New skills in the group

Autumn brings both new faces and old friends to our office as we welcome Veera Mustonen, an urban development expert, and Iida Mäkelä, a finance expert, into our team. In addition, Marika Koramo will join the advisory team to strengthen education policy expertise and networks while Katja Syvärinen will bring a greater understanding of inclusive development, service design and strategic communication.

What kind of vibe will our new experts have for the autumn?

“MDI has unique expertise and a good team to support cities in their 2020 urbanisation policy, where broad participation, co-development and vitality are key elements. It is great to be in this group where I can apply the Living Labs of Helsinki and Australia and my smart city experiences” says Veera Mustonen.

“It is great to be back in an innovative and youthful team to carry out diverse research and analysis on regional development topics of interest to me, such as demographic dynamics and the regional economy. I expect to be able to apply the knowledge and methods of economics and thus bring a broader perspective to the study of regional development,” says Iida Mäkelä.

Veera Mustonen brings know-how about cities as an innovation environment and the potential of digitalisation to impact urban development. Mustonen has previously worked in Australia as director of the Life Lab at Tonsley Innovation Area, and before that as vice president of Forum Virium Helsinki and leader of the Smart Kalasatama project (https://fiksukalasatama.fi/en/). She also has extensive experience in development, business collaboration and citizen involvement in Living Lab.

Iida Mäkelä has previously carried out analyses of regions’ demographics, migration and vitality. An expert in economics, she brings an extensive knowledge of national economics, statistical methods, environmental economics and housing market dynamics into our projects.

Meet our new experts and advisors at mdi.fi/us