lineup

DanceWorks Helsinki is one of Finland’s leading contemporary dance companies, known for its bold artistic vision and international collaborations. Founded by choreographer Reetta-Kaisa Iles, the company operates at the intersection of dance, performance, and experimentation, regularly working with renowned choreographers from Finland and abroad.

DocPoint is Finland’s leading documentary film festival and a key platform for non-fiction cinema in the Nordics. Held annually in Helsinki, the festival showcases critically acclaimed international documentaries alongside Finnish premieres. DocPoint is widely recognized for fostering dialogue around social, political, and cultural issues through film.

Dottir is an agile Helsinki-based law firm recognised for advising companies at the forefront of innovation in Finland and beyond. The firm’s clients include Nordic and global players across tech, fintech, real estate, energy, and venture capital sectors, and the firm has been cited by major legal directories including Chambers and Partners, Legal 500, and IFLR1000 for its strength in corporate and finance work. Recent matters include advising on major funding rounds, project finance, and complex structuring for growth companies and financial institutions.

Dr. Elisabet Lahti is a Finnish educator and researcher exploring what inner strength and leadership look like when grounded in the body, creativity, and our interdependence with nature and one another. Her work sits at the intersection of culture, community, and individual experience, with a focus on life-giving expressions of power in times of transformation.

Lahti is widely known for her work on sisu, the Finnish concept of deep fortitude. Her PhD research at Aalto University brought this age-old idea into contemporary conversations around leadership, resilience, and everyday life, drawing from applied psychology, somatic practices, systems thinking, and lived experience.

As part of her research journey, Lahti ran and cycled 2,400 kilometres across New Zealand to study how inner strength is accessed and sustained. Through talks, gatherings, and books such as Gentle Power and Sisun alkemia, she invites people to see strength as relational, creative, and shared.

Emmi Kärnä is a Finnish game designer and creative technologist whose work spans interactive media, emerging technologies, and participatory experiences all the way from escape rooms to digital puzzles. Her practice blends playful design, digital storytelling, and human-centred interaction, making complex systems intuitive and engaging. Kärnä has worked with institutions, cultural organisations, and research groups to explore how games and interactive formats can enrich education, civic engagement, and creative expression. With her focus on collaboration and experimentation, Kärnä brings a future-facing perspective on how interactive media shapes human behaviour, community building, and cultural meaning in the digital age.

Fanny Heinonen is the Director of the Film Tampere development program at Business Tampere, where she works to grow, internationalize, and future-proof the regional audiovisual industry. With a background spanning film production, casting, entrepreneurship, and business development, Fanny brings a rare inside-out understanding of how creative industries operate, from set floors to strategy rooms.

A creative leader with a passion for art, fashion, and design, her work lives at the intersection of business, creativity, and human performance. Alongside her role at Business Tampere, she coaches creative professionals and emerging leaders, helping them navigate sustainable careers in fast-moving industries.

Heidi Backman serves as the Permanent Secretary at Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture, placing her at the center of national cultural and educational policy. Her work shapes how arts, culture, and creative industries are supported at a structural level. Backman is recognized for her long-standing expertise in public administration and cultural governance. She plays a key role in defining the conditions under which creativity and culture operate in Finnish society.

Few creatives have shaped Finland’s recent pop-cultural imagery as decisively as Heikki Slåen. Known for creating striking visual worlds that resonate with audiences, he has played a central role in redefining Finnish music videos through his long-standing work with UMK, helping transform the competition into a local and global phenomenon. His directorial work reached international audiences through Käärijä’s Cha Cha Cha, quickly followed by Windows95man’s No Rules and Erika Vikman’s Ich Komme, where image, music, and identity merged into unforgettable cultural moments.

Working fluidly as a director, cinematographer, and actor, Slåen has built a versatile portfolio that crafts narrative universes marked by intensity, playfulness, and deep human sensitivity. Alongside his film and television work, Slåen also practices as a solution-focused therapist, bringing empathy, narrative insight, and practical strategy into his sessions to help cultivate trust, enable flow, and make space for both structure and creative freedom.

