Mr. Jarmo Sareva was appointed the first Ambassador for Innovation at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland in 2018. A career diplomat, Mr. Sareva brings to the Ministry a wealth of experience from both multilateral and bilateral diplomacy.

From 2006 to 2018, he served in various positions at the UN, including as Director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) in Geneva from 2015 to 2018. From 2002 to 2006, Mr. Sareva was Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Finland to the UN in New York.
His other diplomatic experience includes two tours of duty in Moscow, including as Deputy Chief of Mission, as well as Washington, D.C., and Vienna. He also served as Director of Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-proliferation at the Ministry in Helsinki. Mr. Sareva holds an M.A. from the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C., and a M.Sc. (Political science) from Turku University