Minna Väkevä Email & Phone Number

Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland

I help companies improve their R&D and innovation culture in a way that supports company strategy and increases the hit rate and cost efficiency of all development efforts, both related to technology and to business. All based on customer value and thorough understanding of value chains – now and in the foreseen futureContact me for training and tools that help you answer e.g. these questions:How well are our RDI activities aligned with company strategy?How much value do our RDI activities and outcome generate to customers?What is our impact on customer value chain now and in the future?Are there ways to increase RDI cost efficiency without compromising creativity and success rate?Contact me at minna.vakeva @ innoa.fi to learn more.

I lead the training activities of Hallituspartnerit - Board Professionals Helsinki.

Helsinki Metropolitan Area

Hallituspartnerit Helsinki is an association that supports SMEs though improved non executive board activities. I am a member of the training team - contact us for custom training for your board, or for your personnel who deal with SMEs and need to understand the way they operate.Hallituspartnereiden toiminnan tarkoitus on edistää pk-yritysten kilpailukykyä vahvistamalla ammattimaista hallitustyötä. Hallituspartnerit Helsinki toteuttaa tätä tehtävää välittämällä yrityksiin kokeneita ja sitoutuneita hallitusjäseniä, kehittämällä jäsentensä hallitusosaamista ja tekemällä hallitustyön merkitystä tunnetuksi.

ElFys develops, manufactures, and sells photodetectors and related services for global customers for various light detection applications such as wearables used for health monitoring. ElFys is a science spin-off currently in the process of upscaling production and other capabilities.

Helsinki Metropolitan Area

I had the privilege of mentoring the brilliant WeSAFE-team led by Professor Pedro Camargo.WeSAFE develops systems for the rapid and portable detection of chemical agents from air, rivers, lakes, and soil in emergency situations. Their technology enables fast and portable detection at low concentration levels beyond the capabilities of conventional methods that require samples to be sent to a central facility. Moreover, their technology can be tailored to allow the rapid and in-field detection of a variety of substances with applications in forensics, environmental monitoring, and quality control in a variety of industries.

Lifa Air manufactures and sells masks, respirators and air purifiers for consumers, retailers, distributors and the public sector, and mechatronic solutions for ventilation hygiene industry. I helped Lifa Air e.g., to clarify customer segmentation and in creating a technology strategy that addresses customer value, megatrends, and global risk scenarios. I launched and coordinated a Product Information Management project with the goal of improving sales and marketing activities. And identified annual cycle of customer and market needs and suggested product launch schedules and sales and marketing activities accordingly. I also developed a custom tool for customer value and value chain based new idea evaluation and built a new R&D project and testing management process.

I’m helping Lifa Air reach strategic goals through R&D.

I led the Finnish R&D department and was a member of the Finnish management team. 12 people reported directly to me. I was also a member of the steering group of a Group level ICT improvement project and e.g., defined the group level people process competences and behavioural anchors related to innovation, IPR, and project management.

Helsinki Metropolitan Area

Airmodus manufactures and sells aerosol counters. Unique 1 nm measurement solutions to universities and research institutes; niche R&D and certification instruments for vehicle, industrial engine, and after treatment industries for the measurements of emissions (e.g. EURO 6 certification or break emissions); and aerosol particle monitoring systems for research-oriented air quality authorities.Sustainability and mitigating climate change are the key drivers for most of Airmodus' customers. Airmodus has global customers, but all manufacturing and service activities are in Finland. Airmodus is a spin off from the University of Helsinki. My job was to transform a start-up into a company that now has processes, CRM, distributor network, financial tracking, defined values and strategy, an IPR policy etc. Despite our small size, we operated (and Airmodus still does!) as professionally as many large companies and gained a lot of praises from our industrial partners for our quality and practises. I was also responsible for all contract negotiations, and all legal / regulatory activities necessary for the company.

EUROCHAMP was a project that aimed to increase and systemise the use of scientific research infrastructures in Europe both for wider scientific and for industrial R&D activities. EUROCHAMP2020 infrastructures support the development of e.g. scientific instruments, sensor technologies and de-polluting materials.My main role was mentoring the scientist to understand how to address industrial people and interpreting the goals of industrial R&D activities.

