January, 2016

• 14 January

  Kula 3D turns your smartphone into a 3D camera

  

  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 …

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• 13 January

  Vivino: Yet another Nordic success story

  

  Nowadays, the apps on your smartphone today are far more likely to be created in Stockholm or Sweden than in Silicon Valley. If asked most people would assume these businesses are American or British creations, but they’d be wrong.While they may have now moved the bulk of their staff to those countries, these businesses are flag bearers of the Nordic …

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• 12 January

  Denmark stays at the top for female entrepreneurship

  

  The latest figures from the Danish Business Authority reveal that the distribution between men and women engaging in entrepreneurship has remained constant since 2001, with 1 out of every 3 entrepreneurs being female. An entrepreneur is statistically defined as a person who creates new business in non-agricultural industries, meaning re-launches, acquisitions and the like are not counted. In Denmark, there …

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• 12 January

  Nordic tech in Q4: the most active quarter so far

  

  In Q4, tech startups based in Nordic countries collectively raised $309.8 million in 107 rounds. Though not the biggest quarter of 2015 in terms of amount raised – a distinction still carried by Q2 and its massive $812.8 million cumulative intake – it is the top quarter for amount of individual investments, by an easy 40 rounds. This funding analysis …

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• 11 January

  Norwegians must get out of their comfort zone, says leading business lobby

  

  Kristin Skogen Lund, director of the NHO, Norway’s leading business lobby, thinks Norwