Today we’re meeting with Juha Leppänen, Co-Founder of The Institutional Architecture Lab (TIAL) and Chief Executive of Demos Helsinki to discuss how institutions can evolve.
The institutions that shape our societies were built for a different era – but today’s challenges demand new ways of organizing collective action.
According to Leppänen, we must rethink how public institutions function to address urgent issues like climate crisis, democracy, and care. The world is facing a polycrisis, where interconnected problems transcend national borders.
Yet, many institutions remain rigid, reactive, and disconnected from emerging realities.
What fields need the most innovation?
Democracy, Leppänen argues, thrives on experimentation—without it, institutions stagnate and become vulnerable to attacks.
Aging societies also require new models of care, moving beyond traditional welfare structures. And in the face of climate change, institutions must find new ways to build consensus and act at scale.
The challenge is not a lack of good ideas, but rather ensuring that innovations in one sector can translate across others.
Leppänen highlights two institutional models that offer inspiration:
- Finland’s security ecosystem embraces a whole-of-society approach, recognizing that security is not owned by any single institution but is a collective effort.
- Bogotá’s Care Blocks integrate gender-sensitive care services into urban planning, redefining how cities support aging populations and caregivers. Both examples show that public institutions can adapt when they embrace ecosystem thinking and cross-sectoral collaboration.
Is innovation only possible after a crisis?
Leppänen believes that we must prepare for institutional redesign before crises force our hand. This means building a shared sense of agency—a belief that we can shape the institutions of the future, just as past generations did.
IID 2025 will be the perfect opportunity to discover innovations paving the way for the future of institutions, so stay tuned for updates!
About The Istanbul Innovation Days 2025
The Istanbul Innovation Days 2025 convenes global leaders, thinkers, and innovators who are shaping institutional change and resilience in an increasingly complex world.
This short series highlights key voices exploring the pressures driving institutional evolution and the barriers that stand in the way.
From real-world examples to the challenge of anticipating crises before they unfold, these discussions explore how institutions can adapt to meet the demands of the future.