Jani Halme is a Finnish writer and cultural commentator known for his sharp insights on media, culture, and society. With a background spanning journalism, editorial work, and cultural analysis, Halme’s writing probes power, public discourse, and the invisible forces shaping contemporary life. He has contributed to major Finnish outlets and engaged audiences with thoughtful content and perspectives on how culture intersects with technology, politics, and everyday experience. As a speaker, strategist, and storyteller, Halme brings clarity to complex societal patterns and the narratives that define our times.

Jonas Verwijnen is a record producer, composer, live sound engineer, AI-music product innovator, and music industry consultant whose career spans more than two decades and over 500 credits. Born in Switzerland, raised in Finland, and shaped by 13 years in Berlin, Verwijnen brings a distinctly international perspective to every project he touches.

His work spans indie rock, electronic, experimental, and ambient music, with releases on labels such as 4AD, Sacred Bones, Sub Pop, Jagjaguwar, Bella Union, and Heavenly Recordings. Most recently, he has collaborated with artists including Kamasi Washington, Mereba, Corbin, Colin Stetson, Shida Shahabi, and Valerie June. At the core of his practice is a belief that sound is connection: whether he is sculpting delicate textures or capturing a raw, unrepeatable moment, Verwijnen focuses on uncovering the heartbeat of the music.

Juska Wendland is a long-standing tastemaker in Finnish electronic music culture, known for his work as a DJ, radio host, music journalist, and podcast researcher.

For over two decades, he has introduced audiences to new sounds and underground movements through clubs, festivals, and broadcasting. Wendland’s influence lies in his ability to contextualize music within broader cultural shifts and bridging scenes, generations, and genres.

In his research, Wendland focuses on audience participation and new interactive methods in podcasting and audio production. Through both scholarship and broadcasting, Wendland shapes new ways of thinking around audio culture, community, and the future of media.

Jussi Venäläinen is a leading Finnish expert on flow, the psychological state of deep focus and peak performance. With over a decade of experience in wellbeing, personal development, productivity, and entrepreneurship, he works with organisations, knowledge workers, and individuals to help them understand and harness flow in work, hobbies, and everyday life.

Venäläinen is also the author of Flow-tila (2020), a book that explores the science and practice of flow and how it can be applied across professional and personal contexts.

Known for blending evidence-based insight with actionable guidance, Venäläinen brings clarity to how deep engagement can transform creativity, performance, and wellbeing.

Karoliina Jarenko is a leading Finnish expert on organisational change, human-centred leadership, and participatory culture. She works with organisations across sectors to cultivate inclusive practices, creative problem-solving, and transformative work cultures. As an author and facilitator, Jarenko challenges hierarchical norms and champions dialogue, trust, and courage as core ingredients of adaptive leadership. Her approach draws on systemic thinking, psychological insight, and lived experience, helping teams navigate complexity with curiosity rather than fear. Through workshops, public speaking, and strategic coaching, she supports leaders to rethink authority, unlock collective potential, and design environments where innovation and human wellbeing thrive together.

Paleface is one of Finland’s most influential artists, widely recognized for his award-winning music and his strong presence in public debate. A rapper, lyricist, and author, he has played a major role in shaping Finnish hip hop while addressing themes of politics, freedom of expression, and cultural identity. Beyond music, Paleface is known as a sharp societal commentator whose voice extends into literature and activism. His work shows how art can function as both cultural expression and political force.

Katriina Heljakka (Doctor of Arts, PhD) is a researcher of toys and play at the University of Turku, as well as an artist, curator, art critic, and designer of playable experiences. Her work explores the visual, material, and digital cultures of play, and the role of play across leisure, working life, and education. She is a Docent of Toy and Play Cultures at Tampere University and currently serves as a visiting scholar at Turku School of Economics, where she is also a Docent in Entrepreneurship.

Before academia, Heljakka worked in the toy industry as a game designer and creative manager, a background that continues to shape her research. Her interests include toy design, toy fandoms, playpreneurship, and lifelong and life-wide play, examining how playfulness functions as both cultural practice and serious creative force.

A wide-ranging industry professional, Lotta Savolainen has nearly two decades of experience across the local music landscape. She has worked with both major and independent labels, successfully combining roles as a musician, publicist, agent, mentor, curator, and journalist. Her work is rooted in championing diversity, strengthening ethical practices, and elevating the voices of independent artists.

