Topic
Technology
Commentary
Smartups: New wave of cleantech from Demos Helsinki on Vimeo. There is something really intriguing going on in the world of startups: The biggest and the most interesting new companies in the world are very particular. Airbnb, Tesla and Uber, BlaBla car, Sidecar, Scoot Networks, Nest, Swap.com, Piggybaggy, Foodtrade and…
The cutting edge field in Finnish innovation and industrial policy has for the past few years been cleantech. The focal point of Finnish cleantech is traditionally in industrial solutions that spring from innovations in process industry companies. Now the situation is changing, as cleantech startups spring up in consumer markets….
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…
Is timeline destroying our privacy? Surely not, but the age of fixed privacy is gone. Even if the current debate circles around Facebook’s timeline technology’s only part of the story. Demos Helsinki tracks down the roots of our transparent life’s in a previously unpublished article on privacy “Fifteen Minutes of…
Publications
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.
With the increasing culture of applying piloting as part of technology innovation, the need for understanding its societal implications is becoming more crucial. With the aim of understanding better the power relations, tensions and agencies pivotal to negotiating and embedding ethics across processes, we consider utilizing a framework of “design logics” to the data.
The European Democracy Shield is a timely and commendable initiative aimed at addressing the EU’s growing democratic challenges. However, it would benefit from a more human-centered approach focusing on citizen participation, civil society engagement, and more nuanced policies on digital regulation.
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.
Smartups as the next Nordic Miracle
November 18, 2014
Did you know that a room booked via Airbnb produces 66% fewer carbon emissions per night than a hotel room? And that 80% of company leaders see immediate business opportunities arising from the depletion of natural resources? These two facts are intimately intertwined. The team at Demos Helsinki have published a major new report on the future of…