Humane digital transformation
Digital solutions, human stories – Perspectives from those of us building the future.
Digital transformation - how is Tampere doing it?
Tampere is a city of action, where we aim to build the urban environment, services, and solutions of the future through digital means. Digital transformation connects and challenges the entire city's operations and management. Where is Tampere headed, and what measures and processes will we use to get there?
Maria Nikkilä, Executive Director of Digitalisation and ICT
Digital transformation needs a bold vision, a goal to strive towards. This could be a detailed picture of the desired outcome or a sketch of key themes to carry into the future. What’s essential is that the organisation shares a common understanding of what lies ahead. Each department can then chart its own path towards that shared goal.
In Tampere, the future is shaped by our Metaverse vision – a dream of a city where digital services are seamlessly integrated into the urban environment. It outlines a new kind of public service where the physical and virtual worlds meet and complement one another.
Experimentation proves things right – or not
A vision alone won’t take us far; it must be tested and modelled. The boldest ideas are turned into experiments to determine whether they are feasible, sensible, or even profitable. Every experiment offers a learning opportunity, helping us refine our insights and move forward.
Development programmes are Tampere’s trailblazers into the future. They experiment with things, models and technologies that are not yet mature enough for service production, but so interesting that their potential needs to be learned from. Currently, the Data-Driven City for Citizens programme is opening up opportunities for data and artificial intelligence. After the project phase, some pilots will continue as municipal services, some will be forgotten, and some will leave us with valuable lessons.
How do we achieve concrete results?
Achieving the target state requires systematic work. The world will not be finished in a year or two, but development requires continuity over time and across councils. The city is a vast collection of different services, and identifying synergies and designing an effective technology base is a huge puzzle.
Tampere’s steps are mapped out in our digital roadmap. This annually updated plan outlines what will happen across the city’s service areas and within the central administration over the next four years in terms of digital development. The roadmap is built around shared themes that may cover parts of or the entire city.
Once the planning and big picture has been sketched out, things need to be put into action. Getting it done requires skilled people, good project planning and the resources to make it happen.
In Tampere, development is managed and resourced through development portfolios. Service areas have the freedom and responsibility to decide on their own development priorities and lead the digital transformation in ways that maximise the benefits for residents and local businesses. Development will be enabled through adequate resourcing because the future is created by doing.
Digital transformation does not happen alone, but in partnership
In Tampere, collaboration is part of our everyday work. We provide core IT and telecommunications services for the entire Tampere region, which includes nine municipalities. As the lead municipality for the employment region, we engage in joint projects both nationally and internationally. In the world's metropolises, Tampere is much bigger than its size, because our development themes are too.
Digital transformation is built on the ability to manage, plan and implement digitally. We invest heavily in increasing the skills of both our leadership and experts through training, learning circles, and discussions. The Renewing Tampere project is embedding a new model in the organisation to identify and develop the capabilities required to deliver digital transformation.
What’s Tampere’s secret? Systematics, ambition, courage and a culture of cross-border debate. We are building a city of action, and it shows in what happens here.
This is the start of a blog series on Tampere's digital transformation, where we will describe in more detail the different approaches, development projects and ideas behind the making. Maybe these stories we share are something that will build another new collaboration?
Welcome to join Tampere on our journey to the future,
Maria
The author is the Executive Director of Digitalisation and Information Management for the City of Tampere.
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