City-as-a-Service unit is in the heart of Espoo’s holistic transformation

This article series presents cases of innovations built here in Espoo that strive for a better tomorrow for all.

We believe that to succeed in the digital and green transformation, we need to succeed in the cultural transformation: in changing people’s mindsets and behavior. City-as-a-Service (CaaS) development is Espoo’s local and holistic approach for a future-proof city transformation. 

To implement this model into reality, we have set up a City-as-a-Service development unit. Instead of an innovation team based in the ICT department with a focus on technological and digital innovations, our CaaS unit is based in the mayor’s office. This offers the unit a direct communication channel to the mayor, a systemic view of the city organization and ecosystem, and helps different city operations better meet rapidly changing customer demands.

The unit brings together hundreds of innovative minds and specialists from various fields to solve challenges and work on related projects, both within and outside the city organization, leading to out-of-the-box ideas. The unit and its culture are key to our competitive advantage, explaining why we can adapt quickly in turbulent times.