Are you ready to peek into tomorrow’s technologies and their possibilities? Are you prepared to explore how the metaverse impacts industries, urban development, the experience economy, and the business world? Does the idea both excite and intrigue you, perhaps a little of both? You found the right place.
Joakim Strand
Minister for European Affairs and Ownership Steering
Sven Parkel
General Manager of the Estonian Hydrogen Cluster
The cluster supports developing green hydrogen value chains in Estonia and seeks for opportunities abroad for Estonian companies. Cluster works mainly with private companies and public sector to establish local hydrogen production and consumption, including know-how from academia and acts as an information exchange platform providing connections and knowledge in the field.
Sven has background in chemistry and earned PhD degree in 2010 from Tartu University. After post-doc he started as a tech transfer officer and later developed relations between private sector and academia.
In addition to green hydrogen, Sven has previous experience in supporting other early deeptech sectors (biotech, healthtech, food/agritech) through a range of activities such as export support, networking, best practice exchange, technology audit, stakeholder integration (work in clusters) etc, in biotech, healthtech and food/agritech.
Aivars Starikovs
Member of the Board of Hydrogen Europe
Aivars Starikovs is a board member of Hydrogen Europe and the Latvian Hydrogen Association, as well as an energy and alternative fuels advisor to the President of the Latvian Academy of Sciences. His current duties involve coordinating international cooperation, working with ministries and municipalities, and developing infrastructure business plans. As the North-East European cluster coordinator, he focuses on joint procurement initiatives for fuel cell buses, promoting zero-emission hydrogen transport.
Previously, he led the Latvian research program LATENERGI, evaluating hydrogen technologies. With a BSc in Physics and an MSc in International Economics and Management from the University of Latvia, he has extensive experience in biomass gasification and fuel cell technologies. He is currently pursuing an MSc in Engineering at the Latvian University of Life Sciences and Technologies.
Pirita Mikkanen
Vice President, Energy Metsä Group
Dr Pirita Mikkanen is a Vice President, Energy at Metsä Group that creates growth with future from northern wood. She leads Metsä Group Energy team which masters energy assets and cost efficient operations, energy markets as well as energy efficiency for 30 mills in 6 countries. Energy team has substantial role in Metsä Group’s 2030 fossil free mission.
Pirita is internationally experienced professional in energy and climate solutions. She has gained wide competence through different positions and has strength in strategic views and capability to implement strategy into actions. Experience working both on supplier’s and customer’s side and in venturing gives her perspective of the complete business. Pirita’s extensive experience and expertise in climate solutions makes her valuable member of Metsä’s Bio-CO2 team.
Niklas Willemsen
Business developer – Green hydrogen
EIT Innoenergy is the most active clean tech investor in Europe with success stories such as Northvolt, Stegra (H2 Green Steel), Verkor and GravitHy. Niklas Willemsen works as a business developer, focusing on large-scale venture developments related to hydrogen and its derivatives.
Niklas has been working in the energy space for 15+ years, mainly with grid connections and EPC projects. Previously he has had several leadership positions within ABB, e.g. as the global head of sales for industrial power quality projects. He holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the royal institute of technology (KTH) in Stockholm.
Olli
Sipilä
CEO of Gasgrid
Olli Sipilä is the CEO of Gasgrid, the transmission system operator responsible for gas transmission and transmission system in Finland, as well as the builder of the national hydrogen infrastructure. Mr. Sipilä has previous experience for example from directing the Energy Business in Finland at ÅF Pöyry Management Consulting as well as strategy and transaction services for the energy sector in the Baltic Sea region. His background of over 20 years includes the entire value chain of the energy industry and several processes aiming towards carbon neutral energy systems.
Herkko Plit
CEO, P2X Solutions
Herkko has more than 30 years of management experience from the energy industry. Previously, Plit has served as the CEO of Baltic Connector Oy, which has implemented Finland’s share in the natural gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland, and has worked for TVO, Fortum, the Ministry of Employment and the Economy and the European Commission. Herkko leads P2X with his visionary and open-minded attitude.
Janne Peljo
Chief Policy Adviser Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK)
“I work at the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) on issues related to climate and biodiversity. Climate change and the loss of biodiversity are among the most serious challenges of our time, and it is my mission to understand them from the perspective of businesses, investors, and society.What excites me particularly is that Finland and Finnish companies can play a significant role in addressing the climate challenge internationally, while simultaneously building sustainable economic well-being for Finland.”
