City of Helsinki among the first in the world to hire Chief Design Officer

First of all, the objective of the CDO is to provide the city with visionary, creative thinking where priority is given to the users.

The City of Helsinki establishes a post for Chief Design Officer. The objective is to utilize design knowledge and enforce experimentation culture. The post is now open for design professionals to apply.

Photo: Aino Huovio

The City of Helsinki is among the first cities in the world to hire a Chief Design Officer (CDO). New CDO is to take responsibility for a new three-year project called Helsinki Lab, the purpose of which is to enforce user understanding and experimentation culture.

Helsinki Lab is to make design knowledge, digitality and interaction an increasingly integral part of the city development.

“A simple idea that involves many difficult words,” says Tiina-Kaisa Laakso-Liukkonen, Project Manager of Helsinki Lab, laughing. She has promised to explain what the new post means in practice.

Helsinki Design Week 1-11.9.2016