What can business and the rest of society learn from creative expertise?
A professional event for learning from creative and cultural expertise — and meeting potential clients, partners, collaborators and decision-makers outside your usual circuit.
Creative expertise is more than “being creative”.
People who work in art, design, music, film, games, media and other creative fields make decisions every day about things that are difficult to measure in advance: what deserves attention, what feels meaningful, what people will remember, when something is culturally wrong, how to work without a clear answer, and how to make something that did not exist before. Those are not magic skills, and an artistic practice cannot be copied into a management framework. But the expertise behind creative work can change the questions people ask about organisations, products, cities, technology and society. ODDference creates a serious place for that exchange.
Take a different kind of expertise back to work.
ODDference brings creative and cultural practice into questions about leadership, technology, organisations and society. The point is not inspiration for its own sake, but new ways to look at problems you already have.
Meet people worth doing business with.
ODDference deliberately mixes creative leaders, business leaders, founders, policymakers, institutions and researchers. That makes room for potential clients, partners, collaborators and new projects that are harder to find inside a single-industry conference. We build time and structure for those conversations instead of leaving everything to chance.
The event should prove its own point.
If ODDference argues that creative expertise matters, the experience cannot stop at the speaker list. Artists and creative practitioners can shape the spaces, scenography, performances, food, music and other parts of how the event feels and behaves.
Who it's for
- Business leadersResponsible for direction, growth or change and looking for perspectives and relationships outside the usual business circuit.
- Founders & entrepreneursBuilding something that does not exist yet, looking for customers, collaborators and ideas beyond their immediate industry.
- Business development & partnershipsLooking for relevant clients, partners and people to build something with, in a room designed to cross professional silos.
- Organisational leadersWorking on culture, leadership and change, where behaviour and meaning matter as much as process.
- Policymakers & institutionsShaping cities, institutions and public systems and wanting closer contact with creative practice and the people behind it.
- Creative leadersBringing creative and cultural expertise into conversations, relationships and projects beyond the cultural sector.
People who joined us last time.
The programme is the reason to come. The whole event is part of the programme.
The first ODDference proved the room and the question. In 2027, we are putting more creative work into the event itself — while keeping the professional content at the centre.
Creative practice in the environment
Spatial design, performances, installations, food, music and other interventions can become part of how ODDference communicates its ideas, not entertainment added around them.
A direct connection to ODDfest
ODDference takes place alongside the wider ODDfest week across Helsinki, giving the professional event a direct connection to what is happening in the city.
Time to actually meet
We are building real time and structure for people to meet potential clients, partners, collaborators and peers outside their existing networks instead of leaving every useful encounter to chance.
Be there before you know the line-up.
The lowest-price ticket for people ready to commit before the programme is complete.
- Full ODDference 2027 access
- The lowest price ODDference 2027 will be sold at
- First to know the 2027 programme as it's confirmed
The next ticket tier after Blind Bird.
- Full ODDference 2027 access
Standard ODDference 2027 ticket.
- Full ODDference 2027 access
What could your organisation make possible inside ODDference?
Bring an idea, a question, expertise or resources. The best partnerships should improve the event for the people in the room, not just add a logo.
Talk to us about partnering →