At SHIFT Business Festival, participants have two whole days to discuss, learn and come together in new ways. That’s why SHIFT has sought to partner with businesses and organisations that are open-minded and unafraid of change.
Sofokus, one of the main partners of SHIFT Business Festival 2018, was founded nearly 20 years ago on one man’s dream. During its history, Sofokus has worked with hundreds of aspiring brands ranging from multinational corporations to startups. The backbone of Sofokus’ modern business concepts are innovative cloud based solutions.
It all began in 1994 at the University of Turku, when Sofokus founder and multi-entrepreneur of digital business Teemu Malinen used the Internet for the first time.
"I stared at the black screen and realized that those white characters were flowing in from the USA. I was hypnotized”, Malinen describes.
In 2000, Malinen founded consulting company Sofokus Oy and set up Nowire Oy with his friends. Malinen also met Peter Vesterbacka, who was the primus motor of the first startup community in Finland called HP eBazaar. eBazaar lead to the birth of the platform economy solution for birdwatching using the world's first GPS-mobile phone.
“eBazaar's sense of community was unheard of in Finland and even in rest of the world at the time. Around the world, hundreds of companies collaborated with each other, creating things that were ahead of their time", describes Karri Hautanen, at the time working with the original team at eBazaar and currently serving as Marketing Director at Technopolis Plc.
Around 2003, the IT bubble broke and the market plummeted drastically. Malinen had to lay off the entire Sofokus staff temporarily. "It was one of my hardest tasks as an entrepreneur“, Malinen recalls.
During 2007, Malinen began systematically growing Sofokus by focusing more on tailor-made solutions that built competitive advantage for businesses. "Back in 2001, we didn’t know that we were already making platform economy solutions. Today, I am proud to say that we were pioneers even on a global scale. I want to encourage Finnish startups to grow internationally. One lucky chance can change everything", Malinen concludes.
Sofokus, PR & Media, Marko Mähönen, 040-537 4309, [email protected] Sofokus, CEO Teemu Malinen, 040-531 8012, [email protected]
SHIFT Business Festival
Head of Marketing & Communications
Mari Männistö
+358 45 8684 808
Sofokus is a digital business expert founded in 2000. Sofokus designs modern digital business concepts and implements them with the means of a platform economy for ambitious organization customers. Sofokus offers digital business design, technology architectures and software implementation services. Sofokus is income funded, owned by its employees and is one of the fastest growing companies in Europe (Inc.5000EU 2018). The Sofokus Group's estimated net sales in 2018 are EUR 3.5 million. Currently, Helsinki and Turku offices employ 49 digital business professionals.
sofokus.com │ instagram.com/sofokus twitter.com/sofokus │ facebook.com/sofokus
SHIFT Business Festival connects groundbreaking technology with leaders of traditional industries for a discussion about the ethics of future development. The festival, attracting 4000 great minds and visionaries, is held May 22nd - 23rd 2018 in the abandoned prison of Kakolan Lääni, Turku, Finland.
SHIFT is organised by a non-profit organization with the purpose of shaping breakthrough technology to be responsible and sustainable.
SHIFT is not an event. It is a beginning.
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