Marko Ahtisaari (born 1969 [1] in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish technology entrepreneur and musician. Ahtisaari has been CEO and co-founder of two technology companies: Dopplr (acquired by Nokia in 2009) [2] and Sync Project (acquired by Bose in 2018). [3] After the acquisition of Dopplr, Ahtisaari was executive vice president of Design at Nokia [4] and later a Director's Fellow at the MIT Media Lab. [5] He is a composer, bassist and singer in the band Construction. [6]
Marko Ahtisaari is the son of Martti Ahtisaari, a former UN diplomat and President of Finland, and Eeva Ahtisaari, the former First Lady of Finland. He attended Columbia University, where he studied philosophy, economics and music. [7]
Ahtisaari's business career started at a new media company Satama Interactive in 1998. In 2002 Ahtisaari left the company to join its biggest client, Nokia. He was appointed Director of Design strategy in 2005. In 2006, he left Nokia and joined his former boss, Nokia CEO Pekka Ala-Pietilä to start an advertisement-supported mobile network Blyk. [8] [9] In 2007, Ahtisaari became the founding investor and CEO of online business travel startup Dopplr, [10] [11] which was acquired by Nokia in 2009. [12] Between February 2009 September 2013 Ahtisaari was Head of Product Design at Nokia. [13] [14] In January 2012, he was appointed as a member of the Nokia leadership team. [15] Ahtisaari announced his resignation from Nokia when Microsoft acquired Nokia's devices business in September 2013. [16]
Ahtisaari is co-editor with Laura Houseley of Out of the Blue: The Essence and Ambition of Finnish Design (Gestalten 2014) a survey of Finnish Design. [17] Ahtisaari and Finnish entrepreneur and journalist Jaakko Tapaninen co-authored the book 10x Finland (Teos 2015) for the Finnish-speaking audience on the impact of digitalisation on a country like Finland. The book is based on original interviews with international persons of interest in technology and media including Joi Ito, Stefana Broadbent, Tyler Brule, danah boyd, Joshua Cooper Ramo, and Bret Easton Ellis. In its review the Finnish National daily Helsingin Sanomat called 10x Finland "one of the most interesting books written in Finnish on the effects of digitalisation." [18] Ahtisaari contributed the essay "Intelligent Travel" to the Freesouls project. [19]
Ahtisaari's band Skizm - together with percussionist Mauro Refosco, trumpetist Michael Leonhart, bassist Dan Cooper, singer Carolyn Kelley, and drummer Tobias Gebb - received a NARAS Grammy Showcase Award for new artists. [20]
Helsinki University of Technology was a technical university in Finland. It was located in Otaniemi, Espoo in the metropolitan area of Greater Helsinki. The university was founded in 1849 by Grand Duke of Finland, Emperor Nicholas I and received university status in 1908. It moved from Helsinki to Otaniemi campus area in 1966. The merger of HUT with two other schools created the Aalto University in 2010, and HUT briefly held the name Aalto University School of Science and Technology before being split into four schools in 2011.
Hervanta is a large suburb, or satellite city, of Tampere in Finland, located next to Hallila some 10 km south of the city centre.
Ilta-Sanomat is one of Finland's two prominent tabloid size evening newspapers and the second largest paper in the country. Its counterpart and biggest rival is Iltalehti.
Ruoholahti is a quarter in Helsinki, part of the Länsisatama neighbourhood and Kampinmalmi district. It is located in the southwestern part of the central city area of Helsinki, close to the Lauttasaari island, and it functions as the principal connection between the Helsinki city centre and the city of Espoo to the west. As of 2005 Ruoholahti is inhabited by approx. 3300 people. The Länsisatama port is also situated in Ruoholahti.
Jorma Jaakko Ollila is a Finnish businessman who was chairman of Royal Dutch Shell from 1 June 2006 to May 2015, and at Nokia Corporation chairman from 1999 to 2012 and CEO from 1992 to 2006. He has been a director of Otava Books and Magazines Group Ltd. since 1996 and UPM-Kymmene since 1997, and an advisory partner at Perella Weinberg Partners, a New York–based boutique investment bank founded by Joseph R. Perella and Peter Weinberg in 2006.
