The Board of Directors 2021-2022
The Board of the Foundation is appointed by four parties: The IPR University Center (IPRUC), a coalition of six universities; Keksijäin Keskusliitto (KeKe, the Society of Finnish inventors); the Society of Finnish Patent Attorneys; and the Suomen Yrittäjät organisation (SY, the Federation of Finnish Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses). The mandate of the Board spans the period between annual meetings.
Juhani Talvela member of the Board, Chairman 2020-. Lic. Tech. Mr. Talvela is an experienced entrepreneur and business professional. Following a long career as an entrepreneur in ICT, Talvela resigned his group of companies in a buy-out in 2013. Prior to this, he worked as a counsel and mentor for active and potential entrepreneurs in issues regarding strategic development. Talvela is also active at the Aalto and LUT universities, doing research on the capacities of entrepreneurs and small businesses in the fields of technology leadership and the protection of creative assets.
Juhani Talvela
IPR University Center
Juha Vesala Member of the Board. Mr. Vesala is a Director within IPRUC.
Timo Nyberg Member of the Board. Professor, Dr. Tech. Nyberg lectures on Intellectual Property Strategies at the Aalto university, assists startups in creating IPR strategies and also appears as an inventor in several patents. Dr. Nyberg is a Visiting Professor and a lecturer at several universities.
Timo Nyberg
Tuomas Mylly Associate Member of the Board. Mr. Mylly is a Director within IPRUC.
Maria Rehbinder is an Associate Member of the Board. She acts as a lawyer in the Aalto-university. She is an expert and has authored a book on intellectual property rights.
Keksijäin Keskusliitto (The Finnish Inventors’ National Federation)
Petri Peltonen is a Member of the Board and co-chairman of the Foundation. Mr. Peltonen is a mathematician and inventor who has been active in the role of inventor and employee in more than 10 different fields. Mr. Peltonen is also widely experienced in working for political and Christian organisations. From 2015 he has been the Chair of the Keksijäin Keskusliitto. A Master of Arts, he works on his dissertation on the legitimacy of the pension system in the intersection of philosophy and actuarial mathematics.
He says inventing is more enjoyable than administration, but ”somehow ends up in administration anyway”. In Peltonen’s opinion, however, the war is usually won by the party having a more efficient administration, including maintenance and logistics. Thus, his aim is to provide the Foundation with a straightforward administration, a strong economical base and an efficient funding policy.
Petri Peltonen
Matti Vesterinen is a Member of the Board. Mr.Vesterinen, M.A. has a wide experience in the field of postgraduate technical education at the AEL. Mr. Vesterinen is the chairman of HEKE ry, an organisation of inventors in the Helsinki area, and he has made several personal inventions.
Matti Vesterinen
Markku Merovuo is an Associate Member of the Board. He has solid experience in industrial services, industry and trade. He is a retired sociologist. Mr. Merovuo is chairman of the Kymi Innovation Society, and is active in several regional organisations in the Kymi area.
Markku Merovuo
Yrjö Rinta-Jouppi is an Associate Member of the Board.
Yrjo Rinta-Jouppi
The society of Finnish Patent Attorneys
Tord Langenskiöld is a Member of the Board. He is a M. Sc. in chemistry, and entered the patent field in 1995 after working for 13 years in the pharmaceutical industry. Until 2019, he worked as a patent attorney in the firms Ruska & Co, Jalo Ant-Wuorinen Oy as a CEO, and at Seppo Laine Oy. He handled patent matters in the fields of chemistry, process technology and mechanics, taking part in oral proceedings at the European Patent Office as well as several patent court proceedings. For several years, he was a member of the Delegation of the Foundation.
Tord Langenskiöld
Marjut Honkasalo is a Member of the Board. A M.Sc. and European Patent Attorney, Ms. Honkasalo has experience from industry as well as from 25 years at a patent professional. She has also been active in various bodies within the organisation of European Patent Attorneys (EPI).
Marjut Honkasalo
Kristian Luoto is an Associate Member of the Board.
Suomen Yrittäjät (The Federation of Finnish Entrepreneurs and SMEs)
Urho Ilmonen is a Member of the Board. Mr. Ilmonen is an experienced legal professional specialized in industrial property rights. He has several years of experience as a lawyer, and earlier as Chief Counsel at Nokia Mobile Phones. As the Foundation was practically abolished in 2014, Mr. Ilmonen in the capacity of Chairman set out to develop a new Foundation for Finnish Inventions.
Urho Ilmonen
Mika Kuismanen is a Member of the Board. Mr. Kuismanen is a Director and Chief Economist at Suomen Yrittäjät. His responsibilities are in the fields of economical policy, taxation, competence and international affairs. Mika Kuismanen’s career includes working as a financial counsel and section leader at the Ministry of Finance, as a Senior Economist at the European Central Bank and the Bank of Finland, and as a Senior Researcher at the VATT institute for Economic Research. He is a Ph.D (University College London) and a Master of Political Sciences (University of Helsinki).
Mika Kuismanen
Thomas Palmgren is an Associate Member of the Board. He is Head of International Affairs at Suomen Yrittäjät.
Thomas Palmgren
Pekka Salmi is an Associate Member of the Board.