Inma Martinez

Venture Partner, A.I. and Data Scientist
Deep Science Ventures

Topic AI and impacts on businesses and sustainable industries tbc

Inma Martinez is Venture Partner at Deep Science Ventures, the UK’s first venture-builder for science-driven companies and an industry recognised A.I. and Data Scientist for having pioneered mobile personalisation services and other disruptive digital technologies. Fortune and TIME have defined Inma as one of the best European talents in human digital behaviour and FastCompany has labelled her a “firestarter” for her cutting edge work in innovation for the last 20 years. Inma works with big multinationals defining the integration of A.I. and Human Capital in the workplace, predicting customer behaviour to create customer experiences beyond 1:1 marketing, and defining the future of humans in smart cities. Inma is a technology advisor to both the UK and the European Union in matters such as Big Data, A.I. and data regulation.

@inma_martinez

 

Jyri Arponen

Senior Lead, Business Development, Circular Economy
Sitra

Topic Bringing Circular Economy from Strategy to Revenues

Panelist, The climate change challenge

Jyri Arponen has over twenty years of experience in business development, marketing and financing as well as accelerating companies growth and internationalization. He possesses deep knowledge on sustainable businesses, internationalization and innovation networks. Recent years he’s been working with different industries and organizations to identify  potentials and benefits  to sustainable growth and improve the performance of companies through digitalization and customer driven business models. Now  he is working as a Senior Lead in Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra directing a circular business program with technology industries to help industries and companies to turn inefficiencies in current linear value chains into business value with circular business models. Prior to joining Sitra 2009 as a Business Director he held the position of CEO in a marketing and advertising agency for eight years and was a member of the board in a global network of advertising agencies working with brand and marketing communication strategies. He have held various positions in the Ministry of Trade and Industry and in European Networks focusing working with SME’s and different business ecosystems.

Ilkka Halava

CEO, CBC, Futurist, Foresight Coach
Prime Frontier Ltd and Future Works Ltd

Topic Roadmap to Next Level Systems

Ilkka Halava is Futurist, Foresight Coach and CEO of Prime Frontier Ltd and Future Works Ltd and Board Member of Helsinki Futures Specialists. He is a professional and luminous speaker, Finland’s most popular keynote speaker in 2018 with over 200 keynote speeches.  With socio-cultural and applied futures research tools he makes decision-making understandable in future evolution. He guides composers of new models, concepts and breakthroughs to find their own goals – and to achieve them. Extreme Business Makeover – No Box Required. Ilkka is a warm-hearted radical addicted to learning. He has true understanding of systems which, put together with his media mastery, allows him to drive development in society as much as in products, business and concepts.

@IlkkaHalava

 

Edward Blomstedt

CEO, entrepreneur
AirFaas

Topic tbc

Edward Blomstedt has an M.Sc. in Industrial Management and Mechanical Engineering from Helsinki University of Technology (now Aalto University). His passion is enabling a smarter revolution in manufacturing for a greener future. He was voted Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Finland 2010. What is the next Airbnb, the next Uber or Spotify? And who says it will be consumer related? According to Edward, finnish entrepreneur, supported by investors, industrialists and top politicians, the breakthrough will be in business to business. And the service is spelled ”AirFaas”. Edward is one of the founders of the company, a digital portal where you can upload the specifications of any product in the system and it will analyze, locate, budget, finance and implement the production of the product at the most competitive prize and in the most convenient format in a factory somewhere in the world. An Airbnb for factories. Edward also started the company Combi Works 2005, which works in the conservative industrial sector and is now revamping this with AirFaas. Combi Works has sales in Northern Europe and Uganda and production in addition to Finland in the Baltics, Russia, China and India.

@EdwardBlomstedt

Sabine Biesheuvel

Co-founder & managing director
Blue City Rotterdam area, Netherlands

Topic Modern day activism within the circular economy

Panelist, The climate change challenge

Sabine Biesheuvel is an impact driven and business minded cultural anthropologist. Her  focus lies on the social and the economic dynamics driving sustainability and innovation. She previously worked as innovation consultant, advising larger corporates on innovation processes. Just before she became a social entrepreneur herself, she worked with Enviu, a Rotterdam based enterprise that starts social businesses. There she worked on a project concerning the business case behind large scale  ecosystem restoration and a project on social inclusion.