The Order of the Lion of Finland is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty and the Order of the White Rose of Finland. The President of Finland is the Grand Master of all three orders. The orders are administered by boards consisting of a chancellor, a vice-chancellor and at least four members. The orders of the White Rose of Finland and the Lion of Finland have a joint board. The President of Finland wears the Star of the Order of the Lion of Finland.
Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb is a Finnish politician who is the president-elect of Finland, having won the 2024 presidential election. He previously served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2014 to 2015.
Elisa Oyj is a Finnish telecommunications company founded in 1882. Its previous names were Helsingin Puhelin and Elisa Communications Oyj. Elisa is a telecommunications, ICT and online service company operating mainly in Finland and Estonia, but it also offers digital services for international operators and other companies. Elisa is the market leader in mobile and fixed network subscriptions in Finland. Elisa provides services for communication and entertainment, and tools for improving operating methods and productivity of organisations. It cooperates for example with Vodafone and Tele2.
Trams in Helsinki form part of the public transport system organised by Helsinki Regional Transport Authority and operated by Metropolitan Area Transport Ltd in Finland's capital city of Helsinki. The trams are the main means of transport in the city center, and 56.8 million trips were made on the system in 2019. In addition to the older tram network, there is a single light rail line that was opened in October 2023. Although technically compatible with the tram network, the light rail line is separate from the city center tram network.
Jouko Autero Award is a yearly award for the Best Finnish ice hockey reporter/journalist etc.
Tietoevry Keilalahti Campus/Microsoft Talo is the head office building of Tieto and Microsoft Finland, located in Keilaniemi, Espoo, just outside Helsinki, the capital of Finland.
YIT Oyj is the largest Finnish and a significant North European construction company. YIT is headquartered in Helsinki and its stock is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Oy. YIT develops and builds apartments, business premises and entire areas. YIT is also specialised in demanding infrastructure construction and paving. YIT operates in 11 countries: Finland, Russia, Scandinavia, the Baltic States, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland.
Pekka Ala-Pietilä, January 13, 1957, Asikkala, is CEO and co-founder of Blyk. He was also President of Nokia Corporation (1999–2005) and President of Nokia Mobile Phones (1992–1998). He holds an honorary Doctor in Technology from Tampere University of Technology and in Science from the University of Helsinki, and is a Knight 1st Class of the Order of the White Rose of Finland.
Dopplr was a free social networking service, launched in 2007, that allowed users to create itineraries of their travel plans and spot correlations with their contacts' travel plans in order to arrange meetings at any point on their journey. Additional features included allowing the user to calculate the carbon footprint their journeys have produced. The site was named after Christian Doppler, discoverer of the Doppler effect. The company was based in the "Silicon Roundabout" area of London.
Lisa Sounio is a past CEO and chairperson of social networking site Dopplr. She is also the CEO of her own design management consultancy Sonay. She has a background in industrial design management. Early in her career she worked as a sales- and export manager in the Finnish furniture industry. Before becoming an entrepreneur she worked for Iittala where she was in charge of branding and product design development.
Taneli Tikka is a Finnish serial entrepreneur and IT influencer.
Kotipizza Oyj is the largest pizza restaurant chain in the Nordic countries. Koti is Finnish and translates as "home". Kotipizza is part of Kotipizza Group, and it operates a chain of pizza franchises in Finland. In 2021, there were 290 Kotipizza restaurants in Finland. Its head office is in Helsinki, Finland.
Presidential elections were held in Finland in January and February 2012. The first round took place on 22 January 2012 with advance voting between 11 and 17 January. Since no candidate received a majority of the vote, a second round was held on 5 February, with advance voting between 25 and 31 January. Sauli Niinistö was elected the President of Finland for a term from 1 March 2012 until 1 March 2018.
Events in the year 2023 in Finland.
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