and a globalizing economy all mean that businesses must be able to understand the future. But what about entire countries? Could strong foresight orientation be a critical factor in making…


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“Within one hour, we’d had a business idea and we started to develop it further.”

We interviewed three participants about their experience at the first Peloton Smart Retro Innovation Camp in Lahti. What were your expectations for the camp? “An international crowd interested in developing cities.” Ulla-Maija Kemppi, Citycon “New contacts. Expertise that we lack ourselves. Technical know-how.” Topi Saari, Meido “That it would open up…


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