Keynote speaker:
Dr. Professor Yrjö Neuvo
Dr. Neuvo was previously Executive Vice President and CTO of Nokia Corporation. He was a member of the Group Executive Board of Nokia during 1993-2005. Before joining Nokia, he gained international academic recognition as professor of signal processing at Tampere University of Technology. He was National Research Professor at Academy of Finland and visiting professor at University of California, Santa Barbara. He has published over 400 scientific articles. Dr. Neuvo has been and is member of several European, Nordic and Finnish research and innovation policy related working groups and committees. He is Fellow of IEEE, Member of Academia Europeae, the Swedish Academy of Technical Sciences, two Finnish Academies and holds three honorary doctorates.
Invited speakers:
PL 1: Marketing SPs-Attracting & Keeping World Class Customers
Chong Siak Ching, President & CEO - Ascendas Pte Ltd
Ms Chong is the President & CEO of Ascendas Pte Ltd since 2001. Ascendas
is Asia’s leading provider of business space with presence in 10
countries across Asia. In January 2004, Ms Chong was appointed as one of
Singapore's three representatives to the APEC Business Advisory Council
and is a Director on the Singapore Tourism Board and the Singapore-India
Partnership Foundation.
PL 2: The Present and Future of SPs around the World
Luis Sanz, Director General – IASP
Mr. Sanz has served as vice president of the Spanish Association of Technology Parks, president of the European Association of Science Parks and global vice president of the IASP (International Association of Science Parks). He currently serves as director general and secretary of the board of directors of the International Association of Science Parks (IASP). He is a member of the international organization SPICE (Science Parks and Business Incubators Experts) and founding chairman of Perfil Trh. SL., a company dedicated to international technology transfer.
PL 3: Discovering and Creating Born Global Companies
Sten Tamkivi, Managing Director - Skype in Estonia
Sten Tamkivi, 28, joined Skype to head its global development operations in September 2005, after almost a decade as an entrepreneur and software consultant. He joined Skype from Helmes, a Tallinn-based software development and consulting company, where he served as Business Development Director for three years. In 1996, at the age of 18, he founded Halo Interactive DDB Estonia, a digital media agency which merged with Helmes in 2001. Despite his youth, Sten has a long-established reputation as one of Estonia's leading technology thinkers.
Skype is a proprietary peer-to-peer Internet telephony (VoIP) network. The Skype Group is headquartered in Luxembourg with offices also in London and Tallinn. Several young Estonian men are behind the innovative technology that has radically shaken up the communications world. Since its launch in August 2003, Skype has been downloaded about 200 million times and there are more than four million people using it simultaneously at any one time. The global telephony company gets some 170,000 new customers every day.
Jukka Kotovirta, Partner, Chairman and Co-founder of Gearshift Group
Mr. Kotovirta has 20 years of experience in the telecommunications and software businesses. He is a partner of Gearshift Group (www.gearshiftgroup.com), a business management consultancy with a large number of ICT customers. Before co-founding Gearshift Group in 2002, Mr. Kotovirta was Chief Strategy Officer at F-Secure. From 1996 to 2002 he also held a number of other executive-level positions in the company. He has also held a number of sales, marketing and product management positions with Cisco Systems and Sonera. Mr. Kotovirta holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Helsinki University of Technology.
PL 4: How SP Can Enhance Regional Growth Strategies
Matti Pennanen, Deputy Mayor of Oulu
Matti Pennanen, Deputy Mayor of Oulu
Mr. Pennanen (M.Sc, Civil Engineer) entered the City of Oulu’s service in 2001. Currently he works as a Deputy Major of Oulu. Mr Pennanen’s 20-year experience in the business sector and nine years spent abroad (Norway, Iraq, Kuwait, Russian) have taught him to appreciate and understand different cultures and ways of life. His positions of trust include the following; Vice chairman of the board at Technopolis, Member of the board at Finnish Port Association and Chairman of the board at Oulun Palvelusäätiö.
Par 4: Case Finland
Case Finland will turn the spotlight on the Finnish science park and innovation system. Highly respected speakers will present their views on Finnish technological know-how and innovation. Dr. Professor Kari Raivio will show how universities are expanding their role in the innovation system from research into commercialization. Dr. Martti af Heurlin will present his views from more operative approach to the Finnish innovation system. Dr.Professor Yrjö Neuvo will focus on the business end of the innovation system. Mr. Seppälä will emphasize evolving role of the public sector. The Chairman of the session is Mr. Anssi Paasivirta from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, which is one of the driving forces of the Finnish innovation system.
Anssi Paasivirta
State Secretary
Ministry of Trade and Industry
Since the beginning of year 2005 Mr. Paasivirta has worked as a State Secretary in the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry. He is the chairman of a working group “Finnish Business Services”, which is to prepare for an overall reform of the business service system. In addition, he is a member of the Agenda 2007 management group and the chairman of a working group “Reaction to structural change”. He has been the Director responsible for the Ministry of Labour’s strategy and labour policy since 1999. He has worked as a Finland’s representative at the EU’s Social Fund Committee (1995–1998) and Employment Committee (2000–2003).
Dr. Professor Kari Raivio
Chancellor
The University of Helsinki
Kari Raivio has an M.D and a Ph.D. from the University of Helsinki. He is specialized in pediatrics and neonatology. Dr. Raivio has published over 250 publications in peer-reviewed journals dealing with basic research on purine metabolism, oxidants and antioxidants, clinical research in pediatrics and neonatology, and topics related to higher education.
Dr. Raivio serves as the Chancellor of the University of Helsinki since the year 2003. Before that he was the Rector of the University of Helsinki for seven years.
Dr. Martti af Heurlin
Deputy Director General
Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation
Strategic Management (Tekes)
Martti af Heurlin is responsible for the following functions in Tekes: Technology and Research Areas, Regional Network, International Network, Impact Analysis and Innovation Foresight. His special interest areas include national technology strategies, competitiveness and development of innovation environment, Tekes’ partner strategy, new technology based businesses matching R&D and venture business. Dr. af Heurlin is an expert member of Tekes board. He deputizes for Director General.
Dr. Professor Yrjö Neuvo
Dr. Neuvo was previously Executive Vice President and CTO of Nokia Corporation. He was a member of the Group Executive Board of Nokia during 1993-2005. Before joining Nokia, he gained international academic recognition as professor of signal processing at Tampere University of Technology. He was National Research Professor at Academy of Finland and visiting professor at University of California, Santa Barbara. He has published over 400 scientific articles. Dr. Neuvo has been and is member of several European, Nordic and Finnish research and innovation policy related working groups and committees. He is Fellow of IEEE, Member of Academia Europeae, the Swedish Academy of Technical Sciences, two Finnish Academies and holds three honorary doctorates.
Esko-Olavi Seppälä
Secretary General
Science and Technology Policy Council of Finland
Mr. Seppälä has been working for the past 20 years in the Science and Technology Policy Council of Finland. He has served as a Secretary General since the beginning of 2006. He has written articles and reviews on S&T policy, evaluation and planning issues. For over 20 years he has been a board member of the Finnish Society for Scientific Information and a President since 2005.
