When the city planning commission in the Helsingborg conducted a safety survey in the district of Söder in central Helsingborg, it was discovered that almost one in four people in the district experienced different types of harassment. This resulted in a project to create spaces that attract women where they can feel safe.

“During the course of the project, we realised two things. First of all, that we needed to make a major change in our way of working,” says Moa Sundberg, urban designer at Helsingborg's urban planning commission. “Secondly, that a person is not just their gender, but that there are a number of other aspects to take into account when you want to create a safe space with equality for all.”

There are seven grounds for discrimination subject to Swedish law. These are gender, gender identity and expression, ethnicity, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation and age. In Helsingborg it was felt that there was a need for a toolbox that could help those who work with urban planning – urban planners, architects, property owners, private stakeholders, municipalities and regions - to integrate all aspects of discrimination into their activities.

“We also realised that a new certification would be needed for this work process, and that’s where RISE came into the picture,” says Moa Sundberg.

Mix of skills the recipe for success

The basic prerequisite for successful community development projects that take into account the power imbalance that prevails in terms of equality is that there is an appropriate mix of skills. It is about people who know the rules of urban development, people who have knowledge of both human rights and how the power imbalance manifests itself, and finally employees who are structured and innovative in their work and can drive the process forward. This according Ingrid Isaksson, project manager and auditor at RISE.

“Within most municipalities there is a desire to make urban planning accessible and pleasant for everyone, but unfortunately there is often a lack of knowledge about the importance of design for equality,” she says. “Even if the ambitions are good, they are not fully implemented. By having a third party come in and conduct certification, the municipalities ensure that they reach their set goals in terms of equality in urban planning.”

Hand in hand with urban development

Certification for equality goes hand in hand with the normal process of urban development. Step one is fact-gathering and background analyses, and here one may need input from various experts and from research. Step two is to prioritise. When prioritising, the human rights perspective must be indicative and the decisions must be transparent. Step three is to formulate an equality commitment that clarifies the benefit you want to attain and step four is a project plan with activities to find solutions and opportunities to fulfil the commitment. Step five, is about prioritising among the solutions and transferring the requirement to implement these to the next entity in the process.

“RISE is involved throughout the process and ensures that the measures decided on at each step follow over to the next,” says Ingrid Isaksson.

She adds that besides certification, RISE also offers a training service – but to different customers because it is not permitted to train the customer you subsequently certify. Certification is designed to be as cost-effective as possible.

“Certification has two purposes,” says Moa Sundberg. “It is obviously a stamp of quality, but at least as important is that we become aware that not all places are actually accessible to everyone in society. It is very important to gain increased knowledge about these issues.”

Designed to make older people feel safe

The first space to be certified is People’s Walk in Helsingborg. The promenade will be built in connection with the H22 City Expo, which will be inaugurated on 31 May.

“People's Walk is designed with the aim of getting older people from different neighbourhoods, with different economic backgrounds, different beliefs and different sexual orientations to meet and feel safe,” Moa Sundberg explains. “The promenade is designed in accordance with the wishes of the older people we interviewed – this includes considerable greenery to provide shade, many places to sit and a boules court.”

Arvika and Ängelholm are two other cities working on urban development projects that will eventually be certified.

The certification according to FairSHARE will be presented at a seminar at H22 City Expo in Helsingborg on 10 June.

Regardless of whether the project is focused on environmental, economic or socially sustainable development, much of the work revolves around questioning norms that limit our opportunities to think and do things in new ways. The concept of norm-creative innovation is about turning norm-critical analysis into practical solutions that contribute to a more equitable, socially sustainable society of diversity, with different ways of being and doing things. 

“We need to be aware of norms and preconceived ideas that could limit us when, for example, we set up a new project group, recruit talent or develop a new service. As a leader, there is responsibility for creating a dialog in day-to-day life about norm critique and highlighting issues that focus on inclusion. Things like, how do we communicate about a project? Who gets the attention? How do they get the attention? By increasing awareness of norms, like unspoken rules or expected behaviors based on a person’s age, gender, background etc., new ideas are born, we get more creative teams and a better workplace culture,” she says.

Ann-Sofie’s work consists of everything from project management and business development to running trainings and communication activities. All of it is based on the needs of customers and partners. 

“My own training and education is as a media and communication scientist, which is extremely useful to me in my profession. Much of what I do involves inspiring and training leaders in such things as sustainable development, inclusive leadership, the UN Agenda 2030 for a sustainable society and sharing best practice. Often, my job is to ask the difficult questions so we don’t get stuck in old norms and ideas about what things should be like.”

