Digital and Population Data Services Agency celebrates its fifth anniversary – work towards a smoothly functioning Finland will continue

On Wednesday 1 January 2025, the Digital and Population Data Services Agency celebrated its fifth anniversary. The agency, which was established in 2020, has promoted the digitalisation of society, secured access to data and provided services for the various life events of citizens.

– In the agency's first few years, our key task has been to harmonise and digitalise processes in services for our private clients that were previously varied by region and paper-dominated. The modernisation of processes has been a long-term effort. Citizens can now manage a large part of their affairs through multiple channels, either electronically, through the telephone service, or by visiting a service point. The most significant effort has been the digitalisation of case processing and background processes, which has sped up service provision and reduced the amount of manual work, says Janne Viskari, Director General of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

In August 2024, Director General Janne Viskari appointed the Deputy Directors General for the next five years from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2029. The Deputy Directors General work under the leadership of the Director General and are members of the agency’s Management Board. The posts of Deputy Director General of all divisions were opened for public applications in April 2024.

Timo Salovaara to continue as Deputy Director General of the Services Division

Timo Salovaara (MA) will continue as Deputy Director General of the Services Division. He has worked as Deputy Director General of the Services Division since the Digital and Population Data Services Agency was established. 

– One of our important efforts is looking for solutions on how to reduce the amount of paper mail sent by the authorities. The aim is for citizens using digital services to receive official mail mainly in digital format in the future. This is a significant societal change, Timo Salovaara explains.

Noora Kallio to step into the post of Deputy Director General of Processes Division

Noora Kallio (LLM) will step into the post of Deputy Director General of the Processes Division. She has worked as General Counsel of the Internal Legal Affairs and Safety unit from the time the Digital and Population Data Services Agency was established. Aino Jalonen, who has served as Deputy Director General of the Processes Division for the past five years, did not apply for the post of Deputy Director General in April.

– Over the next few years, we will produce a new register of shareholders, which will reduce paper transactions with different authorities and organisations after the death of a family member. The new register is one of the concrete means we can use to streamline the management of estates for both family members and authorities, says Noora Kallio. 

Pekka Rehn to continue as Deputy Director General of the Customers Division

Pekka Rehn (MSc, Econ) will continue as Deputy Director General of the Customers Division. He has worked as Deputy Director General of the Customers Division from the time the Digital and Population Data Services Agency was established. 

– We are building a European digital identity wallet for Finns, which will promote secure, digital transactions in Finland and Europe. In the first phase, the wallet can be used at least as a means of strong electronic identification, and it can be used when signing documents electronically, Pekka Rehn explains. 

The Digital and Population Data Services Agency operates nationwide and employs more than 900 people.