an experimental culture in the making - case finland
TRANSCRIPT
An experimental culture in the making
Case Finland
Annukka BergFinnish Environment Institute (SYKE)/Prime Minister’s Office
AARRE Workshop, 26 May 2016
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The structure of the presentation
● A short history of Finland’s quest to promote experimental culture
● Conceptualization of experimental culture in Finland
● The concrete steps taken by the Prime Minister’s Office
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A short history of Finland’s quest to
promote experimental culture
Picture: Suvi Kokkonen
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● The Foresight Reports of the Prime Minister’s Office○ On energy and climate policy (2009)○ On sustainable growth and well-being (2013)
● In the legislature 2011 - 2015, the current PM Juha Sipilä a member of the Parliament’s Committee for the Future○ Hearing and a study process on experimental culture
Seeds planted - Foresight Reports & Parliament’s Committee for the Future
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● Ideas on experimental culture met with enthusiasm across political party lines○ A way to shift from stagnation/(mere) planning to
action○ Combatting extensive “normative burden”○ Supporting grassroots level development work made
by entrepreneurs, workers and civic actors
● In the background ○ Frustration about the unability to solve the great
challenges of our time: economic crisis, social and health care reforms (SOTE), climate change…
○ Diminishing powers of the Parliament?
Hearings in the Parliament’s Committee for the Future 2012
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”Time to Experiment!” (Berg 2013) Key recommendations● An office/ombudsman for
experimentation and innovation
● High profile experimentation hubs
● Seed money
● Councelling services
● A program
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Other pioneering work in Finland
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“A culture of experimentation will be introduced
Experimentation will aim at innovative solutions, improvements in services, the promotion of individual initiative and entrepreneurship, and the strengthening of regional and local decision-making and cooperation. Experiments will make use of citizen-driven operating practices…”
Programme of Prime Minister Sipilä's Government (Chapter 8, p. 28)
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● An experimentation programme, including extensive trials and several smaller experiments, will be implemented.
● Systematic experimentation will be introduced and a legal basis will be created to make the arrangement of experiments easier.
● Experimentation will reduce response
times and improve anticipation during the process of solving social problems, and the Government’s strategic aims will be promoted.
Programme of Prime Minister Sipilä's Government (Chapter 8, p. 28)
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Conceptualizations of experimental
culture in Finland
Picture: Suvi Kokkonen
Grassroot-level experiments are
scaled up to societal solutions
Broad and complex issues are downscaled to experiments”Well tested
– half done
Experimental culture
Prime Minister’s Office 2016
Knowledge production• Does a solution work or not?• High quality information• Testing
Experiments can be used for various purposes
Broadening change• How to spread a solution?• Broad change• Gathering resoruces
(knowledge, money, networks)
Changing thinking and action• How does a solution
change thinking and action?• Deeper change within a
niche• Inviting participation
Challenging structures• How does a solution
challenge a regime?• Changing structures (laws,
business and operation models)
• Creating cracks, using momentums, offering alternatives
Prime Minister’s Office 2016
How experiments gain wider influence?
Prime Minister’s Office 2016
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The potential and risks of experimenting
Steps taken by the Prime Minister’s Office
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Experimental Finland
Support for experiments on different scales
5-10
100+
1000+
Relevant for the strategic goals and projects of the Government
Relevant for the development of a region/sector
Relevant for the development of e.g. individual products, companies, schools, municipalities, neighbourhoods, NGOs
GRASSROOTS EXPERIMENTS
EXPERIMENTATION HUBS
STRATEGIC EXPERIMENTS
ENSURES
HELPS
PROMOTES
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A participative process ● Minister Anu Vehviläinen and
Minister group on public reforms○ Parliamentary Adivisory
Council○ Inter-ministerial working group
● An open expert network “Kokeilukummit”
● A road-show to regions together with universities of applied sciences
● Active participation and presence in various events and social media
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Tools for experimentation● A web-based toolbox on
experimentation○ Drawing on the material
produced by various actors across Finland (and elsewhere)
○ Edited expert articles on e.g. designing, implementing and evaluating experiments
● A digital crowdfunding platform for experiments○ In the planning phase○ Up and running by the end of the
year 2016?
