Fundis had the pleasure and honor of participating in the first-ever Vuokatti Elite Sports Week in June. This four-day event brought together sports influencers and stakeholders to discuss hot topics. The panel discussions were streamed live and saved to Yle Areena.
The Fundis panel discussion “Digitalizing Fundraising – A New Funding Platform for Sports” featured Fundis’s own team (Juha Markkanen, Seppo Kuusinen, and Tommy Korpinen), along with Kati Packalén, CEO of the Finnish Basketball Association, and Mika Kulmala as moderator. You can find this discussion in the Thursday recording on Yle Areena.
In addition to the panel discussions, there was a Wellbeing and Sports Technology fair, the Vuokatti Aateli Race, a Superpesis match between Sotkamon Jymy and Alajärven Ankkurit, and plenty of other interesting and fun activities, such as the 90s disco with Miss Finland semi-finalists and Kaj Kunnas.
While it’s hard to pick highlights from all of this, a few speeches deserve a special mention. The talk by Mika Kuismanen, CEO of the Finnish Gambling Association, drew the largest audience on Yle Areena, and for good reason. The pending legislative change regarding the liberalization of gambling offers huge opportunities that especially the sports sector needs to be able to leverage.
Ideapark CEO Visa Vainiola spoke openly about the challenges of the first few years and how reacting boldly to them created an amazing success story, where Classic and the Finnish Judo Association also played a major role.
There were enlightening discussions about conditions for snow sports and funding elite sports through employment, featuring the likes of Kalle Palander and Jasmi Joensuu, who brought their personal perspectives as elite athletes alongside their expertise.
There was stiff competition for the most entertaining presentation award, and one of the best came from WellO2’s Simo Kekäläinen. The story of meeting a Premier League club doctor at a fair without being asked his name or which club he represented was a real thriller that ended happily: West Ham now uses WellO2 in their training program. This also resonated because, like WellO2, Fundis wants to take a Finnish invention to the world while improving people’s lives!
A big thank you to everyone who took part in the Elite Sports Week, and especially to the organizers! Fundis is signing up for next year’s event, which is sure to be even better!
Happy panelists: Juha Markkanen (Fundis), Kati Packalén (Finnish Basketball Association), Seppo Kuusinen (Fundis), Mika Kulmala (moderator), Tommy Korpinen (Fundis USA), and Erik Forss (Fundis)
