Forward Finland Forward: Creative destruction as a collective effort
April 24, 2026
As advanced economies adjust to slower growth, accelerating innovation cycles, and widening gaps between emerging and declining industries, the central challenge is no longer managing disruption, but ensuring the capacity to rebuild and renew over time.
The second session of the Forward Finland Forward talk series examined creative destruction as a long-term engine for growth and well‑being, and how institutions, talent, and applied innovation shape Finland’s ability to translate change into lasting value.
Held at the University of Helsinki, the event brought together perspectives across the innovation ecosystem, from research and economics to startups and large corporations. The program featured Antti Vasara, Chair of the Board of Directors at the University of Helsinki, Mika Maliranta, CEO of the Labour Institute for Economic Research (LABORE), Inka Mero, Founder and Managing Partner at Voima Ventures, and Outi Vaarala, EVP and Head of Innovative Medicines Business and R&D at Orion Corporation.
Co‑organized by Roschier, the University of Helsinki, and Miltton, the session explored creative destruction not as disruption for its own sake, but as a collective and continuous process. From long‑term research and talent development to entrepreneurship and large‑scale application, the conversation highlighted how renewal depends on continuity, mobility, and the ability to translate ideas into sustainable societal and economic impact.
Creative destruction as a shared responsibility
Sustained innovation is not driven by disruption alone, but by the ability to continuously build after change. Across academia, startups, economics, and large corporations, a common insight emerged: creative destruction works only when long-term thinking, talent development, and applied innovation are aligned. Renewal depends on institutions and organizations that do not reset each cycle, but instead create continuity where knowledge, skills, and ideas can compound over time. In this sense, stability and renewal are not opposites, but prerequisites for one another.
At the core of this process is talent mobility and conversion. New firms and technologies generate growth by allowing people, capital, and ideas to move from lower- to higher-value use, supported by ecosystems that reward experimentation while managing risk. Whether in deep tech startups or large-scale industrial R&D, tools such as AI accelerate progress only when guided by human judgment. The shared challenge is therefore not access to technology, but the creation of conditions where talent can grow, collaborate across boundaries, and translate research into societal and economic impact.
A shared responsibility for long-term impact
Creative destruction is not about replacing one system with another overnight. It is about deliberate, long-term construction: investing in people, enabling collaboration across sectors, and ensuring that innovation contributes to broader societal well-being.
For businesses, investors, policymakers, and institutions alike, the discussion reinforced a shared responsibility to support ecosystems where renewal is possible not just once, but continuously.
The final chapter of the series
The Forward Finland Forward series concludes with a final conversation in May at Miltton, focusing on courage, grit, money & timing.
What are the real factors that move a company from idea to reality, and from local to global? And how much success depends not only on founders and funding, but on the wider societal mindset?
The final session brings together reflections from founders, along with perspectives from politicians, media, and academia, to discuss the way forward.
Read about the previous event here.