We had a pleasure to visit Identio’s podcast. Veli-Pekka Virtanen represented SHIFT and chatted with Joonas Korgan about SHIFT’s goals, visions and most importantly the SHIFT event 2019!

SHIFT is a business festival event in its 4th year held in Turku. SHIFT’s goal is to bring technology closer to business in a variety of heavy industries. The theme of SHIFT is definitely on the cutting edge.

”So called hype technologies (nanotechnology, neurotechnology and AI) offer huge amounts of possibilities and resources when they are brought to the field and used to make business and industry processes. In reality, the big picture is a lot more complicated. We want to bring this to the next level, for businesses and industries to benefit from. It shouldn’t be taken only as a marketing trick!” Vellu reminds.

Previously SHIFT has been in the spring, between May and June. This year is going to be different: for the very first time, the event is at the end of August, 29.-30.8.2019. Attendees get to start the work-filled fall in an innovative and fun environment.

”This year SHIFT is going to be a great kick off for companies! Let’s start the fall together, with a fun spirit for everyone. Businesses get the first leads for networking and venture opportunities and they will be fresh and front of mind going straight into the fall work season” Vellu thinks about the upcoming event.

This year SHIFT has many firsts! Date wasn’t the only thing that changed. SHIFT also has a new venue.

Innovative venues is what SHIFT is known for. Every year there is a unique place like Turku Castle and Kakola. In 2019 the beautiful archipelago right by the shipyard will ensure an inspiring experience for the attendees. The venue has been in use for many events before, which means an easier and more practical environment for event arrangements. With experience comes the understanding of event managements ups and downs, one wouldn’t call it simple.

”Last year we started to vacuum Kakola prison two weeks before the actual event, and it was not only me but a huge bunch of volunteers. We probably forgot to mention in the recruitment, that volunteering includes also washing floors and vacuuming in an old prison” Vellu laughs.

Joonas also had his own thoughts about SHIFT and what the festival provides people.

”SHIFT brings people to Turku! SHIFT shows we have “festival vibes to die for” and SHIFT is not just Turku’s Slush. SHIFT has different and more interesting topics presented by speakers that not everyone knows, but that are well respected experts in their field. They are the hardworking people who bring new perspectives to the industry.”

From Joonas’ statement we can hear that, Slush has set very high standards for all the business events and is a trendsetter. The way SHIFT differs from Slush, is that SHIFT is not at the core of a startup-investor event, it’s more focused on technology and how to benefit from it.

Vellu wants to encourage companies to be part of the future: ”SHIFT creates and brings intelligent business closer to the companies. We prep the folks for the future, and we want everyone to join”. 

The podcast ends with the question: “What is the one thing that you want everyone to know about SHIFT?”

”I will make our soon to be former sales manager, Sini Toivonen, happy. One thing that everyone should know about SHIFT is: www.theshift.fi/tickets ” Vellu ends determinedly.

”Go buy your tickets, please go buy your tickets!” Joonas ends with a smile, a ticket already in his pocket.

You can listen the whole podcast in Finnish from here.