About Us

Welcome to the future! In this post-pandemic world, there is a clear need for community. There's no use longing for the past. But we have a suggestion on what the community could look like in the data industry in the 2020s.

In October 2024, we organized the first Helsinki Data Week. A gathering that brought together diverse perspectives and expertise. We invited everyone interested in data, regardless of their points of view.

Before we dive into the details, it's worth explaining where the idea for Helsinki Data Week came from. what needs it answers, and who is in the core team.

And if you missed the first Helsinki Data Week, don’t worry. Come join in 2025! Whether to expand your network, share your expertise with others, or see who else is currently working with.

Mo Silos Mo Problems

After the pandemic, there are active data communities again in Helsinki, also more broadly in Finland. Events are being organized. But we have noticed that we have divided into smaller, well-defined groups, often based on professions, technical preferences, or areas of expertise.

This has led to a situation where we do not meet enough people outside our small circles. A common topic has been whether it's acceptable to take part in a certain event. Especially when one's job title doesn't exactly match the 'requirements' of the event.

There have been opportune networking events. Yet it is typical to hear about the event only afterward. Most often from LinkedIn posts detailing who attended and what happened! For some reason, information about many events stays within that circle. Even though one of the challenges for event organizers is attracting enough attendees.

It also happens that even if we've noticed an event in time, we may hesitate to take part. Because we think there will not be people we already know there. "Introverts unite! Separately, in your own homes..."

What's the solution?

We wanted to create a more open space for diverse collaboration. To welcome different perspectives and professional experiences. This way, we can not only increase collective knowledge, but also broaden views and create more opportunities for learning and making connections. Also, you're allowed to have fun. It is even encouraged!

Respecting different points of view is evident in Helsinki Data Week. For example, the language used for the event and its marketing has been English. The labour shortage in Finland is also evident in the data industry. We aim to make Finland a more attractive place to work, even if a worker's mother tongue is not Finnish.

We feel we provided a quality event experience for everyone, regardless of their monetary situation. The equation has required functioning partnerships. Our goal was to bring together companies that might be competitors in other contexts. This model has worked globally, and we believed it to be possible here as well. We have benchmarked how others organize such community data events elsewhere. Yet the event reflected us and its participants. And it was Finnish with a capital F.

Going forward, we aim to provide the Finnish data scene an event that is both affordable and of high quality. Bringing on the stage topical speakers, from both inside Finland and abroad. And bringing together a vibrant community of diverse data people. During the main event but also throughout the year for low-key meetups that were successfully initiated in 2024.

In the beginning was…

The first official Helsinki Data Week was in October 2024. You may be surprised to hear the idea was born only in November 2023. Our mutual friend Joe Reis (Fundamentals of Data Engineering) was speaking at the ADE Summit. That same week, Ole Olesen-Bagneux (The Enterprise Data Catalog) was a guest at a DAMA Finland event. There was also a meetup for the R User Group Finland, where Joe was also a guest.

Inspired by all this, Antti Rask coined the term “Helsinki Data Week” on LinkedIn. During the week, Antti also discussed the idea with people he met. Three of them, Eevamaija Virtanen, Juha Korpela, and Säde Haveri were at least as excited about the idea. Soon, we had agreed to start thinking about "How?" instead of endlessly pondering "Should we?".

It's a bit ironic that it took Joe Reis coming to Finland for us Finns working in the same field to meet. And while this might be about stereotypes, there is a grain of truth in that statement. After all, this is what networking is about! A hub with many contacts with other nodes can best create connections, and encourage its known nodes to network among themselves.

The idea of Helsinki Data Week was to scale these spontaneous interactions. The aim, of course, isn’t to replicate the same event over and over. But we hope to serve as an example of what you can achieve when people with different points of view come together and think about what could be possible. And most importantly, start doing things together.

Who are we?

Antti Rask represents data analytics and the business perspective on the team. He is a novice in this group if you count the years in the data industry. Antti’s studies began alongside work during the spring of 2020. From 2022 to 2024, he served as Data Analytics Lead at Teosto. He can also still remember what the field looks like from the perspective of a career changer. Nowadays Antti works as a data analyst at SOK. He has experience with events, having before organized, among others, Ilosaarirock.

Eevamaija Virtanen is a senior data engineer. She is a partner at Invinite and a board member at Tivia. She is building sustainable and scalable data solutions in the energy and healthcare sectors. Eevamaija is the founder of the DataTribe community, which aims to promote the development of data skills in Finland through peer learning and mentoring. Eevamaija’s mission is to solve societal problems with data and kitchen psychology.

Juha Korpela has worked in various data roles since 2011, in recent years particularly in data modeling and information architecture. From 2020 to 2023 he served as the Chief Product Officer for Ellie Technologies. Today, Juha works as a consultant entrepreneur. In his free time, Juha plays jazz!

Säde Haveri has been working with data for 17 years. She has worked in various expert and architect roles, wherever data and its users meet. In recent years, Säde has focused particularly on data governance and data catalogs. Her day job is as the Data Governance Manager at Relex Solutions. She also works as a freelancer and is a board member of DAMA Finland.

This Is How We DID It

What was Helsinki Data Week like in 2024? We organized a week-long event series in Helsinki. The week kicked off on Monday with an opening event, for which we brought in international keynote speakers. During the week, our partners organized their own events under the common Helsinki Data Week banner. On Friday, we celebrated the successful week with a casual closing ceremony that included karaoke.

The event was held for the first time in 2024. Having now done it once, we know what we want to change (but also what to keep) for the future events. We certainly gained valuable insights from this first iteration for future years. One thing is certain, we do not intend to compromise on quality. We aimed to create an event that attracts people from beyond Finland’s borders - and we succeeded already in our first year! But there’s still a lot to improve for 2025!

Call to Action!

You can find more information about the event on the website. You can register for the email list; it will provide information throughout next year about new speakers and partners. It’s also a good idea to follow Helsinki Data Week on social media (links for LinkedIn and Instagram in the footer).

We are currently seeking partners and sponsors for 2025. If you want visibility for your data company in Finland and abroad, contact us through the website or LinkedIn!

Our primary motive for organizing Helsinki Data Week is a better and more inclusive data industry for everyone in Finland. We want to thank everyone who attended Helsinki Data Week 2024 and hope that as many people as possible will join the event in 2025, in one way or another. The community has tremendous value, and we need your contribution!

See you in 2025!

Antti Rask
Eevamaija Virtanen
Juha Korpela
Säde Haveri