SHIFT 2025: Tenth edition, three stages and a collaborative ecosystem that turns "Business into a Real Festival"
Carita Varjonen, CEO of SHIFT, stated that the 2025 edition of the event the tenth in its history "will fulfill the promise of being a true business festival," as the gathering will now include three stages (one of them interactive), a series of side events, and a schedule designed so that innovation never sleeps.
SHIFT 2025 —May 22, Turku, Finland— aims to become the largest entrepreneurship and innovation event in southwest Finland, offering a B2B agenda blended with public-facing experiences, startup pitches, product launches, and curated meetings.
The goal of SHIFT, explains CEO Carita Varjonen, is to create growth opportunities for every participant —whether personal, professional, or business-related.
Like a music festival: three stages
One of the elements that led the CEO to affirm this is a true festival is the presence of three major areas of focus:
Follow us on: 
- Raju Stage (Jussinaukio): Keynotes and six "A-list" sessions where world-class speakers deliver high-voltage ideas.
- Partner Stage: A corporate runway for express alliances and tech demos.
- Interactive Stage: A wheeled container equipped with tables and closed doors, transforming into a collective think tank — here, the audience doesn’t applaud; they participate.
Plug-in mode
SHIFT isn’t limiting its scope to the city of Turku. Several key moments and side events will unfold over the three days of the festival. Oulu Academy will host a dedicated session; meanwhile, the Turku Chamber of Commerce will celebrate its 75th anniversary with morning cafés that include macroeconomic outlooks for the coming months.
Additionally, the feminist collective CRUSH (from Helsinki) will join with panels on inclusion, and the Turku Music Festival will literally bring their aesthetic to the main stage.
Matchmaking — stress-free (or not)
The official app will include sections for speed meetings and one-on-ones. The goal is to surpass last year’s average of 3.5 meetings per attendee.
Those preferring slower networking can disable the feature and let serendipity take over. "Leave space in your agenda for surprises," the organizers recommend.
You can download the SHIFT Business Festival app from Google Play or the App Store. There, you’ll find the full schedule, speaker list, and messaging tools for attendee chat. Matchmaking features will go live one week before the event.
Voices that have negotiated with uncertainty
SHIFT 2025’s theme is success, approached through leadership, collaboration, and risk management.
Among the keynote speakers is Anna Palmén, a risk management consultant who has worked in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Chad, and now Armenia. Her talk will explore cultural flexibility and resilience — not as soft skills, but as survival tools.
First-time launches at SHIFT’s 10-year mark
The sensory experience pavilion will feature something new: for the first time in SHIFT’s history, a product launch will take place.
The spotlight is on Turku Distillery, an artisanal distillery that began with the classic Finnish dream of making one’s own liquor. Now a multi-award-winning producer —famous for their 61.2% vodka launched on Finnish Independence Day.
Turku Distillery will unveil a new whey-based spirit at SHIFT 2025. "We’re using whey that would otherwise go to waste — and yes, you can distill something great from it," said Tapio Järvenpää of Turku Distillery.
"The real party starts in the evening"
Closing the press conference, SHIFT CEO Carita Varjonen emphasized: "The real party starts with the evening events. Stay late — business reveals itself when the lights go down."