Pekka Himanen

Prof. Himanen is one of the internationally best-known researchers of the information age, whose works on the subject have been published in 20 languages from Asia to America (English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese, Indonesian, Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Croatian, Estonian, Swedish and Finnish).

After obtaining his PhD in Philosophy as the youngest doctor ever in Finland at the age of 20 (University of Helsinki 1994), Himanen moved to carry out research first in England and then in California (Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley). The best-known publication of this research is the book The Hacker Ethic (Random House 2001). Himanen has also coauthored with Prof. Manuel Castells the influential book The Information Society and the Welfare State (Oxford University Press 2002), which has been discussed worldwide in the leading academic and political circles. Himanen is nowadays a popular lecturer around the world.

As a sign of his impact, Himanen's work has been recognized with several awards, such as the World Economic Forum's respected Global Leader for Tomorrow Award in 2003 and his selection of being one of the 200 Young Global Leaders in 2005. Himanen has also had an important role in the actual making of policy. He has advised leading global organizations and corporations. In Finland, Prof. Himanen has recently finished the preparation of a new information society strategy for the Finnish Parliament's Committee for the Future and a national innovation strategy for the Finnish Technology Industry.

Himanen's untraditional work has always also had a broader cultural impact. This includes the media: Himanen is frequently interviewed by the media around the world, from the TV to newspapers. He has also authored numerous articles from Time Magazine to The Financial Times as well as hosted his own TV series called The Net Academy (the Finnish TV1). Himanen's cultural figure has even inspired a provocative theater play, Cherished Disappointments in Love, that has been performed in Finland and in London (Soho Theatre). This satirical play of Jouko Turkka is a story of an older female newspaper editor falling in love with the young philosopher "Himanen"!

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