Erik Kolehmainen is Vice President, Corporate Venturing at Metsä Spring, Metsä Group’s innovation company and venture arm. Metsä Spring invests in promising startups that have a link to wood or forestry. In addition, Metsä Spring carries out its own demo projects, “internal startups”, as well as supports and promotes R&D activities within Metsä Group. Metsä Spring is especially interested in Series Seed and Series A investment opportunities related to new sustainable materials, substances, and products that can utilize raw materials originating from wood. 

Prior to joining Metsä, Erik has worked in the field of venture capital, startups, and finance, for example at Tesi and Business Finland.

At SHIFT Erik will talk about building innovative and sustainable solutions for tomorrow. He will also talk about how to build business ecosystems and what kind of collaborations are used for true innovation.