Otto Swanljung
Senior Vice President, Property Development and Renewables
Otto Swanljung is the Senior Vice President of Metsähallitus Property Development and Renewables. Metsähallitus Property Development and Renewables creates diverse opportunities for developing state-owned land and water areas. Property Development and Renewables is responsible for Metsähallitus’ land use planning, sells and leases areas to private and companies, engages in wind power project development and project sales, leases mineral aggregate extraction sites and is responsible for Metsähallitus land sales and purchases. Otto has worked at Metsähallitus since 2011 as Director of Wind Energy and in Metsähallitus’ Legal Department in various roles. As a lawyer he is specialized in contract law, social and environmental responsibility issues.
Henrik Grönqvist
Director, E-Fuels
Henrik Grönqvist is the Director of E-Fuels at ANDRITZ where he leads initiatives in renewable fuels and P2X technologies. He holds a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Industrial Economics, with over 20 years of experience in the industry.
Prior to his current role, Henrik had a distinguished career at ANDRITZ, where he held several leadership positions across Pulp and Paper business. His roles included Global Sales Director for White Liquor Plants, Project Director for EPC pulp mill deliveries, and Head of Process Engineering for both the Fiberline and White Liquor Plant product groups.
Henrik’s extensive experience and expertise in renewable energy and industrial processes make him a key figure in the advancement of sustainable fuel technologies.
Muhammad Imran Asghar
Professor, Tampere University
Matti Malkamäki
Chairman and Founder, Hycamite TCD Technologies Ltd
Matti Malkamäki, a hydrogen business specialist and cleantech entrepreneur of over 20 years, is dedicated to decarbonizing the industry through his role as Founder and Chairman of Hycamite TCD Technologies Ltd. Committed to sustainability, Matti has played a key role in adopting clean energy technologies and has hold positions in influential groups such as ECH2A and the BotH2nia association. He served for three years as a steering group member of the Finnish Hydrogen Cluster, too. He is a sought-after speaker on hydrogen possibilities and has written numerous articles on the topic. With extensive experience in power generation and cleantech, Matti drives the transition to a low-carbon, high-energy-efficient economy through Hycamite’s revolutionary methane-splitting technology.
Sami Repo
Professor, Tampere University
Sami Repo is a professor in Smart Grids area at Tampere University. He has been working with variety of electricity system topics in transmission, distribution and electricity markets almost for three decades. Recently the focus of the research and education has been in the electrification and sector-coupling of the whole energy system and especially in the system of systems analysis of flexibility services needed to maintain the balance of electricity system and to provide hosting capacity for renewable energy and different electrification sectors. Hydrogen has an important role in the indirect electrification of the energy system as an energy carrier and storage in the energy transition to 100 % renewable based energy system.
Inspiring speakers coming soon
Speakers
Antti Hannunen
Researcher - Museum Centre Vapriikki
Antti Hannunen works as a researcher at the Museum Centre Vapriikki. He coordinates an innovative and completely digital new museum project Tampere 1918 Civil War Museum. The Civil War Museum project provides information about the events of the Finnish Civil War through game engine constructed 3D virtual experiences, interactivity, articles, images, and videos.
Heikki Aura
Senior Lead - The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra
Heikki Aura serves as a Senior Lead at Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, boasting a diverse career that includes senior roles at Nokia and as a startup entrepreneur. He possesses extensive experience in developing new technologies and applications, as well as spearheading their market launch activities. Within Sitra, Heikki dedicates his efforts to crafting strategies that leverage data for societal benefits. This focus showcases his profound knowledge in fields such as the metaverse, industrial data, artificial intelligence, and blockchain.
Christina yan zhang
CEO - The Metaverse Institute
Christina is a metaverse pioneer, started her postgraduate research in 2006 to develop universities’ international strategies. In 2012, she completed a PhD in using digital twin in the metaverse to augment the AEC industry.
Christina is an award-winning business leader with 17 years of experience turning forward-thinking ideas into successful businesses. She worked for QS, the world university rankings agency 2013-2020, as China Director. In 2016, China’s Vice Premier highlighted the use of QS rankings in a keynote speech, impacting 5 years funding allocations of £750bn to 3005 universities with 48 million students.
She has sat on 20+ committees for UNESCO, World Bank, Commonwealth, EU, and UK Governments. She is Vice Chair of UN ITU Metaverse Working Group on Sustainability, Co-chair on Pre-standardization for Citiverse Task Group. She sits on Advisory Council of Centre for Science Futures at International Science Council, with a UN mandate to advise on innovations.
