Tarmo Lemola
Mr. Tarmo Lemola is Director and Partner of Advansis Ltd. He graduated in 1972 from the University of Helsinki (sociology). Tarmo Lemola worked 1973-1975 for the Academy of Finland. In 1975 he moved to the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), the biggest research institute in the Nordic Countries.
In 1987 he became Office Manager of the Planning and Marketing Office at VTT.
In 1992 he became Director of VTT Group for Technology Studies, a new research institute in the area of innovation studies and socio-economic analysis of technological change.
In 1990-1991 Tarmo Lemola worked as a Counsellor for Science and Technology, in Boston, USA. In 2000-2001 he was a Visiting Scholar of Scancor (Scandinavian Consortium for Organisational Research) at Stanford University, USA.
In the autumn 2001 Tarmo Lemola became a Programme Manager of the Finnish research programme for technology and technology policy studies (ProACT), www.tekes.fi/ohjelmat/proact
Tarmo Lemola has published a large number of books, articles and policy reports on the subjects of industrial innovation and its implications for national economies and supranational structures, science and technology policy, innovation policy. A full list of publications is available.
Tarmo Lemola has been engaged in several governmental and other expert groups, working groups, committees etc. in Finland and abroad in the area innovation management, science and technology policy, and social and economic implications of science and technology.
Kimmo Halme
Mr. Kimmo Halme is Managing Director and Founding Partner of Advansis Ltd. He has an MSc in industrial management (1990) and a Lic.Tech in business strategy and international business (1995), both from the Helsinki University of Technology.
Kimmo Halme worked in 1990-1992 as a business incubator manager and acting managing director at Otaniemi Science Park Ltd., in Espoo. In 1992, he was appointed as a Senior Researcher at the Technical Research Centre of Finland, for carrying out studies on high-tech businesses and innovation support schemes.
During 1995-1999 he worked as a full-time Expert to the European Commission Innovation Programme in Luxembourg, through a UK consulting company INBIS Ltd. His main fields were design & management of regional innovation strategies, as well as being part of the team for EU Green paper on Innovation.
In 1999 he moved back to Finland to take a position as the Chief Planning Officer for the Science and Technology Policy Council of Finland. The Council is chaired by the Prime Minister and provides advice to the Finnish Government in questions relating to science and technology. He is a founding partner of Advansis Ltd. and has joined the company in 2003 as a Director.
Kimmo Halme has unique practical experience having participated in numerous working groups for innovation policy preparation at EU, national and regional levels. He is a well-known speaker in various seminars and conferences on topics ranging from cluster policies to regional innovation strategies.
Kristiina Lähde
She has worked previously as the CEO of Technopolis Ventures JSP Ltd, Recruiting and Search Consultant at PD Personnel Development Ltd, Principal Consultant and HR Director at Service4Mobile Ltd, Partner at Viridea Ltd, as well as the Managing Director of Synera Ltd, Business Analyst at Nokia Mobile Phones, and Assistant Key Account Manager at Philips Semiconductors.
Kristiina Lähde has extensive experience from different aspects of ICT industry, for example
- Global sales between multinational companies
- Entrepreneurship in a software company
- Consulting assignments for ICT companies of all sizes
- HR and organizational development in the ICT context
- High-tech business incubation and acceleration
Kristiina Lähde has also been a columnist for Talouselämä magazine, a leading Finnish business weekly in 1997 and in 2000. She has served in the boards of several SME companies and non-profit organizations.
Kimmo Viljamaa
Mr. Kimmo Viljamaa is a consultant at Advansis Ltd. He holds a M.Sc. in Regional Studies (2000) from the University of Tampere.
Kimmo Viljamaa worked in 1998-2005 as a researcher at the University of Tampere working in various research projects related to regional innovation policy and local economic development policy. He joined Advansis Ltd. in 2006.
During his career he has participated in several Finnish and international research and development projects in the field local and regional development policies, local and regional development networks, national and regional innovation policy and programme evaluation. He has consulted in small and medium sized city regions in Finland and several regions in the newly acceded countries in preparing and implementing their regional innovation strategies. He has also worked as a policy analyst in several EU research and innovation policy studies.
Janne Lehenkari
Dr. Janne Lehenkari works as a consultant at Advansis Ltd. He holds Ph.D. in Adult Education (2006) from the University of Helsinki and M.A. in History of Science and Ideas (1997) from the University of Oulu.
In 1997-2007, Janne Lehenkari worked at the Center for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research, Department of Education , University of Helsinki, first as a researcher and then as a post-doc researcher. He joined Advansis Ltd. in January 2008.
In 2006, Janne Lehenkari successfully defended his thesis on inter-organizational collaboration and learning in early-stage technology development at the University of Helsinki. Janne has a decade of expertise in the research on user-centered design, producer-user interaction and inter-organizational collaboration in the development and implementation of complex technologies. Janne has co-authored nine international peer-reviewed articles and three Finnish text books. He has also held several positions of trust in scientific organizations.
Heli Paavola
Dr. Heli Paavola is a Senior Consultant at Advansis Ltd. She holds a Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Tampere.
Year 2000 Heli Paavola worked as a marketing manager in RCM Harvester Ltd and 2001 as a retail park-concept planner in NCC Finland. During 2001-2004 she worked in SOK in different projects and positions. During 2002-2008 Heli Paavola worked at the University of Tampere first as a Researcher, then as a Project Manager, a Research Manager and as a Director of research and education centre Synergos.
Paavola´s research activity focuses mainly on various aspects of consumer behaviour, for example customer loyalty, satisfaction, consumer preference, customer perceived risk, and consumption behaviour. In 2008-2009 she was a visiting scholar at the University of California, Irvine. 2009-2010 she worked as a Director of Customer Innovation and Market Intelligence research unit at Center for Research on Information, Customer and Innovation Management at the University of Tampere. During that time she studied market orientation, market sensing, new product development and customer involvement in innovation processes and developed methods for e.g. analyzing and improving b-to-b co-operation. January 2010 Dr Paavola joined Advansis, where she coordinates Tekes Serve Programme, among other things.
Hanna Koskela
Hanna Koskela is a project assistant at Advansis Ltd. She holds a M.Sc. in Marketing (2001) from the University of Tampere.
Before entering Advansis Hanna has worked e.g. as a project coordinator at Professia Ltd. (consultancy company in the field of knowledge intensive business services) and as a researcher at the University of Tampere. In the researched field she has studied networking of incubator companies, local digital-television, local loyalty card system and other business operations.
From 2006 she has been working on the project coordination activities. Her duties relate especially to marketing and public relations, event management and project administration.
Henri Lahtinen
Henri Lahtinen is a Junior Consultant at Advansis Ltd. He graduated as a M.Sc. in Regional Studies (2008) from the University of Tampere and soon thereafter joined Advansis.
Henri has participated in several projects relating to regional innovation systems, incentives for innovation, science and technology parks and standards. His tasks in the projects have included among others data sourcing, analyses, interviews, thematic workshops and communications.
Maria Marekwia
Maria Marekwia is a project assistant at Advansis Ltd in Helsinki. She graduated as HSO-secretary from the Secretarial Collage in Helsinki and completed her business studies at the University of Applied Sciences AKAD in Düsseldorf.
Before joining Advansis Maria has worked as a secretary at the Finnish Confederation of Professionals STTK, as a secretary to the CEO at Enics (former Ahltronix) and several years in Düsseldorf as an executive assistant at Nokia and at German Business Journal Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt.
At Advansis Maria is responsible for project administration, project management support, accounting and invoicing.
