Information package on digitalisation, transformation of work and social security discusses reform of social security through technological change

The third information package produced as a result of a knowledge partnership between the strategic research funding instrument and the Social Security Committee has been published. The information package on digitalisation, the transformation of work and social security (PDF, in Finnish) was published at a public hearing of the Finnish Parliament’s Committee for the Future on 20 March 2024. Its mission is to provide research evidence to support the social security reform in Finland.

Knowledge Partnership is an approach within strategic research that strengthens collaboration and dialogue between research and policymaking, resulting in a synthesis of knowledge on a jointly agreed topic. The syntheses, called information packages, are based on existing or published results or results that are still in progress.

SRC-funded projects and programme directors have been engaged in a Knowledge Partnership with the Social Security Committee since 2020.

Backed by a wide range of experts

Fifteen researchers, eleven working on strategic research projects and three as programme directors, contributed to the preparation of the new information package. The work to compile the information was coordinated by programme directors Minna Lammi (Culture in an Increasingly Technologically Driven Society, CULT) and Jarmo Viteli (Information Literacy and Evidence-Informed Decision-making, LITERACY). Karoliina Snell, the programme director of the SHIELD programme (Security and Trust in the Age of Algorithms), also contributed to the writing of the information package. Coordination and publication support was also provided by the Division of Strategic Research Unit at the Research Council of Finland.

The package was produced through a co-writing exercise, during which common themes related to technological development that transcend the project and programme boundaries of strategic research began to emerge. These included the significance of trust in digitalisation and the importance of ensuring equality.

In the information package, researchers have also translated the results of their research into solutions and policy recommendations. “It’s been rewarding to be involved in facilitating the dialogue between researchers and knowledge users,” said Minna Lammi, one of the programme directors who coordinated the work.

Research-based evidence to support the social security reform

Pasi Moisio, the chair of the Social Security Committee, considers the new information package an important compilation on digitalisation and the transformation of work.

“Digitalisation issues are very central to the design and implementation of the social security reform. Artificial intelligence is developing at a blistering pace, and its potential and risks must be anticipated when considering social security reform. The Social Security Committee gratefully receives this information package from the researchers and will use it in its work,” Moisio said.

A unique and relevant approach

Minna van Gerven, Professor of Social Policy and co-author of the package, also wants to highlight the benefits of the Knowledge Partnership to researchers. According to Van Gerven, participating in the preparation of the information package was a great opportunity to bring her own research to the attention of policymakers and those involved in preparing decisions. This kind of direct impact, made possible by the dialogue between research and policy, is also very important for researchers. “Finns really should appreciate their political culture, where such a dialogue between policymakers and researchers is a natural and fruitful process,” van Gerven said.

Päivi Tikka, the director of the Division of Strategic Research, wants to thank the programme directors, researchers and the Social Security Committee who produced the compilation. The Knowledge Partnership concept, which has thus far produced three information packages, has provided valuable experiences for the Division of Strategic Research on how to develop new types of knowledge brokerage structures, tools and practices in cooperation between different actors.

The information package on digitalisation, the transformation of work and social security follows two other packages produced jointly by the SRC-funded projects and the Social Security Committee: the first dealt with Finland’s demographic structure and social security (2021) and the second with ecosystems, climate change and social security (2022).