Five municipalities in Finland proceed with testing new Digione educational system

This autumn, students in a select number of Finnish municipalities will have the opportunity to test a new educational and communication system. Currently, five municipalities are working on a replacement for the existing Wilma system, which they hope will expand further in the future. The newly developed system, called Digione, has overcome prior setbacks that had put its continuation into question after key funding cities, Tampere and Espoo, withdrew their support during the summer. Concerns over the system’s functionality had caused several other developer cities to pause their involvement as well.

Recently, the remaining five municipalities—Vantaa, Turku, Oulu, Lahti, and Jyväskylä—decided to proceed with the Digione project. According to project leader Ilkka Kalo, the system is expected to be trialed in schools by autumn 2025. The new platform will allow students and guardians to send images or attachments, and it will gather more comprehensive information regarding students’ learning and goals.

Earlier this year, a significant crisis arose when a review commissioned by Tampere and Espoo questioned the system’s viability. However, after investigation during the summer and early autumn, it was confirmed that the system was properly coded and that the issues were primarily due to incomplete documentation, leading to misconceptions about its functionality.

Currently, approximately 75% of the Digione system is ready for use. Once developed, it will be marketed to other municipalities in Finland for a membership and annual fee. Although the enhanced features mean that Digione will cost more than Wilma, specific figures are not yet public. The overall budget for the project has reached 28 million euros, more than double what was allocated in 2020. An ICT company, Tiera, is also involved in the project’s financing and will cover the contributions from the municipalities that have withdrawn. The initiative is running a couple of years behind schedule.