World's leading AI visionaries gather in Turku – Be part of the first AI Summit and the official opening of the ELLIS Institute Finland
Finland and the city of Turku are proud to host a landmark international event – bringing together world-class AI researchers, top business leaders, and influential decision-makers from Finland, across Europe, and around the globe.
The AI Summit will also mark the official opening of the ELLIS Institute Finland – a milestone moment set to shape the future of AI and its impact on society and the economy.
The event is jointly organized by: ELLIS Institute Finland, AI Finland and Foundation PS.
Preliminary program
17 November 2025 | Turku
10:00 – Opening of the AI Summit
10:15 – Official launch of ELLIS Institute Finland
10:40 – ELLIS Panel: Frontiers of ai research
11:20 – ELLIS Panel: Connecting science and society
12-13 – Lunch
13:00 – Panel I: Europe’s competitiveness, growth and security
14:30 – Coffee break
15:00 – Panel lI: State of AI research and technology in Europe
15:45 – Panel III: State of AI companies and startups in Europe
16:30 – Ending remarks
16:30–18:00 Cocktail reception
18:00 – AI Turuus AI After Hours (separate registration)
When
10am-18pm on 17 Nov, 2025
Where
Logomo, Turku, Finland
The event will also be available online via Yle Areena.
The link will be shared closer to the event.
Registration
By invitation
Side-event signup
Opening of the AI Summit
Time
10:00 – 10:40
Theme
Opening of the AI Summit and Official opening of ELLIS Institute Finland
Samuel Kaski
Founding director & Professor at ELLIS Institute Finland
Serge Belongie
President of ELLIS Society, University of Copenhagen
Bernhard Schölkopf
Director, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems; Co-founder, ELLIS; Professor at ETH Zurich
Petteri Orpo
Prime Minister
of Finland
Peter Sarlin
Co-Founder & CEO at AMD Silo AI
ELLIS
Panel I
Time
10:40 – 11:20
Theme
Frontiers of AI research
Moderator
Serge Belongie
Jaakko Lehtinen
Professor at Aalto University and Research Scientist at NVIDIA
Kyunghyun Cho
Professor at New York University
Negar Kiyavash
Professor at EPFL
Amy Loutfi
Program Director at WASP and Professor at Örebro University
Bernhard Schölkopf
Director, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems; Co-founder, ELLIS; Professor at ETH Zurich
ELLIS
Panel II
Time
11:20 – 12:00
Theme
Connecting science and society
Moderator
Oliver Molander
Alexandra Gylfe
Founding Partner at Nordic Science Investments
Nina Laaksonen
Chief Product Officer at WithSecure
Kristo Ovaska
Founder & CEO at Taito.ai; Co-founder of Smartly.io
Ilkka Paananen
CEO and Co-founder of Supercell
Panel I
Time
13:00-14:30
Theme
Europe’s competitiveness, growth and security
Moderator
John Thornhill
Top speakers
Opening statements by Björn Wahlroos and Henna Virkkunen
Followed by a moderated panel discussion
Björn Wahlroos
Chairman of Wahlroos Capital, ex-Chairman of Sampo, Nordea & UPM
Henna Virkkunen
EVP & Commissioner at European Commission
Bengt Holmström
Nobel laureate & Emeritus Professor at MIT
Janne Jaakkola
Chief of Defense of Finnish Defense Forces
Elina Valtonen
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland
Jussi Westergren
University of Oxford and ex-DeepMind, Intellectual Ventures
Panel II
Time
15:00-15:45
Theme
State of AI research and technology in Europe
Moderator
Larissa Holzki
Top speakers
Opening statement by Neil Lawrence
Followed by a moderated panel discussion
Neil Lawrence
DeepMind Professor at University of Cambridge
Max Welling
Co-Founder & CTO of Cusp AI, Professor at University of Amsterdam
Laurent Sifre
Co-founder & CTO at H Company, ex-DeepMind & AlphaGo
Laura Ruotsalainen
Vice Chair of ELLIS Institute Finland, Professor at University of Helsinki
Panel III
Time
15:45-16:30
Theme
State of AI companies and startups in Europe
Moderator
Kristine Alanko
Top speakers
Opening statement by Meredith Whittaker
Followed by a moderated panel discussion
Meredith Whittaker
President & Board Director of Signal Foundation
Anton Osika
Co-founder & CEO of Lovable
Max Junestrand
Co-founder & CEO of Legora
Jacomo Corbo
Co-founder & CEO of PhysicsX, and Co-founder of QuantumBlack
Thomas Wolf
Co-Founder & CSO at Hugging Face
Moderators
Master of Ceremonies
Mårten Mickos
Moderators
Ellis Panel I
Serge Belongie
Ellis Panel II
Oliver Molander
Panel I
John Thornhill
Panel II
Larissa Holzki
Panel III
Kristine Alanko
Mårten Mickos
Aalto University Founder School, ex-CEO at MySQL
Larissa Holzki
AI Editor, Handelsblatt
John Thornhill
Innovation Editor, Financial Times & Sifted, Founder
Kristine Alanko
Senior specialist in AI & EU Policy
Oliver Molander
GP & Founder at Incepion Fund
Made Possible By
Business Turku Side Event
The city of Turku will arrange, and Business Turku will host a side event featuring a live stream of the main event, complemented by local activities. Read more about the side-event and register below.