Human Skills in a Digital Age

Perttu Pölönen has been given many titles, such as inventor, author, composer, keynote speaker, futurist and visionaire. In Finnish media Perttu has been called a gentle highbrow and a fearless inventor. Perttu himself still prefers not to use titles at all –it’s difficult to put him into any known box. Perttu is a classically trained composer by education, but became an entrepreneur at a young age. Perttu has studied at Singularity University, a think tank located at the NASA Ames Research Center in California. While in California, he co-founded a non-profit, 360ed, that develops AR apps for the education sector in developing countries–the company is run and operated in Myanmar. Perttu’s own invention, MusiClock, is an example of how a personal challenge can be turned into an internationally awarded and patented invention. It won the at biggest science fair in Europe, the European Union's Competition for Young Scientists. The MusiClock mobile app became #1 music app in over 10 countries. In 2014 Perttu was given the “Most Creative Finn” Award at Slush and in 2018 MIT Tech Review honored him among 35 Innovators Under 35 in Europe. Perttu has written two books: Future Skills (2020) and Future Identities (2021). Perttu is known as an inspiring thinker who believes that human skills and values will be crucially important in the future, to balance technological advancements.