Front: Jaakko Vallila (left), Eija Raussi-Lehto, Alexis Kouros. Back: Jani Kuula, Kai Kronström, Aki Laakso.
Biodesign Finland projects of 2019 was kickstarted in the beginning of February. We are growing - first time in the history of Biodesign Finland we have two teams during the same year. The projects of the two teams are organised by Aalto University, University of Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital and Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. Meet our new Biodesign Innovation Fellows:
Jaakko Vallila is an expert in digital business development. He has a Master’s degree from Aalto University School of Business, where he majored in Information Systems Science. Over the last ten years, he has taken different roles in digital business development as a developer, consultant, and researcher. In previous development projects, he has supported numerous startups with business development, as well as developed digital business solutions for large corporations. His research and development interest focus on innovation management and service commercialization. Jaakko has also acted as a Nordic coordinator of EU eHealth SME competition in 2012 – 2015. In wintertime, Jaakko enjoys skiing on the mountains, Nordic skating on the Baltic Sea, and regular winter swimming. During long summer days, he enjoys cottage life with his wife at Helsinki archipelago, and diving into the Baltic Sea.
Eija Raussi-Lehto, RN, Midwife, M.Sc. (Health Care, University of Helsinki), has over 15 years teaching experience in the field of education of nurses and midwives. She is working as a Senior Lecturer at Metropolia University of Applied Sciences (Research, Development and Innovation) and as a Visiting Researcher at National Institute of Health and Welfare. She has experience in working with strategic development advisory role in this field. Eija has also experience in working with national authorities - both in Finland and abroad. She has experience for carrying out development projects concerning health of women and children. Since 2014, Eija has been acting as a coordinator and an editor for the Action Plan on Sexual and Reproductive Health. She is continuously publishing professional textbooks and organizing seminars and events with care of the related reporting. Her special area of interest is health care education and the research of maternity care structures and healthcare services. In her spare time, Eija enjoys music and outdoor sports.
Alexis is a medical doctor with 28 years of experience in different fields of clinical and academic medicine. He graduated from Pecs Medical University in Hungary in 1990, after which he moved to Finland for postgraduate studies. He studied public health and epidemiology in University of Kuopio. Alexis has been a serial entrepreneur, with a long CEO experience. His latest Startup, EternAll Sciences focused on remote diagnosis in thefields of Radiology and Pathology. In addition to medicine, Alexis is also an award-winning writer, film-maker, publisher and Editor-in-Chief. His first novel, Gondwana’s Children was the first book written in Finnish by an immigrant in the Finnish literary history. The book won the prestigious Finlandia Junior award and has been translated to several languages. He established The SixDegrees and The Helsinki Times, which were the first English language newspapers in Finland. He is a solution oriented thinker and an entrepreneur who enjoys new challenges with an emphasis on bringing value to the society. In addition to reading and writing, he enjoys sports such as Judo, archery and horseback riding in his spare time.
Jani Kuula has a wide experience in programming and Information Technology. Currently he is working with challenging data analysis and data visualization projects. He has close to ten years entrepreneur experience. His educational background is from Aalto University, Espoo, Finland. Jani has graduated as a Master of Science in Engineering with a major in Bioinformatics. In his spare time, Jani enjoys reading novels.
Kai is an experienced and entrepreneurial minded med-tech professional. He has been leading several start-ups, some of which he has also been a founder of, including Injeq(tissue identifying needles), Elsi Technologies (sensor floors for elderly care centres) and Moodmetric (ring and app for the nervous system monitoring). In addition to generic responsibilities he has personally led patenting activities, organised pre-clinical and clinical studies, build teams with external research collaboration, led sales and investment rounds and managed post-acquisition integrations. Kai spends his spare time with his family, onhouse / boat maintenance, sailing or simply wondering how the world works.
Aki is an entrepreneur and a mechanical engineer with a Masters degree from Aalto University, where he majored in machine design and minored in mechatronics. Before joining the Biodesign project, Aki worked as a freelance mechanical engineer in various product development projects in the technology industry, for companies such as Rocla, Outotec and Valmet. His areas of expertise include computer aided design, product development, structural optimization and mechatronics. Outside of his work, Aki can be found in the studio or on a stage playing the guitar, or practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.