Welcome To IP Finland || Our Team: Operational Team

IP Finland’s operating team collectively has a strong academic background and extensive experience in technology commercialization and business development. Our core competence and driving force is the capability to bridge academic innovation with real-world product and services development.

Jari Strandman
Managing Director
Tel: +358 40 700 6968
E-Mail: Jari.Strandman@ipfinland.com
Jari has spent his career in technology commercialisation. He joined IP Finland from SRC Oxford where he worked closely with the University of Oxford in commercialising technologies from the university. He has been a founding director in several Finnish and UK companies and he has over ten years of experience in developing early stage technology companies. Jari has also held corporate technology management positions at Finnish multi billion euro manufacturing companies, Partek Corp. and Sisu Corp. (both now part of Kone Corporation). He gained extensive experience working with government funding agencies when he chaired the board of a Tekes (National Technology Agency of Finland) Technology Programme for the Finnish manufacturing industry. Jari has significant international experience managing academic collaborations and operating at the interface of the public and private research sectors. Before his assignment at Sisu, Jari spent three years working for Tekes in Boston, Massachusetts where his assignments included working with MIT’s Industrial Liaisons programs to advise Finnish companies in sourcing technology from MIT. Jari has also held management positions at Finn-Aqua, a Finnish supplier of water stills to worldwide pharmaceutical industry.

Yrjö E K Wichmann
Director
Tel: +358 40 5868 979
E-Mail:Yrjo.Wichmann@ipfinland.com
Yrjö has a long experience in both investment operations as well as in corporate management. He has gained extensive experience and thorough understanding during his 12 years of corporate life as the head of diagnostic division in Biohit, a stock listed medical device and life science company, as the CFO of FibroGen Europe, a biotechnology company and from various financial management positions in industrial companies. Yrjö has been and is a board member in several companies and was a founding director in Bluegiga, a Bluetooth -electronics company. At the moment he is a board member in Chipman, a life science instrument company and in Bioretec, a producer of bioresorbable implants. In addition to corporate experience he also has a 17year career in banking and investment operations. Yrjö was an investment banker in Postipankki (Sampo Group) and in D Carnegie AB, where he specialized in life sciences and in IPO's and private placement -funding. Later he was investment Director at CapMan Group, the largest pan-Nordic private equity company, where he was responsible of the life science team in Finland. He then served as Fundraising Director at CapMan, where he was responsible of raising funds to life science-, real estate-, public market- and Russia -funds. Yrjö is also member of investment committee in Dasos Timberland Fund I, one of the largest Timberland funds in Europe with a global investment focus. During his career he has made 14 IPO's on stock exchanges in Helsinki, Stockholm and London and close to 20 M&A transactions.

Jorma Helin
Director, Business Development
Coordinator of Tekes programme; Tuli – Research into Business
Tel: +358 50 306 6015
E-Mail:Jorma.Helin@ipfinland.com
Jorma has over 20 years of experience in various business development, R&D funding, and management positions. He has worked in early stage companies in manufacturing and telecommunicatios. Jorma has spent many years working for Tekes (The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation) including assignments in Washington, D.C. and Boston, Massachusetts, where his tasks included market surveys for Finnish industries and advice in sourcing technology, R&D, and business partnerships. Through his career Jorma has worked extensively with research organisations and thus has an extensive contact network in public institutions and the private sector.

Tiina Airola-Siponmaa
Assistant
Tel: +358 50 321 2800
E-Mail: Tiina.Airola-Siponmaa@ipfinland.com

Operational Team

Executive Team