Sparking ideas through Waves

The first of its kind hybrid summit for changemakers, innovators and impact entrepreneurs in Finland, sparked ideas for building a sustainable future.  

*Quote by Anna Herlin, Development Head at Tiina and Antti Herlin Foundation and Security Trading

Waves brought together like-minded innovators to create a space for collaboration and networking across sectors, supporting new connections and spreading inspiration.

The event was held online and at Miltton House in Helsinki – a creative hub that functioned as an ideal spot for social entrepreneurship experts, academia, investors and pioneers to share cross-sectoral ideas to tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time.

The objective was to build an ecosystem that allows people to support and advise each other in matters of financing and investing, organizing operations and communications.

Waves aimed to facilitate the development of social innovations in companies, organizations and the public sector by creating a close network of changemakers across Finland and internationally. For example, ideas on how to measure transformative change were discussed: 

“There is a need for a complex measurement framework, where interventions or believing in the new solution is the first level of change. The new solution needs to be embedded into the system (community structure, government, academia e.g.) to measure that level as well.” - Mari Tikkanen, CEO & Co-founder of Scope Impact.

Scheduled sessions consisted of over 15 keynote speeches by changemakers, presentations, panels, workshops and networking.

The list of speakers was assembled from the top of the business world, researchers, investors and organizations from Finland and globally. 

These discussions provide a reflection of the day, where a diversity of topics and speakers shared insights that converge around the focus of social innovation and transformation.

Specifically, ideas centered on how to make waves for social innovation and unlock the changemaking potential that is inherent in everyone. In the words of Salaado Qasim, awarded Young Changemaker of the Year by Ashoka in 2022,  

More about Waves summit 2022

Waves provided a glimpse into how ideas can go from sparks of insight towards designing a better future.

The summit was a collaborative project organized by Ashoka, in partnership with Tradeka, Krogerus, Svenska folkskolans vänner, CapMan for Good and in collaboration with the Eva Ahlström Foundation, Sitra, Systems Change Finland, Yhteiskunnallisten Yritysten Osaamiskeskus YYO, Miltton, Arvoliitto, Leapfrog Projects and Futurice.