Sitra
Sitra (the Finnish Innovation Fund) is an unusual institution: a public foundation operating under parliamentary supervision, with an independent mandate to invest in and build Finland's future. Among its workstreams — circular economy (including the World Circular Economy Forum), health data (TEHDAS2), data and AI — is a dedicated Democracy programme that develops and advocates for democratic innovations.
The Democracy track has issued formal statements on EU-level initiatives (the European Democracy Shield), researched the impact of social media algorithms on democratic discourse, and runs foresight work on the future of participation. Sitra's institutional position gives it a long time horizon and political independence that most democracy organisations lack — it answers to parliament, not to a government department or funding cycle, and can fund multi-year infrastructure projects in democratic innovation that project-based funding models cannot sustain.