Working with her passion 

Ann-Sofie says that the opportunity to influence, the variety of assignments and the possibility to work with what she is passionate about, is the best thing about her work at RISE.

“I get to work with what I’m passionate about, which is things that contribute to a more inclusive, sustainable society, while also learning a lot from my competent colleagues. No task is like the other, which is very exciting. RISE is a workplace that offers me many opportunities and skill development in a variety of areas. To a large extent, I also get to decide for myself what to focus on. At our unit, we work with many challenges that involve everything from the digital transformation of production, to finding new, circular business models that contribute to sustainable development,” she says.

What makes you curious?

“Warm, genuine people usually have an exciting story to tell!”

What is the best innovation of all time?

“Public daycare. It is an innovation that has enormously impacted Sweden’s evolution into a modern, industrial country.  Many people think that innovation only relates to technology or gadgets. Things you can touch. But that limits our way of thinking about what an innovation is. Maybe we miss opportunities because of our stereotypes about what a true innovation really is?”

New technologies frequently challenge existing regulatory frameworks since the rules may be outdated.

“There may be regulations banning a technology even though it could be great for the environment and would solve several problems,” says Kristina Andersson, Senior Researcher and Legal Expert at RISE.

“So, to move forwards, new legislation may be needed, or existing legislation could perhaps be used in a new way, a little outside the box. Here in the policy lab, we can explore ideas and innovations that are at a very early stage in order to understand what challenges and opportunities exist in terms of regulations and policies.”

Policy Lab incorporates expertise from various fields, such as lawyers, engineers, economists, designers, and behavioural scientists.

“The combination of expertise allows us to approach the issue from different perspectives so that we can achieve a technology that is safe in combination with regulatory frameworks that work,” says Andersson.

An important role for Policy Lab is to serve as an independent arena where various industry and government operators can meet and discuss the issues together with RISE as expert and facilitator.

“The problems and questions usually look slightly different to the authorities compared to industry – they have different types of issues – but they have a common denominator and task that they want to achieve. The perspective of the authorities is usually to have a complete basis before taking decisions, whereas industry is accustomed to working agilely. The policy lab offers the possibility of switching perspectives to retrospectively understand each other’s needs when more information becomes available.

From uncertainty to assurance with autonomous vehicles

Autonomous vehicle technology is an example where the policy lab reviewed existing legislation together with relevant companies and government agencies.

“In this case, there had been new legislation relating to autonomous vehicle trials, where the Swedish Transport Agency would serve as the licencing authority,” explains Andersson. “But since the industry had never submitted an application and the Swedish Transport Agency had never had to deal with such a matter, no one knew how it would work in practice. So, we ran a joint project on this and resolved the issues. Now, three years later, everyone knows exactly what is required and feels assured.”

Another area in which RISE has been involved that also necessitated completely new legislation is geofencing, which refers to virtual perimeters that allow connected vehicles to be controlled in different ways. For example, the technology can be used to prevent armoured vehicles transporting cash or valuables from diverging from a defined route, that cars maintain a set speed, or that electric scooters do not drive within certain zones, such as during a demonstration. The principle can also be used for advertising, where, for example, a virtual boundary can be created on a motorway and offers from companies in the area can be shown directly on a vehicle’s in-dash display.

“The technology can be used in many different ways, and because this is a brand-new area, there are no clear rules yet, which means we have several different projects underway,” says Andersson.

What should Policy Lab focus on for the best possible outcome?

“My experience is that everyone is very positive and can easily imagine ten years in the future when everything works exactly as it should. But when I ask what it will take to get there, there is often a great degree of uncertainty. The way I see it, this is the first step we need to focus on to get the ball rolling based on a here-and-now approach and the real needs that exist.”

It is anything but easy to acquire an overview and knowledge of developments in society at both the meta and micro levels, and based on this, to make the right analyses, draw up a roadmap, see development opportunities in the new landscape and identify strategic measures. All enterprises have blind spots or blinders. This all takes a lot of time.

Difficult assessments

Which technology should we invest in? Which skills are needed? How will new regulations affect operations? How do we get started? How do we continue? How should we update our business model? Who can we work with?

“Businesses often find it difficult to assess the power of the coming changes and how much they may affect their own operations,” says Andreas Johansson. “This can quickly lead to becoming irrelevant. Everyone knows how quickly things went downhill for Kodak and Nokia, for example.”

RISE offers transition management in the form of open-source intelligence studies, strategic roadmaps, future scenarios and policy development that help your enterprise navigate the winds of change.

“We have early insight into what is often unknown to the enterprises themselves, such as the latest developments in everything from artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and electrification to governance, innovation management, circular transition and skills transition,” says Andreas Johansson.

En eye around the corner

While consulting firms often have a good grasp of what’s currently available in a specific market, RISE focuses on what’s coming around the corner – in a very broad range of areas – that may not even have yet influenced your industry.

“It's crucial to see and understand things that may affect your industry, sector or enterprise,” says Andreas Johansson. “Through RISE, you gain new perspectives, valuable input and the ability to move forward with more informed decisions. We bring in with many different perspectives, and can propose projects, new technologies or new partners to carry your enterprise forward.”

The world around us is changing rapidly. Major global trends are shaping the future. Technological developments and necessary social, political, regulatory and economic reforms are driving progress towards a sustainable society – but they are also creating conflicting goals and major challenges for companies, organizations and individuals.

"It is time to change, collaborate and think systemically," says Eilert Johansson, Head of Business Development at RISE. We live in a world that is difficult to navigate, but time is short – we need to act now. And we at RISE can help."

World-leading expertise and technology infrastructure

With 3000 scientists, engineers and specialists, RISE is well equipped to help organizations navigate the complex and changing world we live in. Here you will find cutting-edge expertise as well as proven processes, standardized methodologies and world-class technology infrastructures.

"We provide strategic, tactical and operational support to help companies and public organizations make the transition to sustainability, develop new innovations, benefit from the latest technological advances and make progress in their complex challenges," says Eilert Johansson.

RISE's offering can be divided into three categories along the innovation value chain:

• Explore and analyze, where we conduct well-founded future and business environment analyses, strategic roadmaps and in-depth analyses to find the way forward and strengthen your competitiveness.
• Develop and scale, where we support your development and sustainable transition through applied research and development and Sweden's largest range of test and demonstration facilities.
• Evaluate and verify, where we perform controls, certifications, calibrations and tests that ensure your operations meet set requirements and maintain high quality.

Whether it's development and scale-up or evaluation and verification, our test and demonstration facilities play a crucial role. RISE has Sweden's largest range of facilities, many of which are unique in the world.

Turning visions into reality

Working with RISE can take several forms:

"We can be your partner, your development department or your project manager, depending on your needs and context. Whatever the case, there is one common denominator", says Eilert Johansson. "We turn visions into reality – for real."

All you need to do is download any exercise app and, within a few minutes, you will come across what is referred to as gamification. The app will try to get you to exercise more by giving you rewards once you have passed certain goals, such as a star after completing your first five-kilometre run.

– “Simply put, gamification is when you apply ideas from games in everyday life, that is, using game mechanisms in non-game contexts,” says Vesselényi.

Direct feedback creates positive emotions

Even though most people know that exercise is good in the long run, you may not feel motivated right now, when it is cold or rainy or stressful at work. But with the help of gamification, the user can get direct feedback that they have accomplished something, and this in turn triggers positive emotions that create a willingness to continue towards the goal.

– “People are not just information beings, and although you may read that something is good for your health, it doesn’t mean you will automatically do it. Gamification can be a great way to stimulate the emotional commitment needed to really change behaviour.”

And this doesn’t just apply in private life, it can be just as effective in a workplace or in a customer relationship. But while gamification can be a powerful tool, it can create negative effects if used incorrectly.

– “If poorly implemented, gamification can even end up counteracting the desired behaviour. For example, if you offer a reward for an activity that did not have a reward previously, there is a risk that people will completely lose interest in the activity if the reward is removed later on.”

Charting behaviour that needs to change

Another risk is that poorly implemented gamification rewards the wrong behaviour. To avoid this and other pitfalls when working with gamification, and to get tips and ideas for new methods, opportunities and technical aids, it can be beneficial to enlist the help of an expert in game design. 

– “Every day, those of us working on this at RISE help organisations that want to learn more about gamification and how they can use it in their own operations.”

Among other things, researchers at RISE can help identify what behaviour actually needs to change, and chart how that behaviour relates to other behaviours and what effects a change can have.

– “We can also help evaluate whether gamification is the right tool for a particular organisation, or identify which parts would benefit from it and where it may not be quite as well suited.”

In most cases, there are always processes or behaviours that can be positively strengthened through gamification.

– “If people are only exposed to information, they easily filter it out because they can’t relate to it – it doesn’t awaken anything in them. But with the help of gamification, we can apply principles that arouse emotions and create commitment, and ensure that the change has a greater effect than could have been achieved otherwise.”