DfG 
The first blog post explores the context-setting stage of the Open Government project, focusing on the role of the ageing population and public service in Finnish governance. It highlights the challenges of the negative perception of elderly citizens and barriers to their political participation. The post also reflects on understanding policy language and upstream thinking to create impactful proposals.
This blog reports our research progress and learning highlights on designing for the government, focusing on the Action Plan and elderly inclusion workstream under the Open Government initiative by the Ministry of Finance.
The first blog of the Digitalization and Kanta Workstream presents an initial understanding of Finland’s and international digital healthcare services through desktop research. The importance of initiative for both the users and the providers, the inclusiveness for ageing groups in digitalization, and the focus of Kanta as a centralization platform is addressed.
This blog explores how policies transform into real engagement under the topic of elderly participation initiatives. However, a heated meeting in Vantaa revealed the challenge: how can elderly participation truly engage in decision-making? Key organizations include the Finnish Ministry of Finance, City of Helsinki, City of Vantaa, and Elderly Citizens Council.
How do you understand aging, participation, and open government? This spring,
our class is exploring how Finland’s commitment to open governance supports older citizens as
active participants in society. In this blog, we’ll discuss key aspects of our research, including
language alignment, challenges of meaningful participation, and the strengths and limitations of
incremental policy change.
In our project, we analyze Finland’s elderly health and social care system, mapping key actors, services, and data flows. With the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and Kela, we investigate how patient information is managed, where gaps exist, and how better information sharing could enhance elderly care.
In spring of 2025, the Design for Government students will be cooperating in two projects. The first project focuses on Open governance for an age-friendly Finland together with the Ministry of Finance; the second explores how continuity of knowledge could support a future continuity of care model in the Finnish healthcare with Kela, and the … Read more
The Design for Government 2024 Final Show showcases inspiring examples of proactive and ‘designerly’ approaches to policy-making and public service provision. The event saw 6 talented and multidisciplinary student teams present their research and proposals responding to challenges within the Finnish public sector. This year, students addressed a record of two different project briefs, with … Read more
Project Description The EU LIFE biodiversity project is an eight-year funding mechanism to combat biodiversity loss in Finland. The Prime Minister’s Office’s goal is to develop cooperation between ministries to ensure that biodiversity issues are incorporated better into policy-making. There is a lack of policy coherence in the current siloed approach to biodiversity, which leads … Read more
Project Description The Finnish healthcare system is burdened by long lines and unequal access to care, with rising costs and a need for improvement. Kela, the national social insurance institution, is exploring a revised patient reimbursement model that aims to encourage continuity of care, improve availability and equal access to healthcare services, and reduce costs. … Read more