A community-based experimentation program for digital transformation

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

Our aim is to address the growing and diverse needs of the Espoo population by making everyday life easier through the digitalization of services. As the city grows, ages, and becomes more linguistically diverse, a people-first digital transition is essential to enhance service efficiency, accessibility, and sustainability.

The Digital Agenda, Espoo’s cross-administrative digital experimentation program, seeks to involve citizens, the private sector, and the third sector in the digital transformation. From 2015 to 2021, the program organized four publicly open pilot proposal campaigns, gathered over 150 proposals, conducted 20 experiments, and involved more than 6,000 residents, 70 organizations or companies and about 400 city employees. Of the experiments, 75% contributed to development of the city's services and functions, among other things the processes development, procurement planning and competence development.

In 2022, Espoo launched Digital Agenda 3.0 spanning until 2025. In 2023–2024, Espoo is experimenting exploring belief systems together with JokaLapsi, digitalizing Finnish language assessments for foreign-language job seekers and boosting recruitment and onboarding with VR solutions.

The program operates through concrete digital experiments that last from a few months to a year and involve testing product and service ideas in collaboration with companies, educational institutions, research institutes, and residents. Examples of experiments include augmented and 3D reality solutions for various user groups from students to the elderly, sustainable mobile services, and AI applications to improve information delivery and customer service.

The Digital Agenda has positively impacted Espoo’s residents, companies, and municipal services. The program has fostered a culture of co-creation, leading to innovative solutions that enhance service delivery and efficiency. The initiatives have improved municipal service profitability and cost-effectiveness while creating convenient and comprehensive services for different customer segments. The program's success has also supported start-ups and contributed valuable research data, demonstrating the broad benefits of Espoo’s people-first digital transformation strategy.