On 8 September 2026, Women in Tech Finland’s partners gathered at Epicenter Helsinki to discuss community, AI and what helps innovation happen. The event marked the beginning of our partnership with Epicenter, which is now home to WiT.

The afternoon brought together perspectives from Epicenter’s Kristian Nieminen, WiT partner Vivicta’s Kia Haring and Katja Toropainen from the WiT team. 

Here are three takeaways.

1. Communities grow through collaboration

In a fireside chat with Katja, Kristian described Epicenter’s ambition to be a community of communities, bringing networks such as Women in Tech, FiBAN and Uniarts together. He sees the future of Finland’s tech industry closely tied to the quality of collaboration between established businesses, smaller companies, investors, founders, builders and communities. Rather than waiting for another Nokia, he encouraged Finland to grow a forest of companies. 

WiT partner Vivicta brings a new name with a long history to this ecosystem. Kia Haring shared Vivicta’s journey following the sale of Tietoevry’s tech services business in 2025: creating a new company with a 60-year history, building its own identity and ways of working.

2. AI changes where we create value

Having worked in tech for 32 years, Kristian has seen technologies arrive with big promises of major disruption. He sees AI bringing substantial change, as it’s already taking on work that people have previously been paid to do. 

Vivicta’s Kia Haring brought a Nordic business perspective through the 2026 Nordic AI Navigator survey by Vivicta and Kairos Future. According to the findings she shared, 60% of Nordic leaders surveyed had piloted agentic AI, and 80% expected operational use within 12 months. She described a shift from experimentation towards using AI at scale, with governance and business objectives.

That makes the question of where we contribute particularly relevant. Human interaction and the relationships through which people exchange ideas, recognise opportunities and build something together will matter even more in the future. In Kristian’s view, the conversation taking place that afternoon had become more valuable because of AI. 

3. Innovation needs both safety and challenge

Kia described innovation as curious people coming together to challenge established ways of thinking. Bringing different experiences into technology development means that the solutions being built serve a wider range of people. 

Katja Toropainen, a certified Psychological Safety Team Scan facilitator, explored what teams need for those ideas to be heard. Psychological safety is often framed as a choice between making people feel safe and expecting them to perform. She challenged that premise: being able to disagree, ask questions and admit mistakes is a prerequisite for performance.

Safety and accountability work together. Safety with low expectations leaves a team in the comfort zone; high expectations without safety create anxiety. The learning zone combines both, allowing people to challenge an idea, learn from what goes wrong and hold each other to high standards. These conditions help new ideas take root – in companies and communities alike.

Come say hi

WiT now has a home at Epicenter Helsinki. If you’re here, come say hi—we’d love to meet you.

Thank you to Epicenter, Vivicta and the partners who joined us. You can also join the WiT community to stay connected. Membership is free and open to everyone.

Next: Women in Tech Forum, 22 October 2026

Our flagship event is on 22 October 2026 at Wanha Satama, and this year's theme is Tech Horizons: Impacting our Future. We'll look at where technology is heading and what that means for the people building it, leading it and living with it. The programme is coming together, and there are some very good speakers in it.

Tech belongs to us all. We're at the table, and we're working with others to make it better: more open, more connected, more equal. Come and be part of it. 💜