Finland Digital Innovation Journey

With the support of the Finnish Embassy, 10 journalists from different countries went on a media tour of Finland to explore the digital innovation and future skills in the country. Ugo Aliogo who was one of the journalists reports

In the 21st century, technology is playing a fundamental role in transforming our lives, from healthcare, transportation, social infrastructure, education and other things. Technological change requires people and businesses to acquire new digital skills and competencies.

A study by Eurostat has revealed that digital technologies are transforming the world people live and work in, adding that technology impacts different aspects of people’s lives, from everyday tasks such as making phone calls and shaping to how businesses and public services operate.

The study also stated that digital transformation is one of the key priorities for the European Union (EU). The digital decade initiative sets out the EU targets that will guide digital transformation until 2030. According to the EU target, at least 80 percent of all adults should have a minimum basic digital skill by 2030. To have at least basic overall digital skills, people must know how to do at least one activity in each of five different competence areas. Finland is one of the EU countries at the forefront of driving digitalisation.

Overview

Finland is a global frontrunner in the field of digitalisation, also known as digital transformation or DX. According to the latest DESI index, Finland is the number one country in Europe. The country’s high degree of digitalisation is made possible by a strong digital infrastructure and the fact that Finns are highly educated and digitally literate.

The country sees digitalisation primarily as a tool to save time and effort. Digital services also have other benefits such as a reduced ecological footprint. The aim in Finland is to make everyday life better and easier for everyone, by freeing them from unnecessary paperwork and running from one government agency to another – for example when applying for unemployment or medical benefits. Digitalization is a key tool in this process.

Almost all interactions between citizens and civil servants such as tax officials and the police can now take place digitally. A large majority of Finns from all age groups and social strata use public and private digital services. The services are made available for everyone, regardless of their age, background, or geographical location. People who do not own digital devices can use digital services for example in public libraries. Face-to-face services and telephone assistance are also always available.

Trust and transparency are central values of Finnish society and cornerstones of public digital services. Information security is of paramount importance. Everyone’s privacy is strongly protected. Finnish authorities collaborate actively with Finland’s world-class cybersecurity companies to protect individuals, companies and society from digital threats.

Like all Nordic countries, Finland combines wide-ranging public services with an open free-market economy. Yet it can be argued that Finland is uniquely open to public-private cooperation and that innovative combinations of public and commercial services are an important factor in the digital Finnish society.

Finnish banks have worked on highly secure online identification solutions since the 1990s – and those same solutions are now also used at other public online services alongside government-issued digital identification cards. At the same time, companies benefit from largely the same easy-to-use digital services as private citizens do, saving the companies and especially their back-office staff time and money. For example, companies benefit from the same easy-to-use online tax services as ordinary citizens.

Companies can also utilise open public data platforms. For example, private health care providers use the same patient data as public services, and anonymized data has also been used as a basis for several new commercial health services and start-ups.

The next step in digital public services is not to make them more prevalent but to make them more invisible. Steps toward this have already been taken by for example Finnish tax authorities. Finns no longer need to fill out their tax returns as the tax authorities receive almost all necessary information automatically from employers, banks and other financial institutions. Everyone receives a pre-filled “tax proposal”, which for most already includes everything necessary. One can of course also amend one’s tax return by for example claiming further deductions. Roughly a fifth of Finns do so – some 90% of them online in a manner of minutes.

As part the commitment of the Finnish government to tell the success story of their digital footprints across Europe, they organised a media visit tagged: ‘Digital Innovation and Future Skills’ from September 25-28, at Helsinki, the country’s capital which brought together 10 journalists from 10 different countries such as Nigeria, Spain, Bulgaria, Tunisia, Austria, Portugal, Peru and Columbia. The media visit gave the journalists the opportunity to visit some public institutions and explore how technology has been adopted to drive the growth processes in those organisations.

Development Policy

To understand the development policy directives of Finland, THISDAY spoke to the Senior Adviser, Development Policy, Team Leader, Mr. Aki Enkenberg, who stated that Finland has a strong financial and banking sector, which also has been in the forefront of digitalizing the payment ecosystem, adding that there are around 4 in 5 companies use electronic invoicing today.

He also stated mobile payments surpassed cash in popularity for the first time in 2022, but people still mostly use debit or credit cards for paying at stores. Finland is part of the European Single Payments Area (SEPA).

He remarked that in Finland, digital and green transitions go hand in hand, noting that the government aims to be carbon neutral by 2035, noting that Finland has a national Climate and Environmental strategy for the ICT sector, “One good example are green data centres, in which excess heat is transferred to the municipal district heating system.”

According to him, “The ICT sector contributes to around 7 percent of Finland’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). By some estimates, the broader technology sector is responsible of almost one third of Finland’s GDP. The Global Gateway is a joint European strategy for promoting connectivity worldwide. The ambition is to mobilize 300 billion for this purpose, with half of this amount coming from the private sector and half from public sources. Digital connectivity is one focus area of Global Gateway. Finland co-leads the digital working group on connectivity together with France. We have recently initiated a joint European project on data governance in Africa, totalling 58 million Euros.”