Santeri Saarinen
R&D Lead, Technology Specialist - Helsinki XR Center
Santeri Saarinen is an XR technology specialist in Metropolia UAS’s RDI Unit and the R&D Lead of Helsinki XR Center. Santeri received a Master’s degree in Interactive Technology from University of Tampere, and worked there as a researcher in Tampere Unit for Computer-Human Interaction for six years before moving to Metropolia in 2017. Santeri has extensive experience in VR, AR and MR technologies, game and mobile application development, gesture and speech interaction and user experience design. He has participated in projects related to several different fields, such as healthcare, education, industry, retail, transportation, tourism and culture. Santeri also works as an expert reviewer for EU Commission’s Horizon Europe and Creative Europe research projects. He is a member for XR4Europe’s board of directors, and on the advisory board for Finnish National Metaverse Strategy development and FIVR’s academic advisory board.
Salla Eckhardt
CEO - SEE Bright
Salla is a results-driven leader with 25 years of experience spearheading innovation strategy in the built environment industry. Her mission is augmenting people’s experiences with optimized business processes. She leverages technology and digital transformation to drive impactful change in organizations. As the founder of the digital building lifecycle framework, Salla has revolutionized data management from both digital and physical realms, catalyzing advancements in smart environments.
Johanna Pystynen
CEO - Guidin
As a former HR director, Johanna truly knows the pleasures and pains of modern leadership and what it takes to build successful organizations. In her current position as a CEO of Guidin she helps organizations increase their agility and succeed in change – making working life more meaningful for everyone.
Before Guidin, Johanna built award-winning practices with her team in a fast-growing tech company, recognized as the Best Workplace in Europe and rated among Fast Company’s global Best Workplaces for Innovators.
Kimmo Kytösaari
CEO - Broadfolio
CEO Kimmo Kytösaari from Broadfolio has over two decades of experience in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) region, specializing in technology and international resilience. He brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise in navigating the complexities of the global market, ensuring operational continuity and resilience in the face of challenges.
Keynote Dr. Hamad Khalifa Alnuaimi
Abu Dhabi Police
Dr. Hamad Khalifa Alnuaimi is a distinguished professional who has dedicated his career to enhancing security through critical communications within the Abu Dhabi Police with a focus on ensuring safety and security during large-scale events such as Abu Dhabi F1 race. He has demonstrated exceptional leadership and expertise in strategic planning and implementation. His contributions have been instrumental on fostering a secure environment for such prestigious mega events.
Kati Tiainen
Director - Microsoft EMEA, Education Digital strategy and access
Kati Tiainen is a prominent figure in the international educational landscape, collaborating closely with Ministries of Education, leaders, schools, and partners to optimize digital transformation in teaching and learning. With a background in Finnish K-12 education, including roles at the Teachers Union of Finland and leadership of eLearning initiatives, she brings a wealth of expertise. She holds a master’s degree in Education and is a certified Prosci ADCAKR practitioner & Solution focused Coach.
Over her two-decade career, Kati’s roles span teaching, school leadership, and overseeing large-scale Information and Learning Technology Programs, including 1:1 initiatives. Her leadership extends to Microsoft’s Education K12 efforts in EMEA, marked by her skill in navigating transformational markets and fostering partnerships. She is a global advocate for Microsoft’s Education Transformation Framework, guiding holistic educational transformation.
Moreover, she’s driven open education analytics, enhancing data-driven decision-making. Her distinct prowess lies in leveraging AI to reshape education. Kati’s strategic insights in AI implementation have revolutionized the teaching and learning experience. By championing responsible AI use, she empowers Education institutions to embrace technology for personalized learning, adaptive interventions, and new dimensions of excellence.
Dr. Maj Meriluoto
Head of Exhibitions - Museum Centre Vapriikki
Veijo Kontas
Vice President, SoC Development, Mobile Networks - Nokia
Veijo has dedicated most of his professional life for Semiconductors and SoC development. He was in charge for Nokia Mobile Phones SoC development for 15 years during which he and his team were able to develop world leading SoCs for the mobile space. Veijo joined Nokia Mobile Networks in 2015. Since 2019 he’s been in charge for SoC development at Nokia Mobile Networks. His main responsibilities are developing the SoCs according to the roadmap, owning the SoC architecture and SoC technologies and maintaining the relationships with the key semiconductor players. The Reefshark chipset family has played an important role of MN turnaround.
Veijo has master’s degree in telecommunication and semiconductor technologies from the University of Oulu. He is a father of two daughters and a passionate radio amateur that keeps him hands on with all aspects of the electronics.