Anne Raudaskoski

Co-founder and Principal Consultant
Ethica

Topic Digital solutions furthering circularity in industry

Anne Raudaskoski is a Co-founder and Principal Consultant of Ethica. Anne managed the consumer interface project in the Relooping Fashion Initiative, which was highly commended at the prestigious Circulars2016 competition and chosen as one of the most innovative circular projects in Sustainia 100 publication. Together with Design Forum Finland Anne has developed and facilitated EcoDesign Sprint, a unique business development programme for SMEs interested in boosting competitive advantage through circular design approach. To date the Sprint has been successfully run in Finland, Sweden and Estonia with six client companies and six design agencies. In addition to working with a number of companies, some of her current works include the development of circular narrative – a marketing tool for circular products,and a project on researching circularity of technical plastics. Anne was one of the ten international experts invited to Reunion Island (France) to contribute to the circular economy strategy of the region in 2016. Her other  international key note presentations include Innovation Forum in Beijing, World Bio Markets Conference in Amsterdam, Circular Design Forum in Berlin and EcoDesign Seminar Vilna.

@anneraudaskoski

 

Markku Laatikainen

CEO
Valtavalo

Panelist, The Digitalization challenge

Markku Laatikainen, M.Sc., is one of the founders of the leading LED light company Valtavalo Oy and acts as CEO there. Valtavalo is well recognized among lighting industry about reshoring it’s production from China to Finland and usage of robots in it’s production. Before founding Valtavalo, he has worked in the ICT sector in sales, specialist and various management positions, as well as founded own ICT business that eventually merged with another industry operator. Adding to his education, he has also finished several management studies including Specialist Qualification in Business Management. He focuses on the operational side of the Valtavalo management, as well as leading sales and marketing. He is also a popular speaker at industry seminars, both at home and abroad and member of Photonics Finland.

Olli Liinamaa

Ecosystem Mgr, 5G Test Network Lead
Nokia

Topic 5G for business-critical Industry – practical experiments

Olli Liinamaa received his Master of Science degree in Technology from Oulu University, and has worked for Nokia since that in various positions in R&D and product management.  In his current role as Ecosystem Manager he is responsible of Nokia/Oulu cooperation with surrounding ICT industry, academy and public sector. While still working for Nokia, he is also working part-time for University of Oulu since Jan-2016 as 5G Test Network (5GTN) lead.  At the university he is developing an open  experimentation and co-creation 5G infrastructure for national and international research projects, students and for industry.

@OlliLiinamaa

Dennis Hamro-Drotz

Investment manager
NEFCO Nordic Environment Finance Corporation

Topic Green financing for global green projects

Dennis Hamro-Drotz works as Investment Manager at NEFCO, the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation. His fields of expertise include financing for small- and medium sized enterprises, cleantech, sustainable development, and climate change adaptation & mitigation. Previous experience include work at the Nordic Investment Bank, the United Nations Environment Programme, and as Commercial Director at Alleco, a Finnish SME specialized in the marine environment and the company behind the world’s first underwater tablet computer.

Petteri Nuolivirta

Senior consultant
Neste Engineering Solutions

Panelist, The climate change challenge

Petteri Nuolivirta has 20 years of experience in the field of management consulting for process industries. Currently he is focusing on projects in the field of biofuels, biochemical, bioproducts and circular economy. He has been an adviser for several international forest industry, energy industry, chemical industry and biofuel companies and organizations in their strategic decisions regarding business strategies, end-product markets, investment feasibility, mergers and acquisitions, biomass sourcing and sustainability issues.

Jekaterina Pääkkönen

Sustainability Specialist
Finnish-Russian Chamber of Commerce

Topic From trash to cash –business opportunities in drastically changing Russian waste management market

Jekaterina Pääkkönen is a sustainability specialist at the Finnish-Russian Chamber of Commerce where she has researched Russian waste management and analyzed its opportunities for Finnish business. She has a profound understanding of how Russian waste management reform is proceeding in different regions. Having background in sociology and global sustainability, Jekaterina is enthusiastic about system change – and how companies can find their place in it or even actively foster it.

Janne Palosaari

Chief Commercial Officer
Terrafame Ltd

Topic Partnering for future of electrified transportation

Janne Palosaari, M.Sc. (Eng.), took up his post as Terrafame Ltd’s Chief Commercial Officer in 2015. His area of responsibilities include, among other things, the procurement of services, chemicals and commodities supplies as well as the sales and marketing of Terrafame’s products to international customers. He is currently excited about Terrafame’s plans to upgrade the current nickel-cobalt sulphide product to nickel and cobalt sulphates suitable for the battery industries growing alongside with the world electric vehicle manufacturing. According to Janne’s vision, Terrafame’s innovative extraction method would place the multimetal company in the leading edge of the EV revolution. Janne has worked for the international mining and metal industry since 2003. Prior to his appointment at Terrafame, he has held managerial and executive positions at Rautaruukki and Boliden. He is an external member of the Board of the Faculty of Technology at the University of Oulu. As a personal interest, Janne has familiarized himself well with the circular economy challenges and development activities in Oulu region.

