Situational snapshot

Accelerating public sector digitalisation in Finland: Priorities and barriers

Successful digitalisation is measured by what it delivers: a smooth, effortless, and secure society for citizens and organisations.

During spring 2026, Gofore created a situational snapshot of the priorities and obstacles on accelerating public sector digitalisation by interviewing 15 leaders and leading experts from the front line of Finnish public administration.

The most important finding can be distilled into these words: a frustrated public sector.

There is genuine clarity on what needs to change, and strong capability to deliver. Yet the most impactful action is held back by missing national direction and a lack of shared ways of working: no overarching national digital strategy to steer priorities, and no common playbook for leading, delivering and continuously improving digital services across government.

Based on the interviews, Finnish public administration has drifted into a situation where governance structures built for a paper-era bureaucracy prevent a shared national vision from forming, and from being executed. It’s time to change that: to design Finland’s path back to sustainable growth through a digital society that is resilient, secure and citizen-centric.

This study is unique: for the first time, it captures and documents bold, visionary perspectives from Finnish public sector leaders on how to take digitalisation to the next level.

Explore the key findings and the proposed solutions below.

Key findings

Interviewed leaders and leading experts

Aleksi Kopponen – Ministry of Finance
Anna-Kaisa Ikonen – Minister for Local and Regional Government
Anssi Kärkkäinen – Traficom
Antti Lindtman – Chair of the Social Democratic Party (SDP)
Elisa Kettunen – Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities
Jarkko Levasma – Ministry of Finance
Kirsi Karlamaa – Traficom
Laura Eiro – Ministry of Transport and Communications
Maarit Waskilampi-Kuikka – City of Espoo
Maria Nikkilä – City of Tampere
Markku Heikura – Finnish Tax Administration (Vero)
Pasi Lehmus – Pirkanmaa Wellbeing Services County
Paula Merikko – Finnish National Agency for Education
Vesa Lipponen – Ministry of Finance
Virpi Hotti – State Treasury

The initiative was advised by Jarkko Levasma.

Key finding 1

Wanted – A national digital strategy and a shared playbook to set direction

The challenge

A strong sense of frustration is visible across Finnish public administration.

There is vision and execution capability, but the current legislative environment and the perceived risk of making a procedural mistake discourage the most impactful action. In cross-government initiatives, decision-making is fragmented and compromises often dilute outcomes, slowing down change and reducing real-world impact.

When an initiative spans multiple organisations, ownership is often unclear. Direction and solutions become organisation-specific, resulting in parallel tracks instead of a shared, scalable approach.

The solution

The most critical step is to establish shared ways of working for digitalisation, covering leadership, delivery and continuous development. In practice, the public sector could benefit from a group-level steering layer that sets guardrails, enables autonomy within them, and supports cross-government delivery.

Second, Finland needs a national digital strategy that extends beyond government terms and guides choices across the public sector. We need a renewed vision for a resilient digital society, and the leadership to turn it into action.

What the interviewees said

“We need clearer guidance and more courage, one shared Finland-sized digital roadmap, it should also define clear responsibilities and guardrails.”

“Someone has to lead this and make choices on what matters, and what we will deliver. — there must be leadership that sets the direction. And a clear strategy, Digikompassi (governmental digitalisation implementation plan) isn’t that.”

“Especially when there are many actors involved… it becomes even more important that the vision and the goal are equally clear to everyone.”

“One challenge is that the long-term target doesn’t look the same to everyone. That makes it harder to align and move forward.”

“This cloud transition… everyone is still figuring out how, by what principles, and what data can be moved to the cloud and to which cloud…”

Key finding 2

A funding revolution – From project funding to lifecycle funding

The challenge

Public sector digital initiatives are often funded and governed as linear projects, despite the fact that digital development rarely makes sense as a fixed ‘start–end’ effort. Real value is created through iterative delivery and continuous improvement.

Projects end, but the services they create remain. The best understanding of a digital service’s performance and development needs only emerge in everyday use. In the current project model, funding often runs out exactly when value creation truly begins: after go-live.

The solution

Replace project-based funding with lifecycle funding for public sector digital services.

Lifecycle funding would be a model that…

continues for several years after implementation, matching the reality of continuous improvement
is allocated and governed cross-government, not silo by silo
is coordinated by a central actor (for example, central government ICT service provider Valtori) to enable shared platforms and scalable delivery.

In addition, central government needs a dedicated budget earmarked specifically for digital development.

What the interviewees said

“First we get funding to build something. But once it moves into service production and real use, we may not have budget reserved for that phase anymore.”

“And then when the solution stays in use, nobody has actually budgeted for it.”

“We plan funding one or two years ahead… and that sets the realistic boundaries of what we can do.”

Key finding 3

Nation in need for a critical conversation on more fit-for-purpose regulation

The challenge

EU regulation, and Finland’s particularly rigid interpretation, risk undermining our ability to build competitive, scalable digital services and to adopt AI responsibly at pace.

Finland is highly rule-oriented. We risk suffocating progress by trying to comply perfectly with everything from recommendations to binding decrees, without enough room for pragmatism.

