Kipinä Breakfast Club Jan 29, 2026: hope for the future is driven by trust, humanity, and human-centric digital development
02 | 2026 Olli Laine, CEO & Co-founder
Accompanied by sunshine and crisp winter frost, the inaugural Kipinä Breakfast Club brought together around 40 Finnish business leaders and digital decision-makers at Allas Sea Pool last week to discuss the current state of digital development, future competitive factors, and the major forces of change currently reshaping the corporate landscape.
The goal of the breakfast event was not to provide ready-made, set-in-stone answers, but rather to invite an open, honest, and human-centric dialogue. The common thread running through the discussion was Kipinä's Collective Vision 2026, which brings together perspectives on how technology, people, and structures should be aligned in an uncertain and rapidly changing world.
We invited top industry experts to the panel discussion to share their insights and enrich the conversation:
Jarno Limnéll, Professor of Cybersecurity, Member of Parliament
Satu Samira Hamed, Planet-Centric Strategist, Planet Diplomats
Teemu Linna, AI Expert, CTO Agion
Tove Mylläri, Innovation Project Lead, Yle
Olli Laine, CEO & Co-founder, Kipinä Software
The discussion quickly surfaced enduring themes and insights, which we have shared back with Finnish companies and communities to keep this well-started dialogue going!
Trust is not a “nice-to-have” — it is future infrastructure
One of the strongest shared observations of the discussion was this: trust is the most critical technology of the future.
Cybersecurity, regulations, and geopolitical uncertainty were not seen merely as constraints in the discussion, but rather as factors that directly shape how competitive advantage is created. Trust is no longer a static attribute or a communication strategy, but an experienced process: how decisions are made, whether they can be influenced, and whether people understand their role in the change.
Finland was seen to possess strong trust capital – while it was simultaneously recognized that this cannot be taken for granted. Trust must be earned over and over again, especially in a digital and AI-driven operating environment. The discussion highlighted the emergence of a potential new leadership role: the Chief Trust Officer – a responsibility focused on deepening trust, anticipation, reading environmental signals, and strengthening organizational resilience.
Technology is easy — people make the difference
Several panelists summarized the same observation in different words: in digital development, technology accounts for at most 10%, while people account for 90%.
Artificial intelligence, agentic software development, automation, and digital tools are becoming increasingly accessible to more and more organizations. The differences arise from how people learn, collaborate, and dare to experiment. Psychological safety emerged as a key prerequisite in the discussion: fearful or uncertain people do not innovate.
Successful organizations are not those with the most tools, but those that have:
a clear direction and a shared vision
space for learning and experimentation
structures that enable execution
leadership that reduces shame and builds courage
Experience, execution, and collaborative learning alleviate fear. As the Finnish proverb goes, "Water carried in a bucket doesn't stay in the well" – learning fails if the motivation does not stem from within.
Resilience, anticipation, and the capacity to navigate uncertainty
The discussion highlighted a broad consensus that the future is surprising us at an accelerating pace. Consequently, the importance of foresight is growing, but equally vital is the ability to react, adapt, and recover.
The true challenge for organizations is not a lack of signals, but the ability to translate high-level observations into practical action. At the same time, it was noted that an excessive focus on efficiency can narrow the capacity to perceive new opportunities. Design, coaching, and creativity are precisely the areas easily discarded, even though they are needed now more than ever.
“For example, agentic software development has changed the daily lives of many experienced top professionals in recent months. The work of experienced developers has been revolutionized, and most of the code is now generated using agents. The work of many developers has largely shifted to design and code quality control. Embracing such a change requires, above all, a safe environment for the development of new roles."
Olli Laine, CEO Kipinä
Resilience was viewed as a trait of both individuals and communities: a secure environment, a sense of belonging, and genuine care provide the foundation for sustainable transformation.
Innovation demands bandwidth, structures, and daring
Innovation does not thrive in haste, fear, or bureaucratic obligation. The discussion emphasized the need to create bandwidth for execution: time, structures, and space where people are truly met and ideas can take root.
The bottleneck has never been the production of code. The greater challenge is understanding what is worth building – and having the courage to do it together. Organizations capable of being simultaneously rapid and deliberate, experimental and accountable, will be well-positioned in the next wave of digital development.
Shared direction, shared responsibility
The discussion left a powerful impression: we are not merely surviving change, but have the agency to shape it. Finland is well-equipped – boasting strong trust capital, expertise, and innovativeness – but steering this direction requires conscious leadership and collaborative effort.
Collective Vision 2026 serves as both the foundation and the continuation of this dialogue: it brings these themes together and invites even more stakeholders to jointly build future competitiveness. Download your free report here!
A warm thank you to all our guests and exceptional panelists! Let's continue to spark new ideas!
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Olli Laine, CEO & Co-founder Kipinä
Olli Laine is a visionary in the future of domestic digital development and AI-driven software engineering, a passionate advocate for data-driven management, and one of the co-founders of Kipinä Software. Alongside his CEO hat, he proudly wears the headlamp of an avid orienteer and the credentials of a devoted cross-country skier.