Judges on Fire: Cloud Operations, AI Security & Sovereign Infrastructure with Jukka Seppänen

In this episode of the Judges on Fire series by the Tech Trailblazers Awards, host Rose Ross sits down with new panel judge Jukka Seppänen, CIO and CISO at UpCloud.Operating across 15 data centres in 12 countries, Helsinki-headquartered UpCloud provides core European cloud infrastructure with a strong emphasis on digital sovereignty, compliance, and rapid operational support. Jukka breaks down what it takes to balance dual roles in cloud leadership, the practical reality of AI-driven cybersecurity threats, and what Tech Trailblazers entrants must do to capture the attention of the judging panel.In this episode, we cover:Wearing Two Hats: How balancing the responsibilities of CIO and CISO allows Jukka to evaluate technology through complementary lenses—balancing operational delivery and scale against risk management and governance.Practical Cyber Defence: Why security controls must survive the real-world operational demands of service production, and why a theoretical control that cannot be operated reliably is useless in practice.The Reality of AI in Cyber Security: Why organisations must stop treating AI prompts as security boundaries, the necessity of giving AI agents minimum permissions and specific identities, and how AI-driven automation is flooding bug bounty platforms.European Digital Sovereignty: How highly digital nations like Finland view sovereignty not as isolated digital fortresses, but as a dependable network of friendly European collaboration.Advice for Tech Trailblazers Entrants: Why start-ups should focus on real customer outcomes, avoid empty buzzwords (AI-powered, next-generation, built for the cloud), and present concrete evidence over marketing jargon.