This creates a culture where organisations ‘freeze’ and wait for permission to act – let alone for consistent interpretation.

Digitalisation and the use of AI can easily stall due to legal constraints. Technical obstacles are often minor compared to political and juridical brakes.

For example, autonomous decision-making systems are already feasible from a technology perspective, but legislation prevents their use.

The solution

We should boldly and step by step shift the prevailing culture of regulation towards fit-for-purpose guidance. This will require open public debate and strong change leadership across government.

The study also highlights that the Ministry of Justice could play a significant role as an enabler of digitalisation, if interpretations of existing legislation were re-examined through the lens of accelerating digital progress.

Instead of perfection, could we…

aim for good enough and fit-for-purpose compliance and guidance in Finnish public administration?
learn from other countries: for example Estonia’s approach where 80–90% success in implementation is considered sufficient – could that be enough for us as well?
compare, with curiosity, how EU regulations have been applied in other member states: how flexibly, and with what outcomes?
facilitate better collaboration between developers and legal authorities, such as the Ministry of Justice, ensuring shared goals and a common direction?

What the interviewees said

“No one dares to interpret consistently. The same question gets solved ten different ways – or not solved at all.”

“Right now the legal interpretations around AI are very strict. We would need cross-government interpretation guidance.”

“But we have this regulatory environment and we’re missing leadership of the whole.”

“Then the thinking, what Estonia has had, when you can solve 80–90% of cases, you handle the rest pragmatically, rather than polishing until you reach a 100% solution.”

Key finding 4

Establishing new collaboration models and a no-failure mindset of “We either succeed or we learn”

The challenge

Decision-making in public administration is often distributed into steering groups with high oversight and heavy reporting obligations. This makes renewal slow, costly and risk-averse.

The interviews suggest a hesitation towards experimentation: failures can become public and are often scrutinised by peers. This creates a mental lock that is visible also in this study: barriers are recognised, but speaking openly about them can still feel difficult.

The solution

Renew cross-government ways of working: share information and experience boldly.

Establish a national delivery unit (a “delivery core group”) with a mandate to cross organisational boundaries and steer execution in line with the national digital strategy. The unit should be cross-government by design.

The delivery unit would share outcomes, successes and learnings transparently. The point is not to hunt for mistakes or shame failed attempts, rather to adopt a mindset where in experiments we either succeed or we learn, while managing risks responsibly.

What the interviewees said

“Finland is good at maintaining the status quo, but our change debt grows as other countries move faster in digitalisation and AI adoption.”

“It starts with someone taking ownership, leading it, bringing people together and absolutely not in a way where the public sector thinks it through alone.”

“A government-authorised task force. Now I say it like this. Let’s call it a strike team or give it a better name. Because we’ve seen that with the current structures and civil-service routines, big change won’t happen.”

“There’s also the other side of the coin… the security, building things well enough, identifying risks and preparing for them.”

Key finding 5

Designing a digital backbone to enable resilience for tomorrow’s challenges

The challenge

Finland’s operating environment has not changed as rapidly and systemically as it is changing right now, perhaps in decades.

Beyond geopolitics, we face demographic shifts and intense pressure for cost savings.

As the threat landscape evolves quickly, digital service development must prioritise security and digital resilience. We must ensure high-quality data remains available, securely and reliably, even in crises and exceptional circumstances.

The solution

Adopt a collective, needs-driven mindset that moves beyond traditional sector silos: If nothing constrained us, what would we need to design a sustainable, smooth and disruption-tolerant digital society?

What do we keep?
What do we let go of?
What new capabilities do we need?
What exceptional scenarios must we have the courage to prepare for?

What the interviewees said

“And ensuring that data is up to date, high-quality and securely available where it’s needed is crucial. In a digital world, everything builds on that. The data is not hidden away by sectors.”

“… it would be great to include in the Government Programme a clear commitment to securing the future of public administration and renewing core technologies to make everyday services smoother and better for citizens. That would be sensible.”

“Finland is falling behind for example in AI adoption, when elsewhere, agent-based automation is advancing fast while in Finland we’re still debating the basics.”

“And in a disruption situation, how do we serve citizens then?”

Implementation of the study

This report is based on a qualitative study conducted by Gofore in spring 2026 on the priorities and barriers to accelerating digitalisation in public administration – and, more broadly, its future direction. The data consists of in-depth one-to-one interviews with 15 leaders, senior experts and leading politicians working in Finnish public administration. Interviews were conducted between 13 January and 20 February 2026.

The interviews were carried out by Verian commissioned by Gofore.

In conclusion: Our insight

Year 2026 is the moment of truth for digitalisation

Digitalisation has entered a new phase. It is no longer about developing individual systems or running technological experiments, but about ensuring that the core functions of society remain operational, productive, and trustworthy in an era defined by geopolitical instability, tightening public finances, strict cost control, talent shortages, and rapid technological change.

Read the insight of Ewa Tawaststjerna, director responsible for Gofore’s public sector business.

Read the blog