1. Synergise Finland

    The Synergise Finland forum is all about finding the sources of Finland's vitality. The first forum considered the essence of New Work. The next forum asks what is New Democracy?

  2. From ideas to practice

    Good ideas are only a beginning; the Synergise Finland teams must find ways to put the solutions into practice. For example, New Work includes work experience programmes for young immigrants, job rotation in the public sector and celebrating failures.

  3. New work is open to all

    The programmes are also openly online. Lectures and ideas are freely available on the Internet, and can also be commented on. Twitter and Facebook complete the open communication. You’re welcome to join in!

Synergic solutions for the challenges of today

The word 'synergy' implies energy, interaction, dynamics and the interest in new ideas. Synergy is created when people get active, creative, proactive and enthusiastic. Sitra's Synergise Finland development programme looks for solutions to today's challenges from these perspectives. The first forum was held in spring 2011, focusing on the concept of new work. The second forum, launched in autumn 2011, is tackling the issue of New Democracy.

Sitra believes that cooperation across traditional social borders, discussion and active work towards common goals promote and renew Finland's powers of synergy. The Synergise Finland development programme brings together people who look at issues from very different viewpoints; this is a good starting point for finding tangible solutions and feasible ideas. The programme is a combination of a brainstorming workshop and practical work.

Each forum involves 20–30 participants, who are invited but also selected through an open application process.

Forum I – the essence of new work

The 23 participants in the first Synergise Finland forum, in spring 2011, considered the challenges posed by changes to the concept of work. The participants also had to find ways to put their ideas concerning new work into practice.

The subject was considered from three viewpoints. The group discussed the challenges of work that are completely new to our society, the tools that help young people to find their path in today’s working life, and more efficient ways to bring together immigrants and new work. The insights that were discovered can be summarised as follows:

Whole new work and information work: new work is all about networking

  • The objectives of our educational system do not meet the needs of today's working life.
  • We must build whole new work on the strengths found in Finland.
  • Positive attitudes toward entrepreneurship should be enforced.

Read more about the experiments and ideas carried out under this theme in autumn 2011

 New work and the young: support, information and tools for finding your identity

  • Long working careers are no longer the thing.
  • Periods of study and work vary throughout the entire working life.
  • The young need support and help in building their identity for work.

Read more about the experiments and ideas carried out under this theme in autumn 2011 

Immigrants and new work: meaningful work for all who live in Finland

  • The greatest challenge lies in the attitudes of the majority.
  • Immigration cannot be discussed as a single phenomenon, as people come from very different backgrounds.
  • Work can be found with an optimistic and realistic attitude.

Read more about the experiments and ideas carried out under this theme in autumn 2011

 The essence of new work

This is how the first Synergise Finland forum sees new work:

 

Forum II unravels new democracy

The second forum, launched in autumn 2011, is discovering the meaning of new democracy and discussing ways to make Finland a pioneer of participation and true democracy.

The live content stream on this page reports on the work of the Synergise Finland forum as well as the discussion and background materials concerning new work. You are also welcome to join in with the work on Facebook on the Synergise Finland (Elinvoima) pages.

In November, the participants of the New democracy forum will blog on what they believe new democracy means and what its biggest challenges are.

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Internal Content
Article New Democracy: more than just voting

How is the nature of what we know as democracy changing, to cope with and adapt to a rapidly changing world? Tim Bird finds out more about Sitra's New Democracy and discovers some new ways of thinking. As part of a project called Synergize Finland, Sitra is involved in Learning Forums which, explains programme director Mika Kalliomaa, “are all about bringing together people with a wide range...

2 months ago

Article Synergise Finland in London: The renewal of democracy starts with taking action

The Synergise Finland Forum organised an excursion to the United Kingdom in January to find out about what kind of innovations have been made there in the field of democracy. The participants had meetings with over twenty parties working to improve democracy at different levels, from the administrative to the grass roots level. “In the UK, there is a lot of innovation and creation of new...

3 months ago by Elina Kiiski

Publication The new work and labour law

The new economy and the new forms of working affect the creation of innovations. Innovations are created through the interaction of people and organisations. Labour legislation plays an important role in regulating these multilevel relationships. The report examines the relationship between the new economy, innovations and working life regulations. The report is part of Sitra's Research Programme...

S. Koskinen, H. Mikkola

Publication The new work and labour law

The new economy and the new forms of working affect the creation of innovations. Innovations are created through the interaction of people and organisations. Labour legislation plays an important role in regulating these multilevel relationships. The report examines the relationship between the new economy, innovations and working life regulations. The report is part of Sitra's Research Programme...

S. Koskinen, H. Mikkola

Project KVINFO – Mentoring network for educated immigrant women

The project cooperation partner is the Family Federation. The project will launch a mentoring network for educated immigrant women based on a Danish model. The network will be piloted with 10 to 20 mentor pairs, after which it will be evaluated and further funding will be applied for if required. Sitra organised an excursion to acquaint the participants with the Danish model and good practices...

Saturday, January 1, 2011 to Thursday, March 31, 2011

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