Defence and dual-use work moves forward when the right people stay in contact and decisions don’t stall in handovers. That requires someone who can keep interaction disciplined, spot weak signals early, and remove practical obstacles before they become structural.
Suvi Lehtonen has joined XD Solutions as Engagement Manager.
Experience
Suvi’s background is in dual-use operations and innovation validation, with hands-on experience coordinating multi-actor work. Before joining XD Solutions, she worked at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, where she coordinated programmes including NATO DIANA in Finland and Dual Use Discovery. Her experience spans early-stage technology teams as well as large industrial organisations.
“Most business ideas fail because they are developing innovations that nobody is willing to buy. It’s paramount to establish why someone should be ready to pay for innovation.”
Role at XD Solutions
At XD Solutions, Suvi’s role is to keep stakeholder work active and outcome-driven. The focus is not “community building” as an end in itself, but maintaining the interaction and clarity that complex programmes depend on.
“An ecosystem can’t exist without its members, but just a list of member organisations is not enough. An innovative ecosystem needs to come together for a shared purpose and active cooperation.”
View on the current environment
Suvi’s work is grounded in the reality that defence technology cycles are tightening and coordination requirements are rising accordingly.
“We need cross-organisational cooperation to tip the innovation asymmetry in favour of Finland and our allies. Complex problem-solving is difficult to do alone.”