Susanna Pirttikangas

Adj. prof, Senior Research Fellow
University of Oulu

Panelist, The digitalization challenge

Susanna Pirttikangas, D.Sc. (tech.), 2004, M.Sc. (math), 1998 leads several digitalization and data analytics projects for different industries at the University of Oulu. Dr. Pirttikangas made her postdoctoral visits to Waseda University, Japan (2005-2006), Tokyo Denki University, Japan (2008) and Tsinghua University, China (2011), doing research on methodology to de-noise, fuse, segment, and analyse real-time data streams with a focus on creating situation awareness for more informed and ethical decision making. She has worked as a business developer and as a data scientist for industry and consults companies on artificial intelligence maturity and application of AI in their business.

Päivi Laajala

Mayor of Oulu
City of Oulu

Opening of Industry Summit 2019

M.Sc. (Admin), Päivi Laajala, serves as Mayor of Oulu since 1.4.2017. During 2008 – 2017 she has served as Director-General, Head of The Department for Local Government Department, subsequently Regional Administration and Regional State Administrative Department at the Ministry of Finance. In the period 2005 – 2008 she has served as Deputy Mayor of City of Oulu. Prior to this, she has worked as Mayor of City of Kannus, Mayor of Kauhajoki Municipality and as Director of social- and welfare department in Pielavesi Municipality.

Jan Mäkelä

Sales director
Cajo Technologies

Topic tbc

Jan Mäkelä is a seasoned and proactive business professional, having an extensive experience in sales, marketing and business development activities. He has been leading both internal and external sales & marketing teams operating across different markets. Besides being a hands-on sales guy, he has gained a profound knowledge both in practice and academically on how to build successful sales channels at an international market place.

Paula Fontell

Co-founder and CEO
Ethica

Panelist, The Digitalization challenge

Paula Fontell is a Co-founder and CEO of Ethica, a leading Finnish consultancy specialized in Circular Economy. Ethica helps companies and public sector organizations find new growth opportunities from circular economy. Paula is specialized in circular business ecosystem planning and creation across different sectors. Paula sees digitalization as an important enabler for new more collaborative circular business models. In her development projects, Paula encourages combining smart & circular city strategies together as one coherent plan for the carbon free future. She believes that businesses offering new digital platforms as well as IoT and AI innovations will have huge opportunities in circular economy. Prior to Ethica Paula worked over ten years at Nokia, with global responsibilities for resource planning, organization design and change management.

Thomas Festerling

CFO and co-founder
GreenTec Capital Partners

Topic Cleantech business potential in third countries

Panelist, The climate change challenge

Thomas Festerling is CFO and co-founder of GreenTec Capital Partners, who brought his extensive financial and investment background to the company development of investment approach. Thomas is the company specialist for financing, investor relations and business planning.

In the middle of a successful career at Deutsche Bank (DB), Thomas decided to apply his wealth of financial expertise towards work with more direct impact. Familiar with the challenges in emerging markets through his family ties to Peru, he started by volunteering with several projects in Africa and Latin America. Experiencing that his abilities and knowledge could make a significant difference for companies and projects that wanted to grow in emerging markets, he decided to make it his full-time business. Thomas was the head of product management (International & Customized Funds) at DB’s Asset Management subsidiary and was promoted to director within 5 years, resulting in more than 13 years of financial experience and a comprehensive network in the financial industry.

@TomFesterling

Kaj Kostiander

Managing Director
Tornio Brewery and Distillery

Topic Brand Storytelling

Kaj Kostiander is an innovator and visionary with academic background. After 11 years helping regions and companies in development and innovation, he wanted to practice what he preached. He gathered a team who started Tornio Brewery and Distillery, a craft drinks manufacturing company in the arctic Lapland. Kaj has always been a fan of great stories. The long history of Tornio brewery was an excellent basis for branding based on storytelling. Exceptional stories combined with industry’s leading social media has made Tornio Brewery one of the most interesting start-ups in the Finnish drinks sector.

Olavi Raunio

SVP industrial sales and solutions
Adven Group Oy

Topic CO2 free Nordic industries – transformation in practice

Olavi Raunio is an entrepreneur minded expert and business leader who has worked two decades in turning indusrtrial energy more sustainable and cost competitive through new technologies, concepts and business models.  
Olavi is employed by Adven that promises Advantage in energy for business people and planet through a build own operate business model in the Nordics and Baltics. Prior to Adven Olavi has worked  developing energy concepts and projects for forest industries at Pöyry, commercialized biomass gasification technology at Puhdas Energia, set up over sea trading of biomass business in the Baltic sea region and expertised in sustainability consulting at WSP.

Antti Rantanen

Co-Founder, Head of European Operations
Avanto Ventures

Topic Modern day activism within the circular economy

Antti Rantanen is one of the Founders of Avanto Ventures, a leading corporate venturing advisory in the Nordics. He has worked in various advisory roles for 20+ years in the forefront of Digital Transformation, through companies such as Accenture, Vibe, Avaus Consulting and advised leading European companies in various industries. He has also been involved in starting several companies during his career, from his own ventures to setting up new ventures for larger corporations. Currently with Avanto Ventures he advises corporations on how to create structures to enable growth through innovations with the global start-up ecosystem.

