This workshop explores how AI, particularly AI agents and agent-based simulations, could be used to imagine and shape the future of welfare and public sector systems. We are interested in new ways of working, where AI is used not only as a tool or assistant, but as a means to simulate, visualize, and reason about complex organizational and social dynamics.
We will briefly present how we have so far explored agent-based simulations within the public sector, focusing on their potential to help leadership teams and public administrations reflect on the consequences of decisions, policies, and organizational structures.
By bringing together participants with diverse backgrounds, the workshop aims to explore how agent-based simulations could create value in areas such as education and social services, and what is required—technically, organizationally, and ethically—to make this possible. Through speculative design, we will think together about potential futures, including ideas such as digital twins of organizations used to explore possible futures rather than predict them.
Participants will gain insights, perspectives, and shared visions of what the future of welfare and public services could look like when explored through AI, agents, and simulations. The workshop offers a space to think beyond current constraints and explore alternative ways of organizing, delivering, and governing welfare systems.
Through speculative design and collective reflection, participants will develop a deeper understanding of how agent-based simulations can be used to explore questions related to efficiency, cost-effectiveness, service quality, and time use, not as guaranteed outcomes, but as dimensions that can be examined, challenged, and discussed in simulated futures.
Participants will also gain practical inspiration for how such approaches could support learning, dialogue, and decision-making in complex organizations, as well as a richer vocabulary for discussing AI’s role in public sector transformation
The workshop values diverse perspectives and is intentionally designed for a broad, mixed audience. We welcome participants from across roles, disciplines, and levels of experience, including developers, data scientists, designers, product owners, researchers, policymakers, public-sector leaders, strategists, and practitioners working in or around welfare and public services.
What matters is curiosity about how complex socio-technical systems work and an interest in exploring how AI-driven simulations and speculative design could shape the future of public-sector decision-making and welfare systems.
The Gothenburg Region Innovation Arena is a collaborative initiative where municipalities jointly explore AI-driven solutions to address key challenges facing the region’s public sector and welfare systems. A central focus is the supply of competence within welfare services. The work addresses long-term societal challenges, including an ageing population with increasing needs for care and support, the importance of enabling more young people to complete their education, and the growing difficulties of recruiting and retaining qualified staff, in a context of rising competition for talent across both the public and private sectors.
Johan and Henrik work at the Gothenburg Region (GR), where they focus on exploring how AI will shape Swedish welfare. Henrik has a background as an art and media teacher, with extensive experience in creativity, innovation, and digitalization, and now focuses on emerging technologies and foresight. Johan, with a background in EdTech, combines technology, pedagogy, and design to maximize learning. Today, he spends his time designing and developing AI solutions for the welfare sector.
