SPEAKERS
MEP Henna Virkkunen, ITRE Committee, European Parliament
Henna Virkkunen is currently serving her second term as a Member of the European Parliament (EPP). She is a Member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and a Substitute Member in the Transport and Tourism Committee.
Sustainable growth, digital transition and the role of small and medium-sized enterprises are among Ms Virkkunen’s key interests. She is a keen advocate of higher ambition for European research and innovation policy.
Before Ms Virkkunen was elected to the European Parliament, she served as Minister of Transport and Local Government in Finland. Prior to that, she was Minister of Public Administration and Local Government, as well as Minister of Education, during her two terms as a Member of the Parliament of Finland.
Ms Virkkunen is a licentiate of Philosophy.
MEP Ville Niinistö, ITRE Committee, European Parliament
Ville Niinistö is a Member of the European Parliament. He is the Greens/EFA groups coordinator in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and a member of the Committee on Environment.
Niinistö served as Finland's Minister of the Environment from 2011 to 2014. Niinistö is a former member of the Finnish parliament, former party leader of the Green Party of Finland and a current member of the city council of Turku.
Niinistö has a master's degree in political science from the University of Turku. Before being elected to the parliament in 2007 he worked as a doctorate student in political history (Finnish foreign policy) at the University of Turku in Finland.
Besides politics, Niinistö enjoys both playing and following football, walks with his dog and spending time in the nature of the archipelago southwest of Finland. Now he is living between Helsinki, Turku and Brussels, previously he has been staying in Stockholm, Indonesia and London.
MEP Mauri Pekkarinen, ITRE Committee, European Parliament
Mauri Pekkarinen is serving his first term as a Member of the European Parliament (Renew). He is Member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and a Substitute Member in the Budget Committee and Regional Development Committee.
Prior to being elected to the European Parliament, Mr Pekkarinen was a Member of the Parliament of Finland since 1979 until 2019. During his political career in national politics, Mr Pekkarinen has served as a Minister of Economic Affairs and Minister of the Interior.
Hanna Vuorinen, Senior Specialist and Member of the Shadow committee of Horizon Europe, Ministry of economic affairs and employment
Hanna Vuorinen is working as Senior Specialist at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. Her main responsibilities in the department of Innovations and Enterprise Financing are EU Research and Innovation policy, and EU and International co-operation, including STI agreement between Finland and the United States. She has Masters’ Degree in Political Science from University of Helsinki.
Eija Auranen, Head of Horizon 2020 activities, Business Finland
Eija Auranen has twenty years of experience in EU’s research and innovation cooperation. She is now working in Business Finland as head of EUTI, the national liaison office for EU framework programs and coordinator of the H2020 contact points (NCP) in Finland.