We are dedicated to addressing societal problems that shape our world. Our international programmes collaborate with partners to solve global challenges, enhance well-being, and boost economic growth within earth’s carrying capacity.
Sitra currently runs two international programmes: the Global Circular Economy programme, which accelerates circular economy solutions, and the Well-being Solutions programme, which promotes the use of social and health data in Europe.
In addition, we have launched international projects related to democracy, as well as data and artificial intelligence.
Scroll down to learn more about how we work, our current projects and how to collaborate with us!
Sitra is globally recognised for its thought leadership in the circular economy and for organising the annual World Circular Economy Forum, a global platform for advancing circularity across the globe.
We support efforts to address the ecological crisis and foster new, sustainable economic growth by building on Sitra’s internationally recognised work in advancing the circular economy.
The World Circular Economic Forum (WCEF) is an annual conference and a global community that advances the global circular economy through innovation, collaboration and sustainable practices. Since 2017, the WCEF has brought together thousands of people and hundreds of organisations from more than 168 countries. The circular economy is the only viable economic model that can help us build a fair and sustainable future for all. Each annual forum is funded jointly by Sitra and global partners. In 2025, the forum took place in São Paulo, Brazil. The next edition of the forum will take place in India in 2026 (time and location tbc).
In 2025, we launched the European Union Circular Economy Resource Centre which facilitates peer-to-peer exchanges and partnerships between EU and third-country stakeholders, fostering the uptake of sound circular economy policies and business models worldwide. The centre is co-funded by the European Union’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) and the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Read more about the Centre’s work and apply for possible open positions.
The PSLifestyle project encourages people across Europe to adopt positive and sustainable lifestyles. It provides a substantial dataset with insights to inform policy-making and support the transition. Based on Sitra’s lifestyle test, the project has been a success, with more than 1.5 million tests completed in Finland alone. The renewed lifestyle test and personalised tools are now available in 10 EU countries and have been used more than 490,000 times. The project is co-funded by the EU Horizon 2020.
Sitra has contributed strongly to evolving data and artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives, in particular in the European Union and Finland, around topics such as industrial data, open source LLMs, domain specific LLMs for public administration together with Finnish ministries, innovation challenges in Regulatory Technology (automated compliance), digital product passports, misinformation, societal impacts of social media and other platforms, etc. Sitra is also a lead or partner in several EU-funded projects regarding the twin transition, health data and European data spaces in general.
Sitra is keen on working with international partnerships in the areas of data and AI to respond to the biggest challenges of our time.
The Well-being solutions programme builds the sustainable well-being of tomorrow and strengthens the use of social and health data in Finland and Europe in collaboration with the operators in the sector.
TEHDAS2, a joint action funded by the EU and member states, develops guidelines and technical specifications for the use of health data in the EU, supporting the implementation of the European Health Data Space regulation. The secondary use of health data offers significant benefits, including improved healthcare services and personalised care, which can save lives, create new business opportunities and reduce costs for societies. The project involves 29 countries.
The VALO project brings together Nordic and Baltic countries. Funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers, the project aims to establish common principles in the Nordic countries for implementing the European Health Data Space regulation, streamline RDI activities and test the use of data across country borders.
The Data Spaces Support Centre project defines a common set of rules to support data space work in Europe, enhancing data sharing and innovation across sectors. The joint project in which Sitra is a partner, is funded by the EU’s Digital Europe programme and coordinated by Fraunhofer Institute in Germany.
Strengthening democracy and increasing citizen participation is one of Sitra’s focus areas. More specifically, we have experimented open-source civic technology solutions, such as the Polis collaborative platform. We have implemented regional and nation-wide Polis conversations together with Finnish regional and central authorities, and thus gained experience and an understanding of the current bottlenecks for citizens and the emerging “civic tech industry.”
Sitra is also contributing to the discussion on constitutional artificial intelligence (AI) and alignment assemblies for AI. There is an increasing trend of integrating AI in civic tech that also comes with great opportunities and risks.
We are contemplating new international actions with willing partners.
Read more about Sitra’s work on democracy and polarisation.
Following a public tendering process, the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra has contracted Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) to conduct research into political content that social media platforms serve to young people. The objective of the research is to enhance and deepen the understanding of the types of political content major social media platforms popular among young adults serve to them.
Particular attention will be paid to content that may constitute disinformation, conspiracy theories or hate speech. The research will be carried out in Finland, France and Romania. Some of the research activities will be carried out by researchers based in the UK. This involves accessing platforms using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connecting to Finnish, French, or Romanian servers, and processing the data collected.
As a part of the research, and for its purposes, BIT will create accounts for fictitious personas to observe the political content shown to young adults over a period of time. BIT is bound by its ethics framework that meets criteria established by the UK Government’s Social Research Unit, Market Research Society Code of Conduct, and ESRC guidance on research ethics governance. In line with its ethical principles, BIT will notify the platforms in question about the research.
Sitra is a public sector fund in Finland operating under supervision of the Finnish parliament. Behavioural Insights Team is a global research and innovation consultancy which uses deep understanding of human behaviour to improve people’s lives.
If you’re looking for a world-class team and are willing to co-finance, get in touch with us!
Director
+358 294 618 525
kristo.lehtonen@sitra.fi
Coordinator
+358 294 618 257
anna.pulli@sitra.fi
Programme Director
+358 294 618 287
kari.herlevi@sitra.fi
+358 294 618 432
markus.kalliola@sitra.fi
Senior Lead
+358 294 618 435
anu.manty@sitra.fi
Senior Advisor
+358 294 618 540
ilkka.rasanen@sitra.fi
roope.ritvos@sitra.fi
+358 294 618 220
johanna.kippo@sitra.fi
Communications and Public Affairs Lead
+358 294 618 429
tuula.sjostedt@sitra.fi
+358 294 618 283
tiina.vainio@sitra.fi