Markku Kivinen
Business Development Manager - VTT
Markku Kivinen is Business Development Manager in VTT, focusing at the moment on commercializing VTT in industrial metaverse and future of aviation / urban air mobility. Prior to this role, Solution Sales Lead in Cognitive Production Research Area. Formerly, he has been working in Nokia, Microsoft, Elisa and Vodafone in b2b sales, strategic marketing and business development.
Jari Kuusisto
Product Manager, Smart Cities - Wapice Ltd
Smart City IoT, analytics, and AI expert with a proven track record in transforming urban landscapes into Smart Cities. Jari brings a wealth of experience harnessing the power of IoT, data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to drive technological enablers in Smart Cities and Buildings. Join us as Jari shares real-world case examples, offering tangible insights into the future of urban intelligence.
Mika Rytkönen
Chairman and CBO - Remoted Ltd
Horáček Jiří
Director of Sales and Marketing - Škoda Digital
This presentation explores the evolution of autonomous trams from concept to reality, highlighting our first software products. We will demonstrate automatic shunting in a tram depot and discuss future steps in vehicle autonomy.
Fanny Heinonen
Program Director - Film Tampere
Fanny Heinonen is the program director of the successful and rapidly growing development program Film Tampere administered by regional business and development agency Business Tampere and funded by the City of Tampere. In addition, Heinonen has influenced the film and TV industry as a trainer, mentor and expert in the creative industry training programs in multiple universities, academies and national industry development projects. Heinonen is a film and TV producer by education (B.A.), and has years of cross-border working experience in fashion, marketing, films and career coaching. Get to know Fanny on LinkedIn!
Kai Nordberg
CEO - Making Movies Oy
Kai is the CEO and co-founder of a Helsinki based production company Making Movies Oy (Ltd.). Nordberg has produced the Oscar short listed and Golden Globe nominated The Fencer (2015) as well as several other international award winning and internationally recognized films like My Sailor My Love (2023) and The Good Driver (2023). Over the past 20 years Nordberg has produced over 14 features and more than 50 documentaries and short films distributed worldwide. Get to know Kai on LinkedIn!
Joni Lappalainen
CEO - Dreamloop Games Oy
Joni Lappalainen is CEO of Dreamloop Games and an instrumental contributor to Finland’s gaming and startup scene. Lappalainen serves as the Vice President of both the Tampere Game Hub and Finnish Game Developers’ Association, the Chairperson of the Board at Platform6, the co-founder of Tampere Startup Hub, and as a regional coordinator for IGDA Finland. Additionally, Lappalainen has served as a member of the board of education for Oulu University of Applied Sciences, and as a producer for more than 30 game projects. Alma is now one of Dreamloop’s major game projects. Get to know Joni on LinkedIn!
Jarkko Männistö
Service Manager - Sitowise Oy
Jarkko Männistö has 25 years of experience in 3D design, modelling and visualizations. At Sitowise, he works as a service and project manager in a team responsible for digital twins and the development of digital imaging tools, as well as the utilisation of BIM and 3D data in design projects, city information models and smart city development.
His team has developed a dynamic 3D virtual environment called the AURA service, which is based on Unity game engine technology. He has led several challenging projects related to digital twins, VR implementations and 3D simulation tools for the cities of Tampere and Helsinki, as well as transport and regional projects such as Port of Oulu, Helsinki Airport, LuxTurrim 5G and Crown Bridge
Dr. Vicky Albert-Seifried
Senior Researcher - Fraunhofer Institute
Dr. Vicky Albert-Seifried leads projects related to sustainable urban energy transition in the research group ‘Climate-Neutral Cities and Districts’ of Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Germany. She has over 20 years of experience working with cities globally in the strategic planning of clean energy transformation. Her work transfers research innovations into practice and supports cities in finding novel solutions to tackle the climate challenges. Vicky is the coordinator of the large-scale Horizon Europe project WeGenerate in which digital technologies are leveraged to better decision making and drive social innovation in the urban regeneration process of four European cities.
Dr. Kaisa Mustajärvi
Development manager, Biodiversity and Natural Capital - The City of Tampere
Kaisa Mustajärvi is accomplished professional with over 25 years of experience in ecology and environmental expert. She is deeply committed to leveraging her expertise to tackle the pressing issues of climate change adaptation and natural capital management within urban environments. Currently she works as development manager for nature and natural capital in City of Tampere involving collaboration with cross-disciplinary teams to devise and execute strategies that bolster the city’s resilience and sustainability. This work not only benefits the city’s residents but also aims to preserve and rejuvenate the biodiversity and ecosystem services that are crucial for human well-being and quality of life. Her drive is fueled by the aspiration to create cities that are not only livable and resilient but also in harmony with nature, promoting social and environmental justice.
