Innovation
Articles on innovation in chronological order.
How private investors could make money from integrating immigrants in Finland
Finland is the first Nordic country to adopt the model where private investments are being used for social programmes. So-called Social Impact Bonds, or SIBs, also help private investors fund employment programmes for immigrants. If the private players manage to do better than the public sector, they will be rewarded.
No Isolation – creating new jobs to cover ancient needs
There is a reindustrialisation taking place in the middle of Oslo. Three young people have started their own business, making products as well-designed as anything coming out of Apple.
Blueye Robotics: The people's underwater drone bringing knowledge about our oceans
“Something happened to me when I went from collecting shells on the beach to finding more and more plastic and rubbish,” says Christine Spiten. She is one of four entrepreneurs who set up Blueye Robotics in 2015.
Teaching Danes how to manage robots
Your future colleague might well be a robot. This will mean great changes in the labour market according to a new report discussed by the Disruption Council during its fourth meeting.
Denmark’s second largest city explores the sharing economy
Citizens of Aarhus municipality can move around in shared electric cars and cultivate the soil in new city gardens on municipal land. The government has designated the municipality as a pilot city for the sharing economy, and a range of activities are already up and running.
Disruption shakes the Nordic agreement model
The social partners in the Nordic region have to adapt the Nordic labour market model to fit the sharing economy, driverless forklifts and other new labour market trends. If they don’t, others will, a Danish expert warns. The Danish government and the social partners have approached the task by establishing a new body: “The Disruption Council”.
Palestinian, woman, dyslexic – and successful businessperson in Iceland
Fida Abu Libdeh arrived in Iceland aged 16. “I didn’t even understand whether my teacher was trying to teach me Icelandic or Danish. It wasn’t until many years later I learnt I had dyslexia,” she says.
The Nordic region – not cheaper, but smarter?
Smart solutions are often digital. Digitalisation is central to how society develops and it affects our lives in completely new ways. How does this development work in practice and how is the Nordic region contributing? There are several questions: Can the future become too smart? Do we need to pose more questions? Discuss more?
Digitalisation - The Nordics showing the way
Everyone, from the cradle to the nursing home, is affected by the digitalisation. Nordic Labour Journal looks at how the Nordic countries tackle the challenge.
Cycling into the future
There are great digital ambitions in the Nordic region: “Sweden will be a world leader in exploiting the opportunities of digitalisation”. Danish businesses will be “among the best in Europe when it comes to using IT”. But despite the grand words, there is also a worry that the Nordic region is lagging behind countries like the USA and China.
Youths monitored – voluntarily – by 2000 sensors
There is much talk about digitalisation and smart cities, but it is high time we posed some critical questions around how technology is being used, thinks Malin Granath. In early October she defended her thesis on the subject at the University of Linköping.
Digital revolution in the nursing home
At the Solbjerg nursing home, new digital solutions have freed up more time for employees to spend with the residents, and this is just the first phase in a digital revolution. In ten years from now, all of the home’s offices will be gone, predicts the nursing home’s coordinator.
Bus drivers – a dying occupation as Finland goes for digitalised transport?
Finnish commuters are facing a very different journey to work in the future. Many transport sector jobs can disappear, or at least change. New traffic legislation aims to make transport services more flexible, based on the sharing economy and call control. And the self-driving robot buses are just around the corner.
When the welfare state falls short: Is social entrepreneurship the solution?
Social entrepreneurship and social innovation could help develop the Nordic welfare models, says Norway’s Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion Anniken Hauglie. These are issues she would like to promote when Norway takes on the presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2017.
Finland: Social Impact Bonds to help refugees
Finland launches a social innovation programme allowing private investors to finance measures to improve the integration of refugees. They will be able to profit from solutions which helps solve problems for the public sector.
Europe wants to turn waste into gold
Leading Danish politicians and businesses believe the circular economy is about to become a mega trend in Europe. Now they get backing from a new study which lists the enormous economic benefits which following a better use of resources. A new EU plan is in the works.
New tendencies are focusing minds
The OECD leaves little doubt that the Nordic region has come through the crisis better than most other countries, with low unemployment, high employment and little inequality. But take nothing for granted. New tendencies are focusing minds. Organised labour is under pressure while the sharing economy spreads at an ever faster rate. The Nordic Labour Journal checks out the facts.
Why own when you can rent? The sharing economy and working life
Uber, Netflix and Airbnb are names associated with the sharing economy — a term which tries to describe the rapid changes in the way we consume goods and services. We rent rather than own, we swap, share, borrow or give away. New technology allows for new kinds of transactions, which in turn influences working life.
The sharing economy is changing the services market
Mow the neighbours lawn? Quickly get hold of a skilled handyman? More and more digital marketplaces are emerging in order to facilitate the link between those who offer and those who need services. There are many different solutions, and two of the market’s players predict that things are only just starting.
The sharing economy threatens Nordic trade unions
The sharing economy is a brand new phenomenon which has exploded into fast moving marketplaces with names like Uber, Netflix and Airbnb. It’s all about renting, not owning — be it a car, a boat, a bike or using your own home to make a little extra cash. New online technology creates new opportunities for both consumers and producers. We look at how the sharing economy is shaping up in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, and how it affects the labour market.
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