Sitra Lab 6: Better services through data

The Change Programme invited Finnish stakeholders to use and share data in a fair way to develop innovative services that improve people’s daily lives. The call for applications is now closed and the pilot teams have been selected.

What is it about?

Data is the most valuable asset of our time. Data and AI open up new opportunities for innovation and better services. A growing share of value creation in both the private and public sectors comes from intangible services that use data. With shared value at the heart of development, we need to consider how a new service or business model creates value not only for the end user, but also for society and the environment.

Whatever the sector, developers are now being asked to find increasingly intelligent and sustainable ways to use data for the benefit of people, communities and societies. A new way of collaborating and experimenting with data sharing and use is needed.

At Sitra, we are building a people-centred and fair data economy based on European values. The use of data creates well-being, competitiveness and contributes to the development of societies. Fairness means balancing the interests of individuals, organisations and society.

What do we do?

The Sitra Lab 6 programme for change agents accelerates the development of data-driven fair services, better service experiences and new ways of working. In the Sitra Lab programme, teams experiment with new ways of using data in a fair way to develop services. We launched an open call for pilot teams to solve new ways of using data as part of service development.

Who is involved?

Eight pilot teams have been selected for Sitra Lab 6 through an open call.

EDWARD – A data-driven service for families to cultivate a child’s lifelong learning path

In this pilot, a Finnish-Irish team aims to develop a data-driven service for families to support a lifelong learning path for children. The pilot will be carried out by MyData Global ry, Paula Bello Consulting and Headai.

Sports Data Hub

The pilot will develop a national sports data repository that will bring together sports data from different source systems for use by the digitalising world of sport. The pilot will be carried out by the Finnish Olympic Committee, the Institute of Peak Sports KIHU, the University of Jyväskylä, the Urhea Foundation sr. and the Helsinki Olympic Coaching Centre.

Data network of employment actors

The pilot will build a regional data network and service ecosystem of employment services, enabling job seekers and students to manage and authorise their own data. The pilot will be carried out by the Vastuu Group, the City of Seinäjoki, the TE Office of South Ostrobothnia, Into Seinäjoki and Sedu, the Seinäjoki Education Consortium.

Employers

As the law changes, unemployment funds will be able to offer employment services to their members. The YTK Unemployment Fund team is piloting a new employment service of its own. The YTK Unemployment Fund is responsible for the pilot.

Know the statistics, exclude exclusion

The pilot will develop an AI-based data service to prevent youth exclusion, with a focus on data-driven leadership and better decision-making. The pilot will be carried out by Into – Youth Outreach and Workshops Association and the Regional State Administrative Agency of Western and Inland Finland.

Effective outreach to older people

The pilot will develop effective forms of outreach work to help older people get timely help and live safely at home. The pilot will be carried out by the Union for Senior Services (VALLI ry), Turku Senior Services Association (Turku Lähimmäispalveluyhdistys), the Fingerroos Foundation, Living skills and Mereo.

Home life cycle data

The pilot will process data related to home maintenance (such as renovations) in a way that supports both homeowners and home services providers. The pilot will be carried out by the Finnish Tax Administration, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the National Land Survey of Finland.

Facta

The aim of the pilot is to modernise the data system for municipal employees and authorities into a municipal ecosystem called Facta, so that more flexible ways of using and managing municipal property and building information make the everyday life easier for municipal employees and citizens. CGI is in charge of the pilot project.

What do we offer to the participants?

The teams selected for the change programme will carry out experiments to develop better services. Based on a systems, future and impact approach, the Change Programme offers participants:

expert sparring support to drive data-driven service development
an inspiring development platform where teams learn from each other’s experiments and expertise to develop better services
support to strengthen collaboration and networking between different stakeholders
opportunities for funding for experiments.

Finland already has good examples of innovative data economy solutions. See the list of the most interesting data economy examples and insightful pioneering solutions: