International Alumni Day in Brussels

Soon it will be time for this year’s International Alumni Day and we are gathering in Brussels. This Alumni Day will be the 15th Alumni Day abroad and the 2nd one in Brussels. The International Alumni Day offers an excellent opportunity for alumni across Europe to meet. Sign up and let’s make this meetup a success!

We welcome alumni and friends of Hanken to join! 

Seminar: 17.00-19.00, followed by a light buffet dinner, at Helsinki EU Office, Rue Guimard 7, 1040 Brussels

Programme

16.30

Registration

17.00-19.00

Welcome & what is up at Hanken
Ingmar Björkman
Rector, Hanken School of Economics

Greeting from Helsinki EU Office
Janne Leino
Director, Helsinki EU Office

Implications of EU Sustainable Finance regulation on Nordic companies
Hanna Silvola
Associate Professor, Hanken School of Economics

Coffee break

Ongoing disruption in one of the world's most profitable businesses - open science as a threat and opportunity
Mikael Laakso
Associate Professor, Hanken School of Economics

Boosting the Green Transition through local Hydrogen Valleys
Kaisa Penttilä
PhD Candidate, Hanken School of Economics

Wrap-up & final words

19.00 Cocktail and light dinner with canapés at Helsinki EU-office

The event is hosted by Camilla Wardi (Head of Corporate Relations and Outreach at Hanken School of Economics).

Sign up here (by 26 September)

Speakers

Hanna Silvola, Associate Professor, Hanken School of Economics

Hanna Silvola (Ph.D.) is Associate Professor of Accounting at Hanken School of Economics. Her research interests are in accounting for sustainability, strategic management control and performance measurement. She is the principal investigator of the research project “How to measure and analyse ESG information to support sustainable business?” which received a total of 200,000€ research funding from the Foundation for Economic Education for 2020-2022. In 2021, she published a book “Sustainable Investing – How to beat the market with ESG Investing” which is published also in Chinese. She has international experience from London School of Economics (UK), University of Stanford (USA), Monash University (Australia) and the University of New South Wales (Australia). Dr. Silvola has published on a range of topics in accounting in journals like Accounting, Organizations and Society; Management Accounting Research; Journal of Small Business Management and Journal of Management Accounting Review. She has comprehensive experience as a speaker in media and executive education. Dr. Silvola is also a member of ESMA’s Consultative Working Group on Sustainable Finance.

Mikael Laakso, Associate Professor, Hanken School of Economics

Mikael Laakso is an Associate Professor in Information Systems Science at Hanken School of Economics. Through his research looking into the growth and disruptive effects of open science, Laakso has become one of the leading experts in the field, exploring how new business models and research processes have finally come to shake up a sector that has otherwise been slow to change in many ways. Laakso is currently working as the lead for a work package in a recently started 2-year 1.8 million euro research project funded by the European Commission, where the goal is to facilitate the publication of more open access academic textbooks on the web through both policy and practice through research and consultation with a broad range of stakeholders in Europe. Laakso has recently taken part in international expert groups for the European Commission and The European Research Council Executive Agency on topics related to furthering knowledge and creating suggestions for policy related to open science. Laakso is the current chair for the Finnish Association for Scholarly Publishers and was the editor in chief of the scholarly journal Informaatiotutkimus during 2020-2022.

Kaisa Penttilä, PhD Candidate, Hanken School of Economics

Kaisa Penttilä (PhD Candidate) has been the project manager of the H2 Ecosystem Roadmap for Ostrobothnia -project 1.9.2021-31.10.2022 (financed by the European Regional Development Fund), which was a consortia project between Hanken, Vaasa University of Applied Sciences and Novia University of Applied Sciences. The project launched the hydrogen network activities in the Ostrobothnia region and was one of the National forerunners to raise awareness of regional possibilities of the hydrogen sector. Kaisa continues to work closely with key stakeholders in BotH2nia (Finnish National Hydrogen Network) as deputy member in its steering group and in her role as project coordinator of ecosystem activities at Hanken Vasa. The BotH2nia network is one of the key actors promoting the branding of the emerging Finnish hydrogen sector and the opportunities of developing the hydrogen economy around the Bothnia Bay area.

Kaisa’s current Ph.D. research at Hanken School of Economics focuses on managerial sensemaking in ecosystems, ecosystem value creation, and new business models. Her research has been published in the international journal Industrial Marketing Management and she is now finalizing her PhD research in the field of industrial network management. On top of her research and project activities she has actively written for more practitioner-oriented audiences through Vaasa Insider and BotH2nia News. Her passion for the future resides in working with questions related to the green transition, development of the business ecosystem in the Ostrobothnia region, and building new networks for collaboration related to the sustainable energy industry. This she aims to do with combining both the latest research knowledge in the field with a participatory and action research approach to engage and stay relevant to the local communities where her research is applied.

Dress code

Business casual

Questions

Please contact alumni@hanken.fi with questions regarding the event.

See you in Brussels!

This event is aimed at alumni from Hanken School of Economics as well as friends of Hanken. 

The programme is in English and we withhold the right to adjustments in the programme.

The seminar day and buffet dinner are free of charge. All participants pay for their own travel- and accommodations expenses. The final day to register is 26 September. 

More information will be sent to registered participants via e-mail closer to the event.