Topic
Society
Commentary
The post has originally been published in Kesko Group’s Responsibility blog. An ad on the front page of a newspaper touts easy seasonal treats, strawberries and blueberries. In May. The soft spot of Finns is exploited early. Who doesn’t have a flutter in their heart, looking forward to the first new…
Demos Helsinki was given a unique opportunity to craft and run the intensive introductory course of new design post-grads at Aalto-university. Come and see what we made at the Mediakeskus Lume / Aalto on 02 September 13:00 – 15:00. We promise you nothing less than a manifesto of design in…
This is the age of lifestyle. And that has turned our problems wicked. Human behaviour has become the prime focus of all production, design and politics. In humans, we believe, lies the solutions to wicked problems. We invite you for a lecture series in Wicked Problems: Wednesday 24th August 13:15…
Demos Helsinki has five excellent lectures to help you to focus on what really matters. The talks are in english. Also please notice the different locations of the events. ——————————————————————————————————————– Molly Scott Cato: Green Economics Tuesday, August 23rd at 17:30-19:30 Molly Scott Cato! Welcome to the public presentation by Molly…
Exercise is one of the most important pillars of happiness and wellbeing. The Finnish national organisation for youth exercise Nuori Suomi asked Demos Helsinki to reflect on the kind of society where children and youngsters experience more of the enjoyment and utility that exercise brings. A new direction for youth…
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
Jharkhand now has roadmaps through 2050 to steer a fair shift from coal, a trained district cohort and a shared method. The work finished in May 2025 and left the state with people who can act.
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.
Climate volatility is turning Nordic security risks into cascading, cross-border crises that outpace discrete emergency playbooks. This consortium project maps domestic and transboundary climate-security risks, tests how institutions govern them, and runs a simulation to translate insight into practice, leading to stronger Nordic preparedness and an example others can follow.
People
Carolina Jansen
Carol is passionate about people, research, and public policy. She finds poetry in the small things in life and is always ready to work collectively. She believes it is possible to develop a new form of public governance: one that brings together public policy and grassroots technology to protect constitutional…
Cecilia af Hällström
Cecilia’s work focuses on societal transformations that foster a culture of care and responsibility that sustains the planet in all its diversity. A society within planetary boundaries, where all life can flourish, is the goal – systemic changes in governance, societal structures, behaviours and cultures is what Cecilia works with to…
Angela Galeano
Angela’s work sits at the intersection of innovation, learning, and public transformation. With a sharp eye for systems, a strong belief in experimentation, and a deep sense of humanity, she is especially passionate about helping governments become more imaginative, inclusive, and better equipped to navigate uncertainty, with both creativity and…
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…
Johannes Jauhiainen
At Demos Helsinki, Johannes Jauhiainen focuses on participation, interaction, impact, and science-society relations within the CoWup and CO3 research projects. He is passionate about public innovation, new forms of decision-making, democratic development, geopolitics, and the role of cities as pioneers of societal transformation. Before joining Demos Helsinki, Johannes worked on…
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 and upcoming research analyses societal transformations from the perspectives of the EU digital policy, contemporary social contracts, and inclusivity. Alongside doing research, Anna is also working closely…
Maria Malho
Maria is a political scientist specialising in foresight, scenarios and futures thinking to create both high-quality research as well as actionable visions and strategies for making desirable futures easier to reach. She has extensive experience in leading and facilitating projects and research processes on a wide array of topics ranging…
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…
Johannes Mikkonen
Johannes is dedicated to redefining the terms and conditions of our digital futures by exploring the ways to reshape our current sociotechnical systems, advising on policies to remaster technologies and forming visions of emerging alternative futures. At Demos Helsinki, Johannes has worked with various ministries and Prime Minister’s Offices around…
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…
Olli Bremer
Olli has worked with us since early 2016, working across all sorts of projects and in a variety of capacities — for example, serving as Managing Director. Thus, he is a go-to person whenever we need to be able to connect different aspects of our work and sew together a…
Themes
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The Futures of Health
February 24, 2014
Who are healthcare services produced for in the future? How to support the abilities of individuals, and how will megatrends shape and mold the available resources of today? Who should own the data on your personal health? What is the impact of e-health and other disruptive technologies? In early 2014, Demos Helsinki…