Sitra appoints working group to consider Finland’s capacity for change

Sitra has appointed a working group to evaluate Finland’s capacity for change with a view to coming challenges and changes. Capacity for change refers to the values, attitudes, willingness and image of the future held by a nation and its people.

The working group is called Muutoksen Suomi (‘Finland in the process of change’) and will be headed by Ilkka Niiniluoto, the Rector of the University of Helsinki. Niiniluoto was also in charge of a working group on the mental state of Finland in 1993, that had been appointed by then Prime Minister Esko Aho. The task of the present working group is to draft a statement on the state of the nation and its capacity for dealing with coming changes.

“This was a good time to set up a working group, because Finnish society is subject to exceptional pressures for change at the moment. Rapid technological advances, globalisation, climate change and an ageing population will have a profound impact on the lives of individual people as well as on society at large,” says Esko Aho, the President of Sitra. “The new working group will consider how individuals and communities can deal with these challenges as effectively as possible,” Aho adds.
 
Director Antti Hautamäki of Sitra will be the secretary of the working group. The results of the working group will be published in December 2008. 

Members of the working group

• Ilkka Niiniluoto, Rector (chair)
• Pekka Ahmavaara, Master of Arts
• Maria Kaisa Aula, the Ombudsman for Children in Finland
• Janne Gallen-Kallela-Sirén, Museum Director
• Reino Hjerppe, Professor
• Juha Hulkko, entrepreneur
• Tuomas Kuhmonen, Senior Researcher
• Juha Sihvola, Director
• Osmo Soininvaara, writer 
• Terhi Suominen, project manager
• Tuula-Liina Varis, writer and journalist    

Further information

Antti Hautamäki, Director
Tel: +358 9 6189 9232, firstname.lastname@sitra.fi

Laura Niemi, Communications Manager
Tel: +358 9 373 8602, firstname.lastname@sitra.fi