Finland

The committee defines the vote of Finland on several CEN and ISO standards regarding commercial and residential buildings. Also, the effect and requirements of the Energy Performance in Buildings Directive is discussed in each meeting. I personally acted as a specialist on air filtration, filter testing and to some extent hospital ventilation. The committee is facilitated by METSTA, Mechanical Engineering and Metals Industry Standardization in Finland.

http://fineparticleforum.com

Turku, Finland

The Aerobiology unit sells laboratory analysis services and maintains the pollen identification network that is used for the national pollen forecasting. Due to organisational rearrangements the board was terminated in 2018.

Air0 develops, manufactures, and sells stand-alone air purifiers. I was one of the founders of the company. The one with air filtration and building industry insight: my expertise were the ecosystems and value chains of the potential customers and the existing technologies in aerosol particle and gas filtration and measurements.

My whole carrier at Halton was about networking people, identifying business opportunities, and enabling innovation. I always collaborated with people from all the business units. I got to work with the customers and stakeholders, and to study the value chains of several different customer segments. My duties as the Manager of Health segment consisted of corporate level business development targeted to healthcare customers. I was a member of the management board of the Halton New Ventures business unit. Our focus was on working with the end-users; with a holistic view of the offering and the R&D strategies of all Halton business units.

As an Innovation Specialist of the Halton Technology Center the goals of my work were: 1) to ensure that Halton was Innovative at all organizational levels and 2) to find new business/technology platforms.I collaborated with all the business units, with people from sales, marketing and R&D, mainly in Europe and the US.

I was a member of the management team of Halton Clean Air, and had responsibilities in sales and in developing the operational processes (e.g., modularisation of the production of the chemical filtration units) and the chemical air filtration business (Halton Chem).Halton Chem sold chemical filtration technologies for e.g. pulp and paper industry. Other customer fields I interacted with were e.g. commercial kitchens, hospitals and ships/ship yards.

Lifa Air sold air filtration solutions and air duct cleaning and inspection systems globally. The air filtration solutions targeted both aerosol particles and gaseous impurities.My main duties were in systematizing the R&D processes, especially the feasibility analysis of all new ideas. All R&D activities should answer an identified need and have a well-defined target customer and large enough market to justify investing time and money. I also participated the refinement of the quality system (ISO 9001 and ISO 14001) for the companyI also acted as the coordinator of a large EU project AIRSECURE, which aimed to develop detection and filtration technologies for airports. All design aspects and the requirement specifications were based on risk analysis. The project had members – both companies and research institutes – from several European countries, and we also had an active advisory board with members from European airports.

Navindoor Pseudolite-positioning solutionI was a member of the New Ventures business unit that applied the technologies and software originally intended for satellites, to serve industrial use closer to the ground. This job taught me about ESA funded development and EU-funded international co-development projects (mEXPRESS), and indoor positioning and location-based services.

The data security business was moved from Done Information to Capslock: another company within the same group of companies (Done / Reach-U)

I was the product manager of first a video conferencing solution and then the data security solutions of Done Information – and later Capslock Oy, another company within the same group, where the solutions were transferred to in 2001. Done Information and Capslock Oy belonged to a listed company Done Oyj that was divided into Done Solutions and Reach-U Solution. Thus I have also experienced the bankruptcy of a listed company (Reach-U Solutions). Working for Done I was for the first time working with marketing, structured project management, sales, pricing, …and with XML, digital signatures, authentication, industrial Tekes funded projects, and colleagues from other companies in a working group promoting digital services and e-identification facilitated by TIEKE.Products:Video conferencing solution;Single-sign-on solution;Digital signature conponent

I first worked in a project that studied urban air, then in several international multidisciplinary projects that all had the same goal: to understand and to mitigate climate change. I developed and operated instruments that were used to detect atmospheric (nano / ultrafine) particles. I was involved in many international projects and traveled around with the instruments I had built. As an experimental scientist you need to be resourceful; when in the middle of nowhere, e.g. by the Atlantic ocean in a small village in Ireland, the “instrument is not working”-option is not possible and you learn not to panic and to utilize MacGyver-type of solutions whenever needed. ou also learn to determine which are the aspects / parameters that matter, and which aspects can and should be neglected to solve the challenges at hand.For a few years I also acted as the Editor-in-chief for the Report Series in Aerosol Science journal by Finnish Association for Aerosol Research (http://www.faar.fi/report-series/)

Phd, Aerosol And Atmospheric Physics

Cbm (Certified Board Member)

HHJ Course and exam by the Finnish Chambers of Commerce for the members of boards of directors

Diploma In Industrial Service Business

Msc, Physics