Ilkka Harjunpää is Unikie’s Country Manager for Germany. He helps the German automotive industry and logistics companies to innovate and develop its working practices at a time when the industry is entering a completely new world.
After more than a decade in Germany, Ilkka today lives the Finnish dream right in the middle of Berlin – let’s see how he got there!
Desire to Work Abroad
In the early 2000s, Ilkka started building a career in technology and product management, working for the Finnish telecom and mobile phone giant, Nokia. One of his dreams was to move abroad and work as an expatriate. Shortly after leaving Nokia, his opportunity came up and in 2012 the entire family moved to Germany.
“Germany seemed like a good fit. It’s an EU country, not too far from Finland and the countries share similar values and practicalities like using Euros and driving on the right side of the road,” Ilkka thinks back.
Ilkka moved to Germany with a family of four under-age children, who all went to local German-speaking schools. Today, the family is fully integrated into German society.
Ilkka’s first contact with Unikie was in 2020, when he started working for Unikie’s Italian customer as a product owner. While he enjoyed the project, he didn’t get to visit Northern Italy too much, as the Covid pandemic forced everyone across Europe to work from their homes.
His next step at Unikie was working with Unikie’s Marshalling Solution that allows automated vehicle movement within gated areas, such as vehicle production and logistics, bus depots or logistics terminals.
“In 2021 we had a big demo about our solution at IAA Mobility in Munich. It was thrilling to see how well a relatively small company from Finland performed against huge industry players – at that point, I knew that we were on to something big,” Ilkka says.
Driving the Change in Automotive
Today, Ilkka works in business development, talking with customers and partners that could utilise Unikie’s solutions for the automotive industry. Germany is an automotive giant and the industry is going through a major shift.
“We live in exciting times as automotive is entering a new world: vehicles will become more software-focused and manufacturers will have to fundamentally change the ways they work,” Ilkka points out.
This change requires companies to work and innovate together. Ilkka participates in various working groups for the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) and logistics association Bundesvereinigung Logistik (BVL). These organizations have major influence in where the industry is heading and even how European legislation is developed.
“In just a few years, Unikie has become a well-known company in the industry. With initiatives like our global partnership with Deutsche Telekom, we introduce new, different solutions and working culture that is needed among all the changes.”
Ilkka is heavily involved in the Autolog project where Unikie partners with Volkswagen, Deutsche Telekom and BIBA to enable fully automated driving in automotive seaports and compounds around the world, starting at Europe’s third-largest automotive seaport in Emden, Germany.
Summers in Berlin
After more than a decade, Ilkka and his family are fully integrated to Germany. They are actually living the Finnish dream in Berlin – living in a house with a garden, in a quiet area close to a lake, but still in a central location.
In his youth, one of Ilkka’s favorite songs was Summer in Berlin by Alphaville. Little did he know that Berlin was to become his home.
“I love living in Berlin. It’s an interesting city, or more like many cities within a city. Each district is unique with very different people. No matter what you are like, you don’t stand out from the crowd – everyone gets to be the person they are.”
After years of working in Germany, Ilkka has become quite familiar with the German working culture. He thinks that while there are similarities, there are also differences between Finland, for example.
“Especially with larger companies, things move slower and more carefully. Changes take time. Speaking the German language is a must, especially the higher up you go in quite hierarchical organizations,” he concludes.
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