Impact-driven Scholar • Speaker • Consultant • Creative Producer 

High-Impact Initiatives & Fieldwork - selected projects delivered in extreme or unconventional settings that highlight  leadership and development driven by real-world impact.

Current 

Extreme fieldwork & entrepreneurship education projects


  •  Regional Development: Feature WTSUP! Beirut, which focused on transferring Nordic values of equality via entrepreneurship education, in partnership with the Finnish Foreign Ministry.

WTSUP! -Women Tech Start Up-is a value-driven platform supporting women-lead startups in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Itis an initiative bridging the Northern European and MENA region's startup ecosystems together to support local growth, to solve socio-economic challenges and to promote equality.WTSUP! was launched in 2019 with a pilot event in Beirut, Lebanon, where a group of high-skilled, pro-bono volunteers from Northern Europe joined local startup teams and experts for three days of extensive training to cover topics like business modeling, pitching and marketing.

Role: Co-founder

Video of 2019 event https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei-Syk6-j70 

Tackling Grand Challenges Collaboratively: The Role of Value-driven Sensegiving Open Access

By Arne Kroeger; Nicole Siebold; Franziska Günzel-Jensen; Fouad Philippe Saade; Jukka-Pekka HeikkiläPublication in Sociology of Organisations series https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20220000079003 

In YLE Jukka-Pekka Heikkilän kolumni: Beirutin räjähdys iskee syvälle ennestään hauraaseen Libanoniin https://yle.fi/a/3-11483122 

Blog posting https://beirutdigitaldistrict.com/blog-article/freedom-of-speech-tech-and-entrepreneurial-spirit-fueling-beiruts-growth/

The Shortcut is a community-driven organization that promotes diversity as an engine for growth. We encourage more people to consider creating or working for a startup to best utilize their skills and achieve their career aspirations. Through workshops, trainings and programs, we accelerate and inspire our community to explore ideas, share knowledge, and develop the skills required in the tech world.

2017-ongoing. Co-organising of a wide range of inclusive Slush public community side events, around the annual Slush event week in Helsinki. Slush side events are free and open for anyone interested. Topics include Entrepreneurship & Peace - afternoon event with the UN, and multiple side events have been centred on discussions around entrepreneurial culture.

Role: Lead of research, Board Member (2018-2020)

Publication: 

The Startup Circus was an annual early-stage business idea pitching event that brings together the leading student teams from the Helsinki area. The teams represent the best talents from higher education courses and incubator programs in the Helsinki area, including Aalto University School of Business, Hanken School of Economics, Aalto Ventures Program (AVP), Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, and The Shortcut. The teams pitch to an expert panel that decides the winners of seed funding prizes. The evening is featured with both performing and visual arts. Startup Circus 2018 featured a pop-up exhibition by three artists, a participatory painting installation and a variety of performing circus arts.

Media: 

  • Extreme Fieldwork: Detail the purpose and outcome of the Pyongyang Startup Week (the first ever startup event in North Korea), noting its goal was to enable science diplomacy and pilot new education concepts.
Current knowledge of entrepreneurship is rich in terms of the entrepreneur as an individual and the regulatory aspects of the environment. However, we know little about how culture shapes entrepreneurship. This longitudinal project investigates entrepreneurial behavior in institutionally challenging environments. The research draws upon institutional and sensemaking theories and adopts a multi-level approach, addressing the role of cultural norms at the levels of the individual, higher education institutions, and society. In so doing, the project analyses challenges and enhances the current theoretical and practical knowledge of how entrepreneurship is shaped by, but also how it can shape institutions over time and how it affects the formation of capitalism.


Publications


Featured events for practitioner and public audiences 

ELS Content Advisor 

2025- Leading organiser of The Open Strategy Science-Practice Seminar brought together experts to explore participatory decision-making. Speakers in 200 participant strong event discussed the challenges of inclusive strategy design, lessons from corporate initiatives, and the role of AI in enhancing transparency and alignment. The event highlighted how experience and technology shape effective open strategy. More:openstrategy.fi/reflections-from-our-open-strategy-seminar

2024-2025 Leading organiser of knowledge transfer hackathon in CERN between CERN Ideasquare I2Planet and MMO by Klang Games. Doc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS5JG-x7A0c

2025 - Leading organiser of The Academic & Association Day in Reykjavík brought together researchers and organizations to discuss international regulations, mental health integration, and philosophical perspectives on transformative experiences. Nordic associations from multiple countries signed a Collaboration Manifesto to strengthen regional cooperation. The event also featured artistic performances, including live painting, a VJ show, and an exhibition,