Discovering Finnish Innovation and Technology

On Monday 28 November, two dozen delegates toured Helsinki to visit Finnish companies Tieto, Vertical Accelerator and Luxus Worldwide, as part of the Slush Arctic Stopover Company Visits.

Company presentations kickstarted each company visit, informing the attendees about the company’s history, communications and strategies. The 10 Asian companies were happy to learn about the business culture, technology environment and potential of collaborations with the Finnish companies.

They visited the offices, got introduced to staff and partners. They also got acquainted with the companies’ operations in Finland and overseas. They got engaged in discussions that involved sharing of communication strategies, KPIs to customers, innovative ways to deliver messages on social media and the future of social networks.

At Vertical Accelerator for example, the Asian delegates visited several small companies and discussed hot topics like virtual reality, marketing technologies and innovative sales strategies for possible matchmaking opportunities.

“It’s not logical, it’s biological…”

“…and that’s why communication strategies of leaders should be looked at again,” stressed John Bates, leadership communication expert, one of the guest speakers for the one-day Master-Class Workshop that took place on Tuesday 29 November at HUB13 in Helsinki. John trains TED speakers to speak on world stage. He shared how he has pitched on Sand Hill Road and has been instrumental in teams that have raised millions of dollars.

The attendees were also trained by funding experts Tarja Pitkänen and Jerri Laine in an intensive workshop in small groups with their high level executive coaching on funding. They learned from Raghunath Koduvayur, Head of Strategic Marketing of Tieto, on how to market themselves successfully to attract the cash they need.

The discussions continued well into the delicious Thai lunch served for the occasion.

Yang Liu, Regional Manager (China) of Spinverse Group, talked to our Workshop attendees about accessing European innovation networks that may enable new opportunities for them, while Tim Matikainen, Idea Generator of LaskIT  & Mari Harju, Bookkeeper of LaskIT, shared with them how to resolve tangled financial situations and produce excellent project accounting and see their business take flight.

Before Mohammad Shabbir, CEO & Founder of GOInternational Finland, gave his closing remarks, Thorbjörn Warin, VP of Monetization & Business Development EMEA of AdColony shared his insightful thoughts about market penetration innovation in EU and Asia Gaming Illustration.

“Innovation is now a public good”

Arvind Gupta was one of the Guests of Honour for the Exclusive Gala Dinner held at Musiikkitalo in Helsinki right after the Master-Class Workshop. He elaborated on how India sees innovation as a public good and what it is doing to build layers of identity, payments and transactions to make it possible.