Insights

CTO Forum is an invitational community for Finland's Chief Technology Officers, organised since 2011. The key theme in this autumn’s event on 3rd November 2021 was to discuss how Finland is aiming to solve global challenges. The hybrid networking and idea-sharing event brought together a good number of CTOs and other technology leaders representing a wide variety of Finnish industries. In discussions and workshops, participants were sharing valuable insights on how to best utilise our technology sector and how public programmes can support these efforts. What is more, the nomination period for the CTO of the Year 2022 and Innovation Professor of the Year 2022 was opened!

As the annual cycle soon closes, October Q4 opened a new and continuous wave of EU funding calls. Many organizations might be focusing on reporting of the current year, but don’t forget this is also the time to build the next year’s strategy and work plans considering some funding deadlines can spawn into Spring 2022.

The European Commission has adopted its legislative proposal for a strategic European partnership on Smart Networks and Services as a Joint Undertaking, with a public R&I investment of 900 M€ over the new long-term budget period 2021-2027. The Joint Undertaking will coordinate research activities on 6G technology under Horizon Europe and 5G deployment initiatives under the Connecting Europe Facility Digital and other programmes.

We have again welcomed a group of versatile professionals to join the ever-growing team of experts at Spinverse. Warm welcome to Jari Herranen, Franklin Nguyen, Dijana Soininen, and Giancarlo Pastor (as seen in photo).

Nominations are once again open for the title of European Chief Technology Officer of the Year. The 2021 Award will be given to the most inspiring, innovative, and foresighted technology leaders in Europe.

We discussed with Patrick Halford who leads our Digital Industries team about the research activities around Artificial Intelligence (AI). Keeping up with the many overlapping technologies under the umbrella of what is commonly known as artificial intelligence as they ride their respective cost/performance improvement curves is no easy feat. It is, however, an essential element of Spinverse’s business model as we strive to help our clients from across all industries and organization types capitalise on converging technologies to secure R&D&I funding and build out new value chains. 

Jaakko Tapaninen of Hybrid Times podcast invited Pekka Koponen to shed some light on the growth, partnership and internationalization opportunities on offer to Finnish companies through the  massive funding programmes under the NextGenerationEU. In the podcast, Jaakko and Pekka discuss what kind of future will be built with the hundreds of billions of euros for a more sustainable, digital and stronger Europe and how Finnish companies can be part of that growth. 

An important gateway to the global market for the smart city offering developed within the LuxTurrim5G ecosystem will be opened at the Expo 2020 Dubai, launching in October. In the event, the LuxTurrim5G concept and two functional smart poles will be showcased together with Nokia and Tehomet, Orbis, Teleste, Vaisala, Indagon, L7 Drive, Link Design, VTT and Spinverse. Spinverse has been part of the ecosystem since its very start, taking care of the ecosystem leadership and project coordination.   

At this time of the year, IMCG is helping many clients with change management and business development. Based on business environment analysis, we review the business model together with the client and prepare a strategy for next year. Based on the strategy, the business plan is then updated with identified change proposals.   

Great opportunities for sustainable growth can appear from multiple directions. Sometimes, they occur as a result of unforeseen circumstances, such as global events which trigger a re-wiring of business, government, and society’s mode of operation. Sometimes these transformational shifts are recognized by large corporates who have a clear understanding of how fast the snow is melting at the edges of their organization, recognizing that they have to simultaneously dramatically change to a new business model, at the same time as delivering on existing business commitments. Join a series of conversations around these topics, arranged by HCL Technologies and moderated by our Patrick Halford!