Lars Aikala appointed as Special Adviser to Minister of Economic Affairs

Minister of Economic Affairs Wille Rydman has appointed Lars Aikala as his Special Adviser. Aikala holds the degrees of Master of Laws and Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration.

At the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, Aikala will cover matters belonging to the Innovations and Enterprise Financing Department. These include corporate financing, overseas expansion of Finnish companies, digital transformation, and the minerals policy. In addition, he will be responsible for matters included in the remit of the Ministry of Finance's Financial Markets Department. 

For the past 25 years, Lars Aikala has mainly worked with innovative high-growth companies, initially by helping businesses go public and later assisting with capital investment operations. In 2009, he worked in the team setting up Valoya, a Finnish business operating on the global greenhouse lighting technology market. Aikala then served as the company's managing director for 12 years. Aikala has personally registered more than a hundred patents. 

Teemu Hartikainen will continue as Minister Rydman's special adviser responsible for regional development, entrepreneurship, innovation policy, security of supply and EU affairs. 

Aikala started in his new post on 2 September 2024. 

Inquiries:
Lars Aikala, Special Adviser to the Minister of Economic Affairs, tel. + 358 50 401 6410