After joining Finnish Innovation Funding Agency Tekes in Feb 2016 responsible for the digitalization strategy and related programs; 5G, Industrial Internet, Artificial Intelligence, Platform Economy and Smart Mobility.
Starting from June 2018, Executive Director of BUSINESS FINLAND, responsible for the Digital Transformation of Finnish Industries. Mr. Sivonen has acted as chairman and international expert in many roles. In 2011 he was the chair of Finland 2030 Future Committee for Corporate renewal. In 2017 he chaired the national strategy and roadmap on Digital Platform Economy.
He is a member of Finnish national AI-workgroup. He is a member of High Level Advisory Group on Artificial Intelligence HLGAI to the European Commission and Digital transformation expert for World Bank and World Economic Forum (WEF). Lately he was invited as a member of 6G Flagship Steering Group by Oulu University.
As a 3rd generation entrepreneur, Mr. Sivonen is the Founder of Digia, a publicly NASDAQ OMX -listed mobile sw-company. He took the company from 1 person to 1.600 employees.
He has 20 years of experience in mobile software and 35 years as entrepreneur. He has been ranked as the Entrepreneur of the Year in Finland in 2004, 2005 and 2006 by E&Y. As a Founder of 4 international accelerator companies, he also has an extensive knowledge on boosting open innovation and early-stage start-ups internationally.
