Teemu Malinen, the CEO of Sofokus, gives you his two cents on why you should care about the SHIFT Business Festival and how evolving technologies are swiftly shaping businesses.

What to expect from the SHIFT Business Festival – an event-concept combining business and pleasure? That seems to be the question on everyone’s lips. We thought we should give a call to the people who are helping us in making the SHIFT possible and ask them what they are expecting. First up is Teemu Malinen, the founder and CEO of Sofokus, a man who’s been helping companies digitalizing their business for nearly 20 years.

“There’s a lot of talent and know-how in Finland that is not known abroad, for example in the fields of digital health. SLUSH has opened the door and given the world a small glimpse of the capability that we have here.” starts Malinen, who sees SHIFT as a great way to show other countries the possibilities in Finland. “And the fact is also that we need more international cooperation, more interconnected players here in Finland.”

Evolving technologies and new business models

Teemu Malinen is involved in many companies, usually as a mentor or a coach – actively helping companies focus on their core business and improving it. Malinen is also a member of the Advisory Board of the SHIFT. “Energy, health and education are not really my expertise fields of business, but digitalization links to pretty much everything. I am very excited to see some real world virtual reality applications and learn how they can help in developing businesses in the future. In the information technology sector you can never rely on having seen it all. Well, actually that applies to all sectors these days. No matter how traditional your business is, you must educate yourself with the rapidly evolving digital age inventions.”

The changes during this digital age appear swiftly due to the scalability of the technology. The width and depth of the available data and the number of devices connected to that data is something that is difficult to grasp. “What is going to happen when my fridge, who knows what I eat, talks to my bed that monitors my sleep? Hopefully they will push me towards my running shoes”, Malinen laughs. Companies need to re-consider their business models in order to survive. At the same time there are possibilities for new nimble players to capitalize on changes. “It shouldn’t be just the tech-people leading the change. Everyone should be aware and involved. SHIFT is a perfect event for you to learn what opportunities there are”. In addition to meeting all the talented speakers, Malinen is looking forward to showing his guests the beautiful riverside of Turku, not to mention the castle where the actual event is held.

Before the end, I also wanted to ask Malinen who or which organization he thinks should attend SHIFT. “A lot of people should attend, but I’m going to name Timo Lappi from Heltti. Timo has a true growth entrepreneur spirit and he has been involved in the development of several successful businesses such as Fondia. Nowadays Timo is redefining the occupational healthcare and wellbeing services in Heltti.”

Ok, thanks Teemu, we are super excited too!