Public Speaking
Government and Innovation
Petra Söderling is a Finnish American award winning innovator, strategist, and thought leader in the area of economic development and innovation. She built her technology career in the private sector, holding executive positions at Nokia in Helsinki, London, and Palo Alto, and as Founder and CEO of two successful startups in New York City and New Orleans, LA.
Between 2018 and 2022 Ms. Söderling worked for Business Finland, the Finnish governments innovation funding agency. Stationed in USA, her role was to drive Foreign Direct Investments from North America to Finland. She specialized in packaging and marketing Finland’s emerging technology know-how and capabilities as a driver for FDI, and creating innovation ecosystems between Finland and selected US states.
In 2022 Petra Söderling created her own agency Petra Soderling & Co. Through the agency, she is an advisor with the World Bank and the European Investment Bank on development, application and financing of deep technologies, including quantum, AI, and cybersecurity. She also serves as the Head of Government and Consortium Relations at the Quantum Strategy Institute, an international think tank promoting end user adoption of quantum technologies, and represents Finland in the joint technical committee for quantum technologies by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
Petra Söderling holds an MBA from Helsinki University of Technology, and received Executive Education on Innovation Management from Stanford University, and on Strategic Finance from Harvard Business School. Her book Government and Innovation - the Economic Developer's Guide came out in 2023 and was listed in the top three Hot New Releases by Amazon’s editorial board.
Ms. Söderling resides in the South of France, where she shares her life with her husband, a winemaker, and their two beloved rescue dogs. She also divides her time between Luxembourg and Washington, D.C.
Speaker profile images
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