Jarkko Eloranta

President of SAK

Jarkko Eloranta is the President of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK. Before becoming the President of SAK Mr Eloranta worked as the President of JHL, the largest trade union for the welfare sector in Finland. SAK represents the interests of more than one million members in 20 affiliated trade unions. SAK is a confederation of 20 trade unions in industry, the public sector, transport and private services. One quarter of the SAK members work in services (250,000 members) and almost half work in industry (450,000 members).

Julia Jousilahti

Researcher and project manager, Demos Helsinki

Julia Jousilahti is specialized in questions related to the future of democracy and public participation as well as the future of work. She has a lot of experience in supporting communities that seek to achieve societal impact. At Demos Helsinki Julia leads Finnish foundations’ Builders of the Century Challenge Prize, where teams join an accelerator to develop innovative solutions that promote the well-being of the young.

Before joining Demos Helsinki, Julia work at the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra’s strategy and research unit and in Sitra’s societal training team.

Antti Järvinen

Country Manager at Google Finland

Antti Järvinen (M.Sc.Econ), Country Manager at Google. Antti is an entrepreneur minded leader with a passion for exploiting and exploring digital opportunities. At Google Antti is driving digitalization in Finland.

Before his current position, Antti worked for Sanoma as a Commercial Director for Media business. Other previous positions include CEO at Omnicom Media Group Finland and Director at TBWA, both NYSE listed Omnicom Group companies.

Antti has also been active in the booming Finnish start-up scene, assuming several advisor and board roles in recent years in VC funded companies. Digitally evolving business environment has touched his career through the years when working together with biggest national and global companies across the Northern European markets.

Mia-Petra Kumpula-Natri

MEP

Mia-Petra Kumpula-Natri has been a member of the European Parliament since summer 2014. She is a member of the Committee for Industry, Research and Energy as well as a substitute in the Committee of Employment and Social Affairs. Ms Kumpula-Natri is a member of S&D group in the European Parliament.

In her role as a MEP, Mia-Petra Kumpula-Natri has focused on issues related to employment, welfare services and reasonably priced energy. She is also active in issues related to digitalization and the digital single market.

Before becoming a MEP in the 2014 election she was a member of Parliament 2003-2014. She holds a BSc in Engineering.

Anita Lehikoinen

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Culture

Anita Lehikoinen was appointed Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Education and Culture 2013. She is head of operations in cooperation with the Minister.

Prior to her current position, Anita Lehikoinen served as Director General in the Ministry. She was in charge of higher education and science policy development. Ms Lehikoinen has served in many national and European committees in the field of higher education, research and internationalization. 

Nicklas Lundblad

VP, Public Policy & Government Relations EMEA, Google

Nicklas Lundblad has been with Google since 2007, first building the public policy team in the Nordics, after which he was recruited to build a long term policy research and strategy team in Mountain View. He spent three and half years in Mountain View building and leading this team, and then returned in 2013 to Sweden and took on the role as head of Google's European public policy team. He holds a PhD in informatics, and is an adjunct professor in innovation at The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. He is a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences in Sweden, an Eisenhower Fellow and has served on a number of boards. In 2012 he was one of 21 Google executives globally given a Great Manager Award. He is the author of three books on information technology and policy, and is a regular contributor to several newspapers and magazines.

Kai Mykkänen

Minister of Foreign Trade and Development

Kai Mykkänen was appointed Minister for Foreign Trade and Development in June 2016. He is a Member of Parliament since 2015. Minister Mykkänen is known for his expertise on energy, Russia and economics. He represents the National Coalition Party.

Prior to his political career, Minister Mykkänen worked as Director for Russian Affairs at the Confederation of Finnish Industries, as investment banker in St. Petersburg, and as political advisor to the Minister for Economic Affairs and Employment. Minister Mykkänen holds a Master's Degree in Economics from the University of Helsinki. 

Tarja Pääkkönen

Executive Partner BOARDMAN

Tarja Pääkkönen is Boardman Executive Partner and chairman of the Brand Compass Group. She is Doctor of Science (Technology) and an expert in international business, brand strategies and sales. Additionally, she has a M.Sc within the construction industry. She holds digital innovations related patents.

Pääkkönen has several years of experience serving on the Board of companies, ranging from start-up companies to international stock market to e.g. Marimekko, SATO, investment company Panostaja, FIRA and Idean. Earlier she has led global Nokia business units as Senior vice President up to 1000 employees in North America, Europe and Asia.

She has been a Member of the Council of Information Society in Finland. Furthermore she was the first women to serve as Chairman of Start Up -company Delegation organized by Foreign Ministry of Finland in 2012. 

David Rowan

Editor-at-large, WIRED Magazine (UK)

David Rowan is the Editor-at-large and founding Editor-in-chief of WIRED magazine’s UK edition and a keynote speaker who shares his insights into Robotics, automation, and the future of the workplace, consumer behaviour, the digital era, social commerce and media. Connected with the world's leading trend-setters and spotters, David travels the globe searching out the latest technology that is, or soon will be, impacting our lives and disrupting business in almost every sector.

Anna Salomons

Associate Professor, Utrecht University

Anna Salomons is an associate professor of applied econometrics at Utrecht University’s School of Economics in the Netherlands, having obtained her PhD from the University of Leuven in Belgium. Anna’s research focuses on the labor market impacts of technological progress, and has been published in top-ranked scientific journals. Anna is an affiliated researcher at the University of Leuven and a fellow of the Research Centre for Education and the Labor Market (ROA, University of Maastricht) and has held positions as a visiting researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the London School of Economics, and the Center for European Economic Research (ZEW). She has worked with policymakers from the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), and the Dutch government, among others.

Farid Tabarki

Director Studio Zeitgeist

Farid Tabarki is the founding director of Studio Zeitgeist and a sought-after keynote speaker, debate moderator and event host. He has been researching the (European) zeitgeist since 2000 on topics such as radical decentralisation, radical transparency and the liquid society.

Farid Tabarki has a weekly column in Het Financieele Dagblad and has written the book ‘The end of the middle - What a society of extremes means to people, businesses and government’. Farid received the Trendwatcher of the Year Award for 2012-2013, and since 2013 he became the youngest person on the list of the 200 most influential people in the Netherlands according to Dutch daily morning newspaper de Volkskrant. Mr Tabarki sits on various supervisory boards and committees. In 2015 he was a member of Platform Onderwijs 2032: commissioned by the Dutch government, the platform presented a vision on Dutch education policy moving towards the year 2032. 

André Noël Chaker

Moderator

André Noël Chaker was voted Speaker of the Year 2012 by the customers of Speakers Forum Finland and again Speaker, Moderator and Coach of the Year at the Finnish Evento Awards in 2014. He has once again been nominated Moderator of the Year 2015 by the customers of Speakers Forum. He has hosted the Nordic Business Forum, one of the world’s premier business events, on four occasions. Over the past four years he has been among the most sold speakers and moderators in Finland with appearances in over 400 national and international events.

André is a speaker, a writer, a performer, an entrepreneur and a business executive all rolled into one person. He is a law graduate from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He is a member of the New York Bar and the Finnish Lawyer’s association. He also holds an MBA in Finance from Aalto University.

André has published six books. The Finnish Miracle, a book he wrote in 2011 become a best-seller in Finland. The book’s sequel “The Finnish Miracle – 100 Years of Success” was launched recently. As an entrepreneur, André has been a leading force in many technology, gaming and sports related start-up ventures. He served as Director of Entertainment and Senior Advisor of the CEO of the Finnish National Lottery, Veikkaus Oy, for nine years.