The IFRC Solferino Academy remains firmly committed to supporting National Societies as they anticipate change, strengthen leadership capabilities, and develop the organisational readiness required to meet emerging humanitarian challenges. This commitment is reflected in its recent collaboration with the Swedish Red Cross, which is undertaking a significant transformation agenda centred on innovation, responsible AI, and digital development.

The Swedish Red Cross has a longstanding tradition of contributing to social innovation, with many of its early initiatives now recognised as foundational elements of the Swedish welfare system. In the face of rising humanitarian needs and rapidly advancing digital technologies, the organisation is once again assuming a forward-looking role. Its leadership recognises that continued relevance requires not only adapting to external shifts but also actively shaping the ways in which the organisation learns, innovates, and makes decisions.

Guided by Strategy 2030, the national assembly has adopted a strategic direction that places innovation and digital transformation at the core of the organisation’s future vision. To translate this direction into practice, the governing board has invested in dedicated expertise and capacity, establishing a new innovation hub intended to drive experimentation, support responsible AI adoption, strengthen user-centred design, introduce agile ways of working, and advance data-informed decision-making. Led by Åsa Ander, and comprising specialists in innovation management, digital transformation, data, BI, and AI, the team is emerging as a central catalyst for organisational change.

To support this transformation, the IFRC Solferino Academy was invited by Swedish Red Cross Chair, Anna Hägg-Sjöquist, to facilitate a full day of strategic foresight and anticipatory governance discussions with the national board, regional governance, youth representatives, and senior leadership. These sessions examined how global and national trends—including climate change, human rights developments, political shifts, crisis preparedness, disinformation, advances in AI, and evolving patterns of volunteer and community engagement—may influence the organisation in the coming years. The conversations also introduced the concepts of black swans and black elephants, providing leadership with structured tools to consider both rare, high-impact shocks and highly probable but often neglected risks.

By embedding leadership thinking in strategic foresight, the Academy helped establish a shared understanding of future operational and governance requirements. This work is informing the Swedish Red Cross’s ongoing efforts to strengthen innovation capacity, enhance digital maturity, and build systems that ensure the safe, ethical, and community-centred use of emerging technologies.

The innovation hub has already begun exploring the development of a modern cloud-based data platform capable of enabling new responsible AI applications and more sophisticated data-driven insights. The team is shaping internal frameworks to guide innovation practices across the organisation and is designing approaches to help volunteers, branches, and staff more effectively engage with digital tools. These developments reflect a clear organisational commitment to embedding innovation at the core of how the Swedish Red Cross learns, adapts, and delivers services.

The nationwide launch of the innovation hub in October further demonstrated this commitment. The event featured a substantive dialogue between Swedish Red Cross leaders and the Solferino Academy’s Digital Innovation Lead, Heather Marie Leson. Discussions highlighted the critical importance of innovation and digital transformation in a rapidly evolving world, the need to create space for creativity and long-term thinking, and the value of learning from volunteers, staff, academic institutions, and private-sector partners who bring diverse insights.

A consistent theme throughout the launch was the recognition that innovation is not solely a technical exercise but a cultural endeavour—one that depends on curiosity, collaboration, and a willingness to reassess established ways of working. The Swedish Red Cross, drawing on its strong tradition of social impact, is choosing to invest deliberately in this cultural and organisational shift.

For the IFRC Solferino Academy, this collaboration underscores the importance of futures thinking, leadership engagement, and responsible innovation in strengthening National Societies’ readiness for the challenges ahead. By working collectively to anticipate change and prepare for it, the Movement can deepen its ability to serve communities effectively in an increasingly complex and uncertain environment.

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