About Us
Where did this come from?
It all started with a question that had been sitting unanswered for a surprisingly long time.
In late 2024, Markus Wartiovaara – Professor of Practice at Hanken School of Economics, Director of Hanken Business Lab, and the kind of person who turns observations into action – noticed something odd. Finland had earlier in the year been named the happiest country in the world for the seventh year in a row. The rest of the Nordic countries were right behind, as always. And yet, no one had really tried to bring people together to examine what that means: not just to celebrate it, but to genuinely understand it, question it, and figure out what the world could learn from it.
He brought the idea to Micael Dahlen, Chaired Professor of Wellbeing, Welfare and Happiness and Director of the Center for Wellbeing, Welfare and Happiness at Stockholm School of Economics. A team formed quickly. And in a move that says a lot about what Nordic Happiness Summit is, that team was made up almost entirely of university students at Hanken.
What we believe
We believe that happiness and wellbeing is worth taking seriously. Not in a motivational poster kind of way, but as research, policy, organizational design, and everyday life. The Nordics have something genuinely interesting going on, and the world has a lot to learn from looking at it honestly. But so do the Nordics to keep the trend going.
We work to bring together a community of students, researchers, companies, practitioners and policymakers dedicated to exploring and promoting wellbeing and happiness across the Nordics and worldwide.
Previous editions
In spring 2025, what had been an idea a few months earlier became a real event: Nordic Happiness Summit, held at Hanaholmen in Espoo, welcoming 250 people for two days of honest, rigorous conversations about happiness, wellbeing, and what we can do with it.
Since then, Nordic Happiness Summit has grown. The 2026 edition took place in Stockholm, nearly doubled in size, and brought together some of the world’s leading voices on wellbeing, all the way from academic heavyweights to tech executives and ministers.
In 2027, Nordic Happiness Summit returns to Finland for its third edition.