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Íris Ólafsdóttir, an Icelandic entrepreneur, is the visionary and CEO of Kúla 3D. A self-described amateur photographer, Íris devised a product that brings photography into the third dimension. Kúla 3D creates camera accessories that turn your smartphone (and other cameras) into 3D cameras. The idea for the product was conceptualized during Íris’ maternity leave. Íris noticed a toy reflected in …

The Internet of Things (IoT) will change everything. Existing businesses will be disrupted and their business models will be changed forever. Here’s why. Put yourself in the shoes of Philips, consumer products manufacturer. Philips makes dishwashers. One day, they’re going to throw a sensor and wifi chip into the newest dishwasher model and call it a “smart” appliance. We’ll have …

Iceland’s Frumbjörg, started by Brandur Karlsson in cooperation with Sjálfsbjörg, the Icelandic national federation of the disabled, is an Innovation Center for Mobility. The initiative’s goal is to provide the disabled with the opportunities for employment and develop innovations within the healthcare and social sectors. The social entrepreneurship venture is meant to provide individuals with disabilities office space and guidance …

We caught up with  Juha Huttunen, co-founder of Vibecatch, and asked him a few questions about how to improve company culture – and profitability – with 15 questions. How did you come up with the idea for Vibecatch? We originally worked for a software company and wanted to measure, internally, how satisfied the employees were with the company and their …

Mistbase is an upcoming IoT start-up that provides the technology that makes IoT possible, and is ready to take on the telecom giants. The company, based out of the Ideon Innovation Incubator in Lund, Sweden, was founded in mid-summer 2015 by long-time friends and colleagues Michal Stala and Magnus Midholt, who have a combined experience of over 20 years working …

In May 2015, Adrien Vetterli came up with an idea sparked by a recently viral story from the Netherlands where a man decided to clean trash along a polluted waterway bit by bit, every day on his way to work. Collecting garbage from natural areas wasn’t anything new to him as he had participated in environmental reporting efforts in his …

Fintech companies have been a hot topic in the Nordics as startups rush to disrupt the traditional financial sector.  Here is a look back at some of the main fintech trends and Nordic companies to watch in 2015.   Bitcoin Bitcoin reached a big milestone in 2015, when it scored a major win in Europe by earning EU tax free …

BreedReply is an accelerator focused solely on IoT (Internet of Things) early stage startups in Europe and the US started byReply, a consulting, systems integration and digital services company. Similar accelerators  such as Startupbootcamp IoT & Data and HAXLR8R are organized around varied sponsors in the public and private sector. Breed’s offer is a 12 month “bespoke” incubation period, where …

The process of Electromyography (EMG) has for decades, conducted in labs on subjects who are rigged up to wires that lead to a processing machine monitored by technician.  Myontec has created a wearable solution that is capable of performing the same processes. EMG is a diagnostic technique that monitors measures muscle activity and is used to analyze human kinetics and …

Organized by Shareplay, Interactive Denmark, and us, NordicGameBits, Games Business 2015 was Denmark’s largest games industry conference for all Nordic game developers. Today, we look back at the conference, and share some of the best insights. On Monday December 7th at 12:30, industry professionals from Denmark and the rest of the Nordics gathered in “The House of Music” in Aalborg, …

Icelandic startup KeyWe is creating an app that ties together an emotional, visual, and logical approach to learning. Olafur Stefansson and Halldor Thorsteinsson are brothers in law and co-founders of the ed-tech startup KeyWe. I’m meeting with them at  the Innovation House in Seltjarnarnes, Iceland for a chat about their startup. They arrive on time. Composed and confident, with a spark …

A Danish start-up company called Unfair Fashion is taking on the challenge of changing the mindset in the fashion industry. Innovation and creative thinking often rely on a flexible market environment, willingness to change, and the potential for collaborations. The fashion industry has often been seen as the opposite: a closed and self-focused market, where transparency is not a high …

Finnish ed-tech startup Funzi starts with a premise you may be familiar with – learning on a mobile phone. But their unique focus on emerging markets has people around the world sitting up and taking notice. Funzi is reinventing how learning is delivered – not in terms of content, but in terms of the delivery of learning to the individual. …

Radiant Games, an Icelandic mobile gaming startup, just released its full-length title Box Island: Epic Coding Adventure. The release closely follows an earlier release of a shorter version of the game, specially released for Code.org’s Hour of Code events this week, part of Computer Science Education Week, held December 7-13. This article was originally posted on Nordurskautid, Iceland’s premier outlet for …

“You could say that people read too many books.” So says Erik Pöntiskoski, the CEO of Dodreams, the company behind the very popular and addictive mobile game, Drive ahead!. He is responding to the issue of excessive device usage in this day and age, which he feels has a largely detrimental effect on human interaction.  His startup Dodreams,wants to make …

The real-time publishing platform Socius captures and curates content shared on the social web to create unique and engaging stories. Socius just closed their seed round after 2,5 years of development that includes an accelerated 3 months in Axel Springer’s accelerator in Berlin. There investors include 500 Startups and Raw Invest (Bergen based firm). Their final sum of 1.300.000 Nok …

Imagine using your phone to discover new sustainable businesses and services. But wait – anyone can do that, if they have internet connection.  But what about just by texting?  SURE. Sure is a startup that allows you to be more sustainable by using Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is not an app – it’s a local number. You simply text Sure, …

The launch of Ebove B\01 bikes  at the startup hub MESH in Oslo was a one-of-a-kind event.  Take a peek behind the scenes at Activetainment‘s new smartbike, which goes way beyond spinning class. The Activetainment Ebove B\01 smart bike is an evolution of your basic indoor stationary bike.  Like many of these next-gen bikes, the smart bike has augmented biking …

As the former in app advertising, user acquisition and economy designer for Blades of Brim, SYBO’s 2nd successful title after Subway Surfers, Mihai Gheza knows a thing or two about business in the mobile games industry. Years ago, he witnessed Subway Surfers come to life from a pre-launch prototype to 1 Billion+ downloads today, while SYBO Games grew from 2 …

The two-day tech conference Next, which happened in the middle of the four-day Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, was an introduction to the new technologies that will shape of how we will live and work in the future.  But what about the ethics behind these technologies? It all comes down to the kind of legacy we are leaving and what we …