Keynote Speeches & Speaker Profiles
H.E. Mr. Mika Lintilä
Minister of Economic Affairs of Finland Keynote speech: Innovation Opportunities with FInland In his talk, Mr. Lintilä will highlight the most promising innovation areas for trade partnerships with Finland. He will discuss practical approaches to move forward especially in the context of innovative and smart cities development. Mr. Lintilä also opens the Government of Finland innovation priorities as well as lessons learnt from the continuous improvement of national competitiveness and value creation in Finland |
Mr. Riku Mäkelä
Trade and Innovation Counsellor, Embassy of Finland in Singapore Keynote speech: "Innovation Hubs development for Industrial renewal and Innovation Ecosystem development" Mr. Riku Mäkelä works in Embassy of Finland in Singapore as the Counsellor for innovation and rade affairs. In this role, he represents Finnish government and Finnish innovation system in Singapore and ASEAN region to foster collaboration in research, innovation, business and investments. Prior to his role in Singapore, Mr. Mäkelä accelerated the development of startup ecosystem in Vietnam as a member of Finland-Singapore Innovation Partnership Program team, developed Finland’s cooperation with India in New Delhi, connected Finland and USA in Silicon Valley and funded Finnish innovation projects in the headquarters of Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation. Before his government career, Mr. Mäkelä marketed healthcare devices in a multinational corporation, developed digital learning solutions for industry as an entrepreneur and worked in technology research groups in Helsinki and Los Angeles. He holds MSc degree in technical physics from Helsinki University of Technology. |
Mr. Kimmo Myllymäki
CEO of TOIP Oy Keynote speech “Global Trends in Digitalisation” Recent global developments and trends relating to digitalization are shared and how they translate into changing business opportunities. A particular focus is given to the role of data and how it can be leveraged into business benefits |
Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thuc
Head of Department of Knowledge, Engineering, University of Science, Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City Keynote speech “Access to Vietnamese talent and knowledge partners” As more Finnish-Vietnamese data driven business projects emerge and evolve there is a rising demand for building local resource teams in Vietnam. Access and opportunity in cooperating with local universities and research institutions in Vietnam is shared as case examples of cooperation |
Mr. Armodio Corrado
CEO of Difitek Inc. Keynote speech “Fintech disrupting financial markets - the big picture and examples” Global fintech trends and applied examples of data driven business are shared by real life business cases. These local data applications for business benefits are shared as an inspiration and guidance for later round table discussion. Armodio serves as Global VP of Operations of Difitek, a San Francisco-based financial technology company that is bringing cutting edge technologies, such as serverless architectures, distributed ledger technologies (DLTs), artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), to financial products and services. He has built global operations for Difitek in Europe, and North America and is now focusing on the Asian market. Armodio was an early follower of fintech which gave him the necessary insight and expertise to approach financial problems and think about more innovative models in a new, more efficient way. He has lived, studied and worked across many continents and has developed a unique perception of global markets, building upon his degrees in Finance & Statistics, Economics, and International Business. He is a passionate entrepreneur and early stage investor across different industries that could have a strong positive impact on the world, seeking solid value creation. He has built ventures from a young age, launching an e-commerce trading business at the age of 13. Prior to his work at Difitek, he created the North American business unit for a European real estate company. |
Other speakers
Dr. Jukka Viitanen
CEO & Managing Partner, Resolute HQ Inc. Finland Dr. Viitanen has extensive international experience in planning and managing innovation environments for global excellence. He has served several organizations in Asia and Oceania and participated in founding of the Finnish Science Institute in Japan, the Finnish Innovation Center - FinNode Japan and Asia-Pacific Insight Inc. during his 15 years in Asia. He has developed several governmental programs to facilitate cross-border technology transfer, SME market entry and S&T funding collaboration between Finland and its international partners. Dr. Viitanen has served the Finnish Government in Japan as a Science and Technology Counselor for the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation – Tekes. In his work, he was responsible for drafting strategies, proposals and programs for international science and technology collaboration and cluster development. Dr. Viitanen has Ph.D. in Information Systems Management and M.Sc. in Marketing. His academic research has focused on strategic alignment and global network management specializing later on in innovation ecosystem management. |
Ms. Pipa Turvanen
Liaison Manager, Turku Science Park Regional business development specialist currently working with innovation policy management, FDI promotion and international talent attraction. She is experienced in EU, national, regional and local level policy planning and implementation. Turvanen holds a diverse track record in building multi-stakeholder innovation networks and international partnerships. She holds a Master's Degree in Regional Studies from the University of Tampere. |