Joona Kortesmäki
Head of Development - Elisa viihde
Joona Kortesmäki is the Head of Development at Elisa Viihde, where he focuses on transforming storytelling with bold original drama series and creativity-boosting AI integration. With 20 years in the TV & streaming industry and degrees in Business Administration and Arts, he is dedicated to advancing the future of entertainment.
Teppo Rantanen
Director for competitiveness and innovation - City of Tampere
Mr. Teppo Rantanen, Director for competitiveness and innovation at the City of Tampere, is responsible for several city-wide development programs, with a particular focus on smart city themes, that shape the strategic economic policy of the city. He leads Tampere through collaboration in extensive international networks toward a metaverse city with a human-centric perspective where smart technologies will increasingly enable seamless interaction between the physical and virtual worlds, adding value to citizens’ everyday lives.
Sebastian Valkama
ICT Project Manager - City of Tampere
Currently serving at the City of Tampere Employment and Growth Services, Sebastian Valkama is involved in several projects within the city’s Data-Driven City for Citizens development program, specifically the Data-Driven Services for Businesses flagship project. On an operational level, this includes the Tampere.Finland mobile app for businesses, Tampere Pulse, several AI assistants, and a smart public service management platform. These solutions aim to provide local businesses with data-driven insights that enhance their forecasting abilities, improve knowledge management, and support better decision-making. Sebastian strongly advocates the city’s vision of bridging the digital and physical worlds to improve the quality of life for residents, enhance business vitality and promote human-centric digital transformation in the city.
Marc Wicht
CEO & Co-Founder - Scenery
Marc is the CEO and co-founder of Scenery, the world’s first Spatial Computing and AR storytelling platform. The tool, which was a day-1 launch app on Apple Vision Pro, allows brands and creators to craft contextual, multi-sensory, and appless immersive experiences in days instead of months. Over the years, Marc led numerous XR projects for brands like Sony Music, Paramount Pictures, and Highsnobiety, giving him a deep understanding of the market needs and potential pitfalls when designing immersive content.
Mattia Thibault
Associate Professor in Translation in the Creative Industries - Tampere University
Dr Mattia Thibault is an Associate Professor in Translation in the Creative Industries at Tampere University and has a PhD in Semiotics and Media (Turin University). His research interests include semiotics and translation of XR, speculative research, and playfulness in the built environment (real and digital).
He is the leader of the research group Interreality which focuses on the interrelations between different virtual spaces (and their inhabitants) and their connections with the “real” world. He is PI of the project NERX, funded by Business Finland and by several industrial partners, which investigates how extended realities can be integrated in a meaningful and accessible way with the Finnish creative industries. His postdoctoral project “ReClaim” (EU MSCA-IF 793835) focused on urban gamification and bottom-up and punk ways to use playfulness for good.
Peter Adriaens
Professor of Engineering, Finance and Entrepreneurship - University of Michigan
Dr. Adriaens is Professor of Engineering, Finance and Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan, where he directs the Center for Digital Asset Finance and the Master of Engineering in Smart Infrastructure Finance. Funded by corporate and financial firms, his research focuses on digital business, finance and data market models for smart cities infrastructure, and on artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) models for climate risk pricing in the capital markets. His team publishes in management, finance and technical journals, and he has presented at civil engineering, finance, operations, and blockchain conferences. He is a member of the American Academy of Environmental Engineering, and of the Belgian Royal Academy of Applied Science. Previously, he was Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship at Sichuan University (China) and at the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (Helsinki, Finland). He is co-founder of Equariusâ Risk Analytics, a financial technology firm focused on corporate climate risk pricing in equities. He serves on the advisory board of the Great Lakes Impact Investment Platform, Triangle Digital, and Integrated Roadways.
Kristian Valkama
Director of Digital Transformation - Business Tampere
Kristian Valkama is the Director of Digital Transformation at Business Tampere – the agency that promotes economic and business growth in Tampere region. In his current role, Kristian leads a strategic development programme that helps businesses use data and AI more effectively and supports the city of Tampere on its digital transformation journey.
Kristian is an experienced entrepreneur, board member, and business leader who has spent close to two decades helping startups, scaleups, listed companies, and public sector organizations adopt new technologies and embrace change.
