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CTO Nordic

Engineering Competitive Advantage

Product

CTO Nordic

Time

9.12.2026

hybrid

Kulttuurikasarmi

Product

CTO Nordic

Time

9.12.2026

hybrid

Kulttuurikasarmi

PROGRAM
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Technology no longer supports the business — it defines it.

As CTO, your responsibility is no longer limited to technology strategy. You are shaping the products, platforms, architectures and engineering capabilities that determine how your company competes, grows and creates value.

At CTO Nordic 2026, the focus is on building: building products powered by AI, building architectures that scale, building technology organizations that deliver, and making the difficult decisions about what to modernize, rebuild or leave behind.

Join leading experts across Nordics for a day of practical insights, honest lessons learned and strategic discussions on how technology leaders create lasting competitive advantage in an environment shaped by rapid innovation, regulation and constant change.

Because the companies that win tomorrow are built today.

DEFINING THE AGENDA

Technology as Business: Building What You Compete On

Technology is no longer supporting the business—it defines it. CTO owning business models. What are you building today that will still create advantage tomorrow?

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Legacy Decisions: What to Keep, What to Rebuild

Every system has a cost—some just hide it better. What do you scale, what do you replace, and what are you holding onto too long?

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Staying Ahead: Navigating What Matters Next

New technologies move fast—but not all of them matter. Filtering signal vs noise. How do you stay informed, make the right bets, and focus where it counts?

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Kristo Vaher

CTO, GovStack, Former Government CTO of Estonia, GovTech Expert

Kristo Vaher

Ulf Larsson, SEB

Group Security CTO, SEB (SE)

Ulf Larsson

2026 speakers will be released soon!

Nina Rahkola EN

Nina Rahkola

Documentarist, Journalist

Sanna Malinen

Sanna Malinen

Chief Technology Officer and Executive Director, Technology Industries of Finland

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    • Wednesday 9.12.

      We open our doors! Register in and enjoy a light breakfast

      Opening remarks by our moderator

      Nina Rahkola
      Nina Rahkola Documentarist, Journalist
      KEYNOTE

      BUILDING SYSTEMS THAT ARE DESIGNED TO CHANGE

      Kristo Vaher
      Kristo Vaher CTO, GovStack, Former Government CTO of Estonia, GovTech Expert
      KEYNOTE

      THE SYSTEMS WE DIDN’T REPLACE AND THE COST OF IT

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      • The decisions to keep systems—and why they seemed right at the time
      • Where legacy quietly blocked speed, integration, and product development
      • The real cost of waiting too long to rebuild

      BREAK

      FROM AI EXPERIMENTS TO REAL PRODUCTS

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      • What changes when AI moves from feature to core product capability
      • Where AI systems fail in production—and why
      KEYNOTE

      WHY REBUILDING THE CORE IS HARDER THAN IT LOOKS

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      • Why rebuilding takes longer than expected
      • When small fixes no longer solve the underlying problem
      • What makes rebuilding succeed—or stall

      LUNCH
      KEYNOTE

      BUILDING UNDER CONSTRAINTS – REGULATION, DATA AND SOVEREIGNTY

      Sanna Malinen
      Sanna Malinen Chief Technology Officer and Executive Director, Technology Industries of Finland
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      • When cloud strategy becomes a sovereignty decision
      • Owning your data vs depending on your vendors
      • Designing architecture under regulatory constraints
      KEYNOTE

      WHY YOUR DATA ARCHITECTURE IS LIMITING WHAT YOU CAN BUILD

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      • Where fragmented data limits product capabilities, not just reporting
      • Why real-time is harder and when it actually unlocks new products
      • How your data architecture constrains what you can build with AI

      BREAK
      KEYNOTE

      WHY MODERN ARCHITECTURES STILL DON’T DELIVER SPEED

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      • Complexity vs speed in distributed systems
      • Coordination overhead in microservices and platforms
      • Where bottlenecks emerge in modern stacks
      KEYNOTE

      LESSONS FROM BUILDING UNDER PRESSURE

      Ulf Larsson
      Ulf Larsson Group Security CTO, SEB (SE)
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      The reality of leading technology today

      • What turned out to matter—and what didn’t
      • Where we underestimated complexity and paid for it
      • What we would do differently if we started today
      • What will matter next—and what is not worth your time

      Moderator wrap up

      Nina Rahkola
      Nina Rahkola Documentarist, Journalist

    Discover more experiences

    A Shared experience, elevated.

    When attending with three or more guests, enjoy an exclusive 10% group privilege — crafted to enhance your collective experience and unlock added value together.

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    Partner with us.

    Drive business impact through exclusive CxO encounters. See if 15 min meeting could redefine your C-level engagement.

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    This is where tomorrow takes shape.

    A year-round, high-value community designed exclusively for CIOs and business executives from leading Nordic companies – By Leaders, For Leaders.

    Apply for CIO Circle