Vesa Mikkonen

Technical Director
Kaicell Fibers Ltd

Panelist, The climate change challenge 

Vesa Mikkonen is Technical Director at KaiCell Fibers Ltd, a company preparing a bio refinery investment worth 900 million euros in Finland. Vesa has extensive experience of the wood processing industry as he has been working for the past 20 years both for corporations as well as startups. Vesa holds a Master of Chemical Engineering degree from the Aalto University, Helsinki. 

 

Juha Miikkulainen

Development manager
Fennovoima

Topic Fennovoima – part of the Solution

Juha Miikkulainen (M.Sc, Tech) started his career in the Finnish nuclear energy sector thirty years ago as a summer trainee in Olkiluoto. Then, as a project manager, he was in charge of various automation projects in TVO´s units OL1 and OL2, as well as reactor automation licensing in the Olkiluoto 3 project. In 2007 Juha joined the group of five professionals to start up Fennovoima company – a nuclear new-build project offering the partial solution how to tackle the climate change. In the beginning, he was acting as a regional manager in charge of communications and site selection activities. Since 2013, he has been working as regional development manager focusing on the Hanhikivi site development, industrial networking and stakeholder communications in Northern Finland.

Ross Wakelin

Research leader, Process- and Environmental Technology
Northern Research Institute Narvik A.S.pd AG

Topic Organic waste treatment in Northern Norway – Demand for higher value products.

Ross Wakelin is a research manager for process and environmental technology at Northern Research Institute Narvik AS in Northern Norway. The research takes a multidisciplinary approach to a wide variety of industrial processes including minerals, organic waste and renewable energy. Challenges relating to cold climate and sparse population are also recurring themes. He has a PhD in Chemical & Process Engineering from Canterbury University, New Zealand and previously worked in research in pulp & paper industry in New Zealand and Norway.

Mattias Järvinen

Project manager
wpd AG

Topic tbc

Mattias Järvinen is an experienced professional in renewable energy and environmental permitting procedures. Prior to joining the world leading wind power development company wpd AG, he has hold leading positions at the environmental sector in several of Finland’s largest energy, infra and environmental consulting companies, such as Ramboll Ltd and Finnish Consulting Group Ltd. Mattias has over ten years of experience on wind power development and twenty years from the environmental sector.

Jussi Harvela

CEO
TactoTek Group

Topic tbc

Jussi Harvela brings over 25 years of global high technology business leadership experience to his role at TactoTek. He led Finnish origin and US-based Solid Information Technology from early stage technology development and positioned it for acquisition by IBM; in addition, he has contributed to many successful companies as a CEO, investor, board chairman/member, and advisor. Jussi earned his master’s degree in software engineering, international marketing, and business strategy from the Helsinki University of Technology. He also has BA in music. Jussi is a keen sailor, and enjoys hunting, fishing and cooking. He has a passion for developing the Finnish high tech economy and influences promotional, educational and technology transfer programs, such as Slush, StartUp Sauna, TEKES TULI and VTT Ventures Advisory, and participates in bridging those programs across global markets

Sami Heikkilä

Business Banking Region Head
Nordea

Topic Green loan

Sami Heikkilä is a finance professional with extensive experience from both business development and financing of investments and growth. He has had several positions in Nordea Bank during last 20 years. His current position includes North and Ostrobothnia business banking area and he is also member of the Nordea Finland business banking steering committee. He has experience from business sector as a board member of industrial and service companies. He is an acting chairman of the growth company board in the Oulu Chamber of Commerce.

@samheikkila

Laura Juvonen

Executive Director, Growth and Renewal
Technology Industries of Finland

Topic Circular Economy business models for manufacturing industries

Panelist, The climate change challenge

Laura Juvonen is driven by technologies solving global challenges and the future of learning. She has worked in the public-private interface in fields ranging from advanced materials and computational engineering to sustainable growth. At Technology Industries of Finland, she leads activities building growth and renewal, including initiatives in artificial intelligence, circular economy and future capabilities. Laura holds a Doctor of Science degree in Computational Physics.

@Laura_Juvonen

Marko Yli-Pietilä

Head of Smart Operations
Stora Enso

Topic Winning the challenges of using AI solutions in industrial operations

Marko Yli-Pietilä is an experienced Digital Transformation professional. Prior to joining Stora Enso, he has hold international positions for example in Nokia and Teradata, which are leaders in their respective industries of Telecommunications and Advanced Analytics. He has also worked with renewable materials companies and their digitalization related development programs for years as a Consultant. Marko holds a Licentiate of Technology post-graduate degree and he is also a certified vocational teacher.

@MYPpi