Creative Failups by EIT Culture & Creativity

3 Creative Entrepreneurs share how their failure shaped their journey, featuring:

Samuli Syvähuoko is a video game industry serial entrepreneur and investor. He co-founded Remedy Entertainment in 1995 and since then has started several other game companies. In 2014, Samuli co-founded Sisu Game Ventures, the world’s first investment company focused 100% on games. Over the years, Samuli has experienced many challenging situations and learned many—sometimes painful—lessons. He is eager to pass his learnings on to the next generation of entrepreneurs to help them succeed and avoid at least some pitfalls.

Sanna Kantola is a Finnish entrepreneur, designer, and civic advocate based in Helsinki. She is the founder and CEO of Lumi Accessories, a sustainable fashion brand renowned for its minimalist leather bags and accessories. Kantola holds a Master of Arts degree in Fashion Design from the University of Art and Design Helsinki (now part of Aalto University). Her professional journey includes roles as a designer at Ralph Lauren Luggage Co. in New York before founding Lumi. In addition to her entrepreneurial and design endeavors, Kantola is actively engaged in public service. Her platform emphasizes creative economy, cultural development, education, and diversity, aiming to transform Helsinki into a leading design city in the Nordic region.

Miikko Oikkonen is a Finnish writer, director, and executive producer who has created over 80 hours of high-end drama, including the fantasy series Nymphs (2014), acclaimed Nordic Noir series Bordertown (2016–2020), and political thriller series Helsinki Syndrome (2022–). The latest drama created and written by Oikkonen is the event series Estonia (2023). Oikkonen is also the author of seven published novels and has lectured on writing, content creation, and showrunning at several film schools and universities.

The session will be moderated by Kati Uusi-Rauva, the Director of EIT Culture & Creativity North.