FUTUREPROOF ecosystem: the first networking event and panel discussion on February 3

The FUTUREPROOF program aims to accelerate innovation by bringing together companies and experts across industries.The event, titled Winning Consortium, will offer insights into building strong project partnerships, identifying the right collaborators and increasing an organization’s readiness to join high‑impact EU consortia. A panel discussion featuring will provide expert perspectives, followed by an open Q&A session. 

We are honored to introduce the distinguished speakers of our panel discussion: 

National funder: Elina Holmberg (Business Finland) 

Elina Holmberg is currently working in Business Finland as a Director for International Affairs, has a long experience in European R&I collaboration and EU funding. Prior to her current job, she worked in European Commission as a Project Officer for EU funded projects in the area of intelligent transport solutions, where she participated in preparation of Work Programmes, running evaluations of calls for proposals, managing funded projects and liaising with relevant industrial and academic stakeholders. Since then, she has worked for the Commission as an independent expert in evaluations and project reviews. She stated as a national EU funding expert at Tekes in 2013 and has taken wider set of duties related to international innovation collaboration after the forming of Business Finland in 2018. 

Industry excellence: Anders Öster (Wärtsilä) 

Anders Öster is a General Manager, Research Coordination & Funding at Wärtsilä, where he strives to connect the right innovations, the right partners, and the right funding instruments with each other, to create successful project proposals. He has experience of being Project Coordinator, leading funding proposals, and of influencing them through partnerships. Anders holds the position of Chair for Vessel Operations & Technologies at Waterborne Technology Platform, working together with the European Commission to create future policies for the maritime sector. He has also earned seats in the SEA Europe RDI and Digitalisation working groups, and in the Finnish Marine Industries Research Committee. 

Industry excellence: Marke Kallio (Valmet) 

Marke Kallio is an experienced technology and innovation leader with a strong background in industrial R&D, program management, and cross‑organizational collaboration. As Valmet’s Director of R&D Programs, she leads major innovation initiatives such as the Beyond Circularity Veturi program. Her earlier roles at Metso, Metso Outotec, and VTT combine industrial development experience with a strong research background to drive impactful, future‑focused R&D, especially on circular‑economy‑based material development. She has long experience in EU‑funded collaboration, including the EU Horizon, EIT RawMaterials and ERA-MET projects. 

Industry excellence: Veli-Pekka Luoma (Nokia) 

Veli-Pekka Luoma, M.Sc Econ, is an Ecosystem and Innovation Lead with Mobile Networks Technology Center in Nokia. Enthusiastic about technology-based innovation, Veli-Pekka has been starting and leading data-based businesses in different sized from start-ups to global scale transformation and introduction of new services. Currently active with innovation within 5G, metaverse, AI, Industrial IoT and Intelligent EDGE with Nokia. 

Consortium coordinator: Pasi Ojala (Spinverse) 

Pasi Ojala is a Director in Spinverse’s Manufacturing team, working with industrial and research partners on the preparation and coordination of EU Innovation Fund, Horizon Europe and CBE proposals. He has extensive experience in building coherent consortia and guiding large research, innovation and investment projects in the energy, process and manufacturing industries from early concepting to final submission. In the panel, he brings the coordinator’s perspective on how a functional consortium is formed and how the proposal process is guided to a credible outcome. 

EU evaluator/assessor expert: Heli Harrikari (DIMECC) 

Heli Harrikari is Head of EU Strategy at DIMECC, working closely with industrial companies on EU funding, consortia building, and AI-driven innovation. Alongside this role, she regularly serves as an expert evaluator for EU funding proposals. This gives her a first-hand view of how applications are actually read and compared –  what makes industry-led consortia convincing, and why well-intended proposals still fail. In this panel, she brings the evaluator’s perspective on what really differentiates winning EU consortia. 

Participants will also have the opportunity to network with FUTUREPROOF program experts, tire professionals and fellow ecosystem members. The event takes place on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, from 12:00 to 14:00 at the Nokian Tyres headquarters in Nokia. A Teams link will be available for remote participation.

Attendance is limited to FUTUREPROOF ecosystem members. If you are interested in participating in the event and becoming an ecosystem member, please fill in the form.