Helsinki Data Strategy

On his part, Head of Data, City of Helsinki, Tomas Lehtinen, said the vision of the data strategy is that by 2025, the data produced by the city of Helsinki will be the most usable and most used urban data in the country. He also stated that the benefits of the strategy are to promote the sharing of data which drives business and the utilisation of external resources.

He averred that another benefits the strategy will drive is that it will promote the city’s operations and resources are optimised with the help of data.
Lehtinen remarked that they have developed services based on data and AI for the benefit of people and with people in mind, adding that they communicate as transparently as possible how and where they use data and AI.

“We can explain the general operating logic of a single result or algorithm in an understandable way. The basis for the use of data and AI solutions is respect for everyone’s dignity and rights. For each service that uses AI, we assign a responsible party that our customers can contact. We handle personal data carefully and securely throughout the life cycle of the system. The basis for the use of data and AI solutions is respect for everyone’s dignity and rights. Systems using data and AI are well protected and controlled. The person responsible is able to monitor and control the operations of the system and intervene, if necessary,” he said.
Finnish Social Security

A report by Kela, which is the Social Insurance Institution of Finland about Finnish Social Security revealed that the introduction of maternity grants was encouraged by concerns over declining birth rates and high infant mortality.

The report said Finland has long had one of the lowest levels of infant and maternal mortality in the world. Each year, Kela awards around 57,000 maternity grants, of which about 37,000 are provided in the form of a maternity package.

Digital Transformation

According to the Finnish Tax administration, in 2022, the government collected a total of €81.4 billion in tax revenue for society’s use. From the €81.4 billion, the government disbursed 61.7 percent to the State and 33.0 percent to municipalities, while 4.1 percent to Kela and 1.2 percent to parishes. The tax administration authority works effectively and the automation degree is high, while the ratio of net expenditure to gross tax revenue is 0.42 per cent.

In his presentation, the Director, Business Products, Product Management Unit, Finnish Tax Administration, Veijo Romppainen, said the Finland tax gap is among the smallest in Europe and it is only 3 percent, adding that the tax gap shrinks and the tax revenue grows.

He also stated that the Valmis software is the biggest IT project in Finland, and it has over 70 taxation systems, about 10 E-services, and four rollouts.

According to him, “Finland’s taxation is carried out effectively with one taxation software. Customers can handle their taxation in one easy-to-use e-service.

“As part of efforts to modernise taxation, the Finnish Tax administration in 2009, launched the E-service for tax recipient in local and central government and other organisations. In 2010, paper was digitalised for nationwide electronic work queues, and it also embarked on tax account online. In 2014, the government completed the overhaul of the tax system and launched into the Valmis programme software. It also embarked on the E-filing real estate tax information, E-invoices, tax debt registers. In 2015, it began the chat service channel, while in 2017 it launched my tax E-service, and in 2019 it embarked on income registers. In 2021, it launched application programme interfaces.”

Public Service, Digital Technology

The Finnish government stated that all public sector bodies’ services must go digital by 2023. A significant proportion of public services has been digitalised and automated with a human-centric approach. It was learnt that interoperable digital public services enable smooth service use for citizens, businesses and organisations, also internationally. Public services are produced in accordance with the comprehensive security model.

Collaboration enables the transfer of data between actors, eliminating the need to re-request information from the customer. The transferred data is already in a interoperable and structured format, allowing for greater automation of services and their implementation processes.

Meanwhile, the Finland Prime Minister, Antti Petteri Orpo, said during the government term, the administration would carry out projects to digitalise public and private services relating to life and business events so that these services operate seamlessly together, noting that they would ensure the ease of managing the affairs of a deceased relative.

“Finland will gradually shift to making digital services the primary channel for accessing the services of public authorities. We will amend legislation to make digital communications the primary channel for communications by public authorities,” he added.

During a presentation to journalists, the Senior Specialist, Ministry of Finance, Niko Ruostetsaari, said approximately 40 of the most significant life event service packages have been digitalised or automated, adding that human-centric digital services constitute a proactive, human-centric and efficient set of services (EU target: key public services are 100 percent online).

He remarked that the key business situations in the life cycle of businesses have been identified and the related digital services constitute a proactive, humancentric and efficient set of services (EU target: key public services are 100 percent online).

Ruostetsaari espoused that the public services used by businesses are primarily digital or automated, noting that organisations that use public services reduce their carbon footprint by primarily communicating with citizens through the Suomi.fi service.

According to him, “Finns have access to their digital health and social services data. Digital health services and data are used in everyday life. (EU target: 100 percent of citizens having access to medical records). 90 percent of the data collected from – or delivered to – businesses is in digital, structured format and compliant with existing European standards.

“Permit procedures, particularly concerning the green transition projects of the business sector, have been shortened across the board. The share of innovative public procurement will be increased to 10 percent of all procurement activities, and public procurement has promoted the green transition through the use of new technologies and operating models.”