25-year-old Reaktor joins Helsinki Design Week’s 20th anniversary celebrations

Reaktor, celebrating its 25th anniversary, is part of Helsinki Design Week’s 20th anniversary program with a series exploring the design and construction of happiness in the age of artificial intelligence.

The past two decades have highlighted the importance of digital and interactive design in shaping the contours of people’s everyday lives. The role of digital design in the development of both society and the private sector will only continue to grow. In particular, advancements in artificial intelligence challenge industry players to reflect on the human conditions and values within which the future is being built.

The 25-year-old technology company Reaktor brings a workshop series to Helsinki Design Week’s main venue, the Cable Factory, focusing on the design of happiness, especially in the context of AI. How can equality and accessibility to essential functions of society be ensured, so that the digital divide does not deepen and people’s equal opportunity for happiness is not diminished?

“Reaktor has been building the Finnish digital society for 25 years. In the era of AI, the significance of digital and human-centered design will only increase. Finnish design expertise and software development are world-class – our collaboration with leading international brands is an excellent example of that,” says Pekka Horo, CEO of Reaktor. “Now we are taking this expertise to a new level together with Helsinki Design Week. Design is a fantastic export product for Finland, and with this collaboration we want to raise interest in its further advancement. Successful design that increases happiness emerges from multidisciplinary expertise and encounters between different people.”

“Reaktor has been building the Finnish digital society for 25 years. In the era of AI, the significance of digital and human-centered design will only increase. Finnish design expertise and software development are world-class – our collaboration with leading international brands is an excellent example of that. Now we are taking this expertise to a new level together with Helsinki Design Week. Design is a fantastic export product for Finland, and with this collaboration we want to raise interest in its further advancement. Successful design that increases happiness emerges from multidisciplinary expertise and encounters between different people.” Pekka Horo, CEO of Reaktor

The open workshops are available to everyone interested in interactive design for happiness. In addition, during Helsinki Design Week, Reaktor will launch two new initiatives related to interaction design and to citizens’ views on the use of AI in public services.

As part of Helsinki Design Week’s program, Reaktor will publish the Interaction Design Academy Handbook (IDA Handbook), a unique guide to digital interaction design. Its goal is to raise the level of expertise in interaction design and to ensure Finland’s competitiveness in digital design in the future as well.

On Helsinki Design Week’s opening day, the think tank Sitra and Reaktor will launch a virtual AI discussion, inviting thousands of Finns to share what risks or opportunities they see in the use of AI in citizen-related decision-making. Based on the discussion, guidelines for AI development rooted in Finnish values will be created.

“For the entire 20-year history of Helsinki Design Week, the idea has been to create new connections between things, ideas, experiences, and people. By building places and spaces for encounters, we simultaneously build space for chance. As various computational models develop at a staggering pace, fostering chance requires even more attention,” says Kari Korkman, founder of Helsinki Design Week. “The same ethos of bringing people together is realized in Reaktor’s workshops. It will be fascinating to see what kind of insights emerge during HDW on the significance and possibilities of human-centered design in the era of AI.”

You can register for Reaktor’s open workshops and keynote sessions here. The full Helsinki Design Week Main Venue Suomitalo programme can be found here.

Helsinki Design Week 5–14 September 2025.