Today, Savolainen serves as the CEO of Music x Media, Finland’s largest music conference, an afternoon host on Radio Helsinki, and a member of the expert committee for the Teosto Cultural Foundation. She has previously curated her own column, Löytöretkellä, for Soundi magazine, and acted as a judge and curator for platforms such as Emma Gala, Indie Awards, and the artist committee of the Lost In Music showcase festival, where she also served as the artistic director in 2025. Her dedicated work for the field has also been widely recognized as Savolainen was named Indie Co.’s “Indie Friend of the Year” in 2024 and awarded “Media Influencer of the Year” at the 2025 Industry Awards.

Minna Tervamäki is a critically acclaimed Finnish choreographer and performer known for her powerful, physically charged work in contemporary dance. Her pieces have been presented across Finland and internationally, often exploring the boundaries of movement, presence, and emotional expression. Tervamäki’s choreography combines rigorous physicality with thematic depth, challenging audiences to engage with the body as both instrument and storyteller. She is also recognised for her role as an artistic curator, shaping programmes that elevate experimental performance and collaboration. Through performance, creation, and dialogue, Tervamäki is a distinctive voice in Nordic dance and a driver of embodied artistic innovation.

Otto Yliperttula, widely known as Yotto, is one of Finland’s most internationally recognized electronic music producers. His melodic, atmospheric take on deep house has earned him performances at Coachella, Tomorrowland, Electric Zoo, and festivals across Europe, North America, and Australia.

Yliperttula’s 2018 debut album Hyperfall on Anjunadeep topped Billboard’s Dance/Electronic chart and accumulated over 20 million streams, while his remixes for Coldplay, Gorillaz, Röyksopp, and RÜFÜS DU SOL have reinforced his global presence.

In 2019, he launched his own label Odd One Out to champion not just his own music but the sounds he’s passionate about. Quickly, the label has grown into a carefully curated hub that spotlights both established peers and emerging fresh talents.

Yliperttula will take the stage at ODDfest as a speaker.

One of Finland’s most internationally recognized entrepreneurs, Peter Vesterbacka is best known for helping scale Angry Birds into a global phenomenon and for co-founding Slush, now one of the world’s leading startup events. Over his career, he has become recognized for bold thinking around growth, branding, and global ambition. Vesterbacka has worked across technology, media, and education, consistently pushing ideas that challenge conventional limits. His perspective combines startup culture, cultural momentum, and a belief in thinking bigger, beyond markets or borders.

Reidar Wasenius brings together science, business, and creativity in a rare combination. As an AI researcher, his current work focuses on memetic AI, often described as the next paradigm beyond generative AI. Alongside research, he has been deeply embedded in the startup ecosystem from its earliest days, serving as an advisor, board member, and coach to founders across incubators and accelerators. Wasenius has led the Helsinki chapter of the Founder Institute and served as Managing Director of FiBAN, the Finnish Business Angels Network.

His tech career spans over three decades, with roles at Nokia, Samsung, Telecom Finland, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), and Tekes (now Business Finland). Actively involved in every major tech wave since the 1980s, from microcomputers to AI, his interdisciplinary thinking is also reflected in Personal Brainer, co-authored with neurobiologist Tiina Huttu.

Leading one of Finland’s most influential architecture firms, Samppa Lappalainen is best known through JKMM Architects, the studio behind cultural landmarks such as Amos Rex. His work places architecture at the center of public life, combining design excellence with societal relevance. Lappalainen operates at the intersection of culture, leadership, and large-scale civic projects.

Opened in 2022, Tanssin talo is Finland’s first dedicated house for dance, serving as a major new cultural institution in Helsinki. The venue hosts leading Finnish and international dance productions, residencies, and festivals, strengthening the visibility and infrastructure of contemporary dance nationwide.

A prominent voice in Finnish media, Ville Blåfield is widely known for his work as a long-time journalist shaping public debate around culture, politics, and society. His career includes senior editorial roles at Helsingin Sanomat and Radio Helsinki, and journalistic work for Suomen Kuvalehti and other major Finnish publications. Blåfield is also the Program Director of the Helsinki Book Fair, one of Finland’s largest literature gatherings. As a communications consultant and advisor, he brings deep insight into media, public conversation, and cultural contexts.