Mikko Mattinen, director of the Finnish Digital Agency: “We can build a digital Europe that is not only efficient, but also profoundly human.”
Mikko Mattinen is a guest of both the workshop and the conference days of the Government Tomorrow Summit-2025
Government Tomorrow Forum: Mr. Mattinen, what is the main story you want to share at the Government Tomorrow Summit in Paris next week?
Mikko Mattinen: It may sound somewhat unoriginal, but it is a story of digitalization. I believe that in this domain, there have been important recent developments, and Finland has definitely some case studies that, I hope, will inspire other countries. First of all, digitalisation has moved from novelty to necessity. No nation ignored the need to invest in Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). We have all seen, and continue to see, governments build robust online platforms, digitised registries, and eID systems over the past two decades. Today, I think, no one will contest that all of this allows citizens to access services more smoothly. Yet, as digitalisation reaches—or has maybe already reached—a saturation point, as is the case in the Nordic region, the question is no longer whether services are online: it is how they are designed, connected, and trusted. The next frontier lies in life-event based services and cross-border digital cooperation, where citizens’ real needs and Europe’s fundamental principles meet.
A EU-based global leader
Finland is one of the global leaders in the quality of public service.
GTF: How would you define life-event based services?
MM: Citizens’ lives rarely follow administrative structures. When a child is born, when a person moves, studies abroad, loses a loved one, or starts a business, citizens do not think in terms of agencies, ministries, or competencies. Governments that recognize this shift from institutional logic to the flow of life events are well-positioned to deliver meaningful services for citizens and companies. Governments must think in terms of life events and customer experience.
In my region, the Nordic DigiGovLab is pioneering proofs of concept in this field. Finland, Norway, and Sweden have been working jointly, with the ambition of putting humans at the center of government services. One example is an AI-delivered, life-event based service led by the Norwegian Digitalisation Agency (DigDir). Another is exploring how to enable the automatic exchange of population information across borders, a challenge especially relevant in our increasingly mobile societies. This proof-of-concept is led by us, the Finnish Digitalisation Agency (DVV). The idea behind these and other projects is to show that governments can, and must, design seamless, proactive, and compassionate services that respond directly to citizens’ needs. Putting these needs before the need to preserve procedural conservatism is paramount.
GTF: What is the most important factor that enables this evolution?
“Life-event based, cross-border services will allow a student enrolling in a university abroad to have their records transferred automatically, or a small entrepreneur to expand operations without duplicated paperwork.”
MM: Trust. As digitalisation matures, artificial intelligence is becoming a core enabler of smarter, proactive services. And yet, adoption depends on trust. Citizens want to know that decisions made with AI are rule-based, transparent, explainable, and anchored in rights. If they don’t, the adoption and with it, the efficiency of the whole transition to this new generation of services, will not meet our expectations. The Nordic DigiGovLab’s work on an AI trust model is crucial in this respect. It guides the design of AI-enabled services that are human-centric and accountable—ensuring not just technical efficiency, but societal acceptance. Building trust in AI is not only about technology, but also about democratic legitimacy. Sweden has a long history of developing trust models for AI, and this proof-of-concept is led by the Swedish Digitalisation Agency (DIGG).
GTF: You have mentioned cross-border interactions between these public service systems. Can you tell us more?
“The promise of digital government is no longer about online forms: it is about creating services that anticipate needs, respect human dignity, and transcend borders.”
MM: As you know, Europe’s single market and the four freedoms—goods, services, capital, and people—are the foundation of the Union. Yet public services have not kept pace with this reality. A citizen moving from Finland to Estonia, or from Sweden to Denmark, can today still face what we call digital barriers in healthcare, education, or taxation—and this should not be the case.
Finland and Estonia have been trailblazers in this space. Their cooperation has created cross-border services, such as data exchange, that make life smoother. These efforts embody the principle that mobility should not be hindered by digital borders. In the conjunction between real-world experience and services and digital delivery channels, people are connected with their governments in ways that previous generations could not even imagine, and we need to harness that potential to provide even more freedom to our citizens.
So the next step is scaling cooperation, such as the Finland-Estonia one, across Europe. Life-event based, cross-border services will allow a student enrolling in a university abroad to have their records transferred automatically, or a small entrepreneur to expand operations without duplicated paperwork.
GTF: Do you think there is a particular need specifically today for such cross-border facilitation?
MM: Digitalisation is close to saturation: most governments have digitized the basics. But many citizens of many countries will tell you: digitization alone does not guarantee better experiences. Citizens will increasingly judge services by whether they are integrated, human-centric, and borderless.
The life-event based design I’ve mentioned above meets people where they are. That is one of its most important aspects. Cross-border services align government action with the EU’s very foundations. AI trust frameworks ensure that innovation strengthens, rather than undermines, public confidence. Together, these three dimensions could mark the next phase of digital government—from services that are available to services that are invisible, seamless, and trusted.
The promise of digital government is no longer about online forms: it is about creating services that anticipate needs, respect human dignity, and transcend borders. By focusing on life events, trust in AI, and cross-border cooperation, we can realise a digital Europe that is not only efficient, but also profoundly human.