The Fingrid Datahub can be interpreted as a form of social innovation within Finland’s energy sector insofar as it reorganises institutional relationships, responsibilities, and information flows within the electricity market. Rather than functioning solely as a technological platform, the Datahub represents a broader transformation in how market actors coordinate, exchange information, and participate in electricity market governance. In this sense, the case illustrates how digital infrastructures may reshape governance arrangements and create new forms of coordination between institutions, businesses, and citizens (Fingrid, 2025). This understanding aligns with broader conceptions of social innovation, which emphasise not only technological or service-related change, but also transformations in social practices, institutional arrangements, and collective forms of coordination (Moulaert et al., 2014). The Fingrid Datahub platform contributes to this transformation by centrally managing electricity market information and creating a shared data exchange environment for electricity suppliers, distribution system operators, service providers, and end-users.

The Finnish case must also be understood within the broader context of electricity market reforms and the ongoing digitalisation of energy systems across Europe. Over the past decade, Finland’s national energy policy has increasingly focused on improving the competitiveness, transparency, and flexibility of the retail electricity market while simultaneously preparing for decarbonisation, decentralised generation, and more data-intensive forms of electricity governance. The development of data hubs forms part of this broader reform agenda, which promotes standardised information exchange, interoperability, and infrastructures capable of supporting new services such as 15-minute metering and local energy communities (Fingrid, 2023). In this sense, the emergence of Datahub represents not merely a technological upgrade, but also a policy-driven restructuring of the information architecture supporting electricity market governance.

This transformation is characterised by the involvement of multiple public and private actors rather than a single dominant organisation. Fingrid, Finland’s transmission system operator, owns and operates the Datahub platform and acts as the central coordinating body for electricity market information exchange. Electricity suppliers and distribution system operators use the system to exchange customer and electricity consumption data. According to Fingrid, the platform currently serves approximately 4 million points of electricity consumption and connects around 80 suppliers and 80 distribution system operators (Fingrid, 2025; Fingrid, 2023). Technology partners, particularly CGI, played a significant role in the platform’s development and implementation, while public institutions and regulatory authorities established the legal and institutional frameworks necessary for the reform process. The case therefore illustrates how innovation in highly regulated infrastructure sectors may emerge through coordination between public institutions, private firms, and technology providers.

At the same time, the platform also raises broader questions concerning governance and institutional control in digitalised energy systems. While the centralisation of information exchange may improve interoperability and reduce administrative complexity, it also concentrates strategic market information within a single infrastructure. From the perspective of data governance and critical studies of digital infrastructures, this creates new questions regarding informational power, dependency on centralised systems, and the governance arrangements through which access to market information is regulated.

Datahub was designed to address the fragmentation, bilateralism, and cumbersome administrative information exchange that previously characterised Finland’s electricity retail market (Leinonen & Oma, 2018). Before the reform, suppliers and distribution system operators relied on separate interfaces and independent data streams, resulting in complex information exchange processes, increased transaction costs, and inconsistencies in the quality of available information. This fragmented structure also complicated the introduction of new services such as dynamic pricing, demand-side management, and energy communities. Datahub addresses many of these challenges by introducing a centralised information exchange infrastructure that standardises and accelerates data flows while preparing the market for more flexible future arrangements, including 15-minute metering (Fingrid, 2023; Fingrid, 2025; Leinonen & Oma, 2018).

From a social innovation perspective, the significance of Datahub extends beyond digitisation itself. First, the platform reshapes relationships between Fingrid, suppliers, distribution system operators, technology providers, and customers by transforming a bilateral information exchange model into a shared infrastructure governed through common standards and responsibilities. Second, it reconfigures responsibilities concerning data quality, access, and market participation, thereby changing how information is managed and governed within the electricity market. Third, the platform introduces new coordination mechanisms that reduce the need for customised interfaces and potentially facilitate the participation of emerging actors such as aggregators, digital service providers, and energy communities. However, these new opportunities may not be equally accessible to all actors, as participation in increasingly digitalised electricity markets may depend on varying technical capacities and institutional resources.

The case also demonstrates the future-oriented role of digital infrastructures in energy transitions. By enabling more standardised and timely information exchange, Datahub supports developments such as energy communities, more flexible use of solar energy, and the transition towards 15-minute metering (Fingrid Magazine, 2023). Nevertheless, its significance lies not only in operational efficiency or technical coordination, but also in its capacity to transform institutional relationships and governance structures within the electricity market. In this sense, the Fingrid Datahub can be understood as a socio-technical and institutional innovation that restructures how market participants interact, share responsibilities, and coordinate access to strategic information.

Overall, the Fingrid Datahub illustrates how contemporary energy transitions increasingly depend on digital infrastructures that do more than optimise technical coordination. They also reshape institutional authority, governance arrangements, and participation within electricity markets. The case therefore demonstrates that innovation in digitalised energy systems is simultaneously technological, organisational, institutional, and political.

Key Readings

CGI. (2022, October 18). Fingrid and CGI develop Datahub to support new energy communities and more flexible use of solar energy. CGI. https://www.cgi.com/en/article/central-market-solutions/fingrid-and-cgi-develop-datahub

Fingrid. (2023, January 5). Datahub ready for the next steps. Fingrid. https://www.fingrid.fi/en/news/news/2023/datahub-ready-for-the-next-steps/

Fingrid. (2025). Datahub. Fingrid. https://www.fingrid.fi/en/electricity-market/datahub/

Fingrid Magazine. (2023, May 2). The 15-minute imbalance settlement period responds to the transformation of the energy system. Fingrid Magazine. https://www.fingridlehti.fi/en/the-15-minute-imbalance-settlement-period-responds-to-the-transformation-of-the-energy-system/

Leinonen, P., & Oma, O. (2018, April 3). Datahub – centralised data creates new opportunities. Fingrid Magazine. https://www.fingridlehti.fi/en/datahub-centralised-data-creates-new-opportunities/

Moulaert, F., MacCallum, D., Mehmood, A., & Hamdouch, A. (Eds.). (2014). The international handbook on social innovation: Collective action, social learning and transdisciplinary research. Edward Elgar Publishing.