Topic
Technology
Commentary
Now that the worst of the growing pains have been subdued, cleantech has made a respectable comeback onto the global agenda of firms, investors and economic developers alike. One might say it is bigger than ever, with a constantly proliferating range of cleantech companies and business models. In the midst…
Last years have marked the emergence of new smart urban services such as car sharing, smart homes, pop-up diners, electric bicycles and many forms of collaborative consumption. Meanwhile, many – even central – neighbourhoods in European towns and cities are facing severe decline. Lack of investments, eroding infrastructure and e-commerce…
Last summer, I started talking with an American professor while waiting for a non-existent ferry in Istanbul. I soon found out that he happened to be one of the few early developers of the original iPhone and had only recently left the company. We joked about Nokia, and later during…
After the successful first Peloton Smart Retro Innovation Camp in Lahti, Finland, our programme now moves into its second phase in Stockholm: the testing period. Why Stockholm? In 2005, the City of Stockholm launched the slogan “Stockholm, the Capital of Scandinavia”, pointing at the City’s ambition of establishing Stockholm as a commercial node, especially…
The emergence of services and technologies in the intersection of physical and digital changes both. Rather than everything being digital or physical, everything becomes something else. This something else is currently being defined by “smartups”. Demos Helsinki along with a global panel of carefully selected panel of experts in startup acceleration,…
Publications
Robots are moving beyond factories into care, services, construction and logistics. Robotics Scenarios 2040 sets out four possible futures for Finnish working life and seven jointly agreed recommendations for the government formed after the 2027 parliamentary elections. The project also presents seven claims the partners could not agree on, for politicians and society to debate.
Nordic public administrations are among Europe’s most digitally advanced. FEPS policy study authored by Demos Helsinki examines three automated systems in Norway, Finland, and Sweden and sets out thirteen recommendations for public organisations and policymakers on governing automation.
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.
Projects
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.
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.
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.
People
Sawsan Abdulbari
Sawsan turns messy problems into clarity and solutions, and she’s usually already learning about the next thing before the last one’s finished. Data science, machine learning and generative AI, all fascinate her, but the technology itself matters less than what it’s for. When a problem is too tangled to see…
Linda Marin
Linda wants technology to be helpful. That want is the foundation of her work when building models, automating tasks nobody wants to do by hand, and going through raw data until value is found. She’s just as comfortable explaining what AI means to someone who has never even heard about…
Max Stearns
Max thrives in the messy moments, when there’s no tried-and-true path for where to go next. Drawing on a background that merges design research and strategy with community organizing, Max applies a patient attentiveness and knack for connecting dots to turn sprawling, cross-disciplinary problems into carefully-honed questions and actionable next…
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…
Lara Best-Dunkley
In a time of unprecedented geopolitical crises, Lara is the go-to person for a comprehensive and critical understanding of international governance and security. She believes in the importance of compassionate, collective and evidence-based decision-making, especially in the domain of hard security. Lara has a BSc in International Relations and Organisations…
Rita Latikka
Rita is a social psychologist who brings a human-centred perspective to the development and deployment of technologies. Her academic interests include the social acceptance and effects of digital technologies, as well as human-computer interaction. Rita believes that technology is too important to be left solely to technologists and advocates for…
Vera Djakonoff
Clinging on to only what we have now is a lousy way forward. At Demos Helsinki, Vera’s work focuses on anticipatory governance: promoting governments’ and organisations’ ability to both build resilience and drive transformation. A key question in her work is: how can we create and deepen our connection to…
João Sigora
João Sigora is the Vice-Chair of the Board and a Senior Expert at Demos Helsinki. His work centres on pioneering new approaches to governance and enhancing public sector capacity for reimagining and co-creating desired futures. He brings specialised expertise in public sector innovation, with a strong foundation in foresight, experimentation,…
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…
Atte Ojanen
Atte is in charge of coordinating Demos Helsinki’s European research funding to enable societal transformation. As a research manager, he is your go-to-person in Horizon Europe and other research collaboration matters. Atte’s own research centers on societal effects of emerging technology, the ethics of AI, and deliberative democracy. Atte is…
Aleksi Neuvonen
Aleksi Neuvonen is a recognised expert and thinker on understanding the change (and unchange) of societies and organisations. Aleksi holds PhD honors from Tampere University and Radboud University Nijmegen. During his career, Aleksi has published over 30 reports, books or academic articles, focusing primarily on methods and tools for transformative…
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…
Themes
Our mission is to help organisations turn uncertainty into possibility by remastering technology and imagining alternative futures.
3 things all Nordic governments should know about digitalisation
June 29, 2015
The Nordic countries are stable societies with quality education, making them fertile ground for big digital leaps. We here in the Nordics are able to digitise the more complex and demanding of processes, allowing us to reap the benefits of well increased productivity. Digitalisation allows us to do things smarter and better…