Topic
Economy
Commentary
In the 20th century we got used to a certain way of thinking: if you needed something, you bought it. Cars, houses, records, you named it. Efficient manufacturing and logistics made it possible to create an unprecedented global overflow of stuff. Ownership quickly became about being someone; it was a way of defining who…
Demos Helsinki researcher Maria Ritola guest authors in the Näkökulma (transl. point of view) blog of the Finnish trading sector giant Kesko this week. Ritola’s text explores the new business opportunities arising around sustainable lifestyles. According to a new study by the communications agency Futerra 80% of business executives believe…
New York City based The Sallan Foundation commissioned an op-ed from Tuuli Kaskinen and Aleksi Neuvonen. The Snapshop article ‘Gatekeepers: Unsung Heroes Of A Smart Economy?‘ describes how so called gatekeeper businesses can accelerate emergence of a smart economy. As many of you know, this is something Demos Helsinki has been working since 2008 in…
Publications
Finland, like all countries of the Global North, is currently dependent on economic growth. Yet future growth may be very limited and uncertain – and decoupling it from increasing environmental harm will not be easy. Could the principle of sufficiency help us navigate towards better futures?
This policy brief focuses on short-term action (2026-2028) around AI governance and provides practical guidelines for experts and policymakers. It introduces a framework that embeds democratic pillars — participation, freedom, equality, transparency, knowledge, and the rule of law — directly into the entire AI lifecycle.
In this Editorial, we tackle perhaps the most urgent issue of our time – the need to orient lives more towards sufficiency. Achieving such a transformation also requires a parallel paradigm shift in science. In this Editorial, we have two guest authors, Teemu Koskimäki and Aleksi Neuvonen, who are members of the SISU Consortium doing research on sufficiency transition in Finland.
Projects
How can we secure societal wellbeing and sustain the promises of the welfare state in a world where economic growth is limited or even cools down? Sustainability rooted in sufficiency, rather than growth, can reshape businesses, the economy, and societal wellbeing.
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.
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.
People
Alice Chakrapeesirisuk
Alice is interested in the space between thinking and doing: how design, research, and speculative imagination can help us build different ways of addressing global challenges. Sitting at the intersection of design, ecology, and political theory, she is drawn to questions that span scales and disciplines, from designing for multispecies…
Moona Hartman
Moona is the linguist of Demos Helsinki, always ready to dive into the topic of how language shapes the world and the way we see it. She believes that (wordplay and) words play a part in how we can build up or rip down societal structures and therefore fight for…
Rasmus Kull
Sustainability transformations are inherently complex. How can organisations lean into research, technology, and stakeholder interaction to make better decisions while navigating that complexity? Questions like these drive Rasmus in his work. Work that connects knowledge with action draws him in like a moth to a flame: be it turning research…
Artturi Pura
Artturi is driven by the question of how public policy can shape socially just, economically prosperous, and democratically sustainable futures. Recognising that these societal goals are increasingly intertwined with our digital landscape, Artturi explores how to strengthen the capacity of policy to govern and reshape technological change. At Demos Helsinki,…
Ella Välimäki
Ella is an Expert at Demos Helsinki, working at the intersection of society, technology, and the wellbeing economy. She focuses on how engagement and interaction can serve as tools for societal transformation. With a background in international relations and EU politics, Ella is driven by a desire to support a…
Sahib Singh
Sahib spends his time at Demos Helsinki’s preoccupied by just democratic futures and global governance. At the moment he won’t stop nattering about the need to think systemically and critically about democratic innovations, the political economy of global governance institutions and modes of effective alliance building. At his best, Sahib’s…
Anna Björk
Anna is a political scientist whose academic love affairs include research on political concepts, societal impacts of emerging technologies, and temporality. Her current research analyses societal transformations from the perspectives of EU digital policy, contemporary social contracts, and inclusivity. Alongside doing research, Anna is also working closely with her colleagues…
Otso Sillanaukee
Otso aims to ensure that Demos Helsinki is focusing on the right questions related to people and organisations’ agency in building a fair, sustainable, and joyful next era. His accountabilities include identifying impact opportunities, ensuring projects run smoothly towards their goals, and supporting the team’s wellbeing and motivation to tackle…
Julia Jousilahti
Julia is a social scientist working in Demos Helsinki’s Emancipatory Economy team. As the economy is a man-made system and not a force of nature, Julia is convinced we can build a better economic system – one that admits the fundamental interconnectedness with nature and guarantees the basic assets of…
Johannes Nuutinen
Leading societal transformations is no easy task that we have chosen here at Demos Helsinki. It requires constant strategic planning and new initiatives. Luckily, Johannes brings clarity to all the ambiguity surrounding half-drawn visions of impact. This means finding the relevant concrete steps to implement new forms of collaboration or…
Oona Frilander
Oona Frilander (M.Econ.) is a senior consultant at Demos Helsinki. She works to understand long-term societal change and rapid transformation of private, public and third sector organizations’ operational environments. Her expertise lies in strategic foresight and cross-sectoral partnerships for solving societal challenges. Oona is also is a lecturer through the…
Roope Mokka
Roope is all about the future. For many the future seems scary, but where some see problems Roope sees solutions. He has an exceptional mindset to see the pathway for societal transformation. He gathers impactful alliances through various fields to work together with a shared goal. Whether it is learning…
Juha Leppänen
Juha Leppänen serves as Chair of the Board at Demos Helsinki. With a mission to build a fair, sustainable and joyful next era, Juha helps national and local governments, businesses and NGOs to anticipate and lead key transformations of our century. Advising actors from private corporations like Nokia to NGOs…
Themes
Transforming our economies to address this reality is hard work—but it’s work we can do together.
Sustainable growth replaced the welfare state
January 12, 2016
In the future the years 2013-2015 will most likely be referred to as a turning point in Finnish political history. Before this time, the crux of the political consensus was in maintaining the welfare state, whereas after this point it will been seen as building sustainable growth. Demos Helsinki has analysed the recent…