Theme: Digitalisation - Nordics in the front

Newsletter from the Nordic Labour Journal 10/2016

The Nordic region – not cheaper, but smarter?

Smart solutions are often digital. Digitalisation is central to how society develops and it affects our lives in completely new ways. How does this development work in practice and how is the Nordic region contributing? There are several questions: Can the future become too smart? Do we need to pose more questions? Discuss more?

Cycling into the future

There are great ambitions to be found in the Nordic region: “Sweden will be a world leader in exploiting the opportunities of digitalisation”. Danish businesses will be “among the best in Europe when it comes to using IT, Big Data and e-commerce to create growth”. 97 percent of Norwegians have access to the internet, Iceland is third in the world for information technology while the Finns’ digital skills are said to be the best in the EU.

Youths monitored – voluntarily – by 2000 sensors

There is much talk about digitalisation and smart cities, but it is high time we posed some critical questions around how technology is being used, thinks Malin Granath. In early October she defended her thesis on the subject at the University of Linköping.

Digital revolution in the nursing home

At the Solbjerg nursing home, new digital solutions have freed up more time for employees to spend with the residents, and this is just the first phase in a digital revolution. In ten years from now, all of the home’s offices will be gone, predicts the nursing home’s coordinator.

Securing Danish welfare through digitalisation

Municipalities, regions and the central Danish government authority will explore new digital opportunities while maintaining citizens’ experience of the public arena as an accessible partner. Many public sector institutions are already well underway.

Bus drivers – a dying occupation as Finland goes for digitalised transport?

Finnish commuters are facing a very different journey to work in the future. Many transport sector jobs can disappear, or at least change. New traffic legislation aims to make transport services more flexible, based on the sharing economy and call control. And the self-driving robot buses are just around the corner.

Joint Finnish-Swedish project develops businesses in the archipelago

The three year long project starts in October. It will develop small businesses in the Finnish and Swedish archipelago, across borders and disciplines. The aim is to create new businesses, new knowledge and new clusters of cooperation, where digital opportunities play an important role.

Elisabeth Vik Aspaker, the government minister in charge of Nordic cooperation in 2017

Elisabeth Vik Aspaker is Norway's Minister of EEA and EU Affaris, and the Minister of Nordic Cooperation. She comes from Troms, Norway's northernmost county and is used to working across the Cap of the North. She has enjoyed a solid career in local politics, has been an advisor and state secretary in several centre-right governments and is well prepared for 2017. That is when she will be in charge of Nordic cooperation. What will be her priorities?

Martti Ahtisaari: Who would vote for the Social Democrats – highjacked by the trade unions?

This is the book which has created an uproar among Finnish trade unions. The former President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari distances himself from both the trade union movement and his former political party SDP (the Social Democratic Party). Who would vote for them? he asks. Because they are ruining the welfare state…

Why are suicide rates higher for farmers and firefighters than for librarians?

The largest survey of suicide rates by occupational group shows suicide is ten times more common among farmers than among librarians. For women, the highest rates are found among emergency workers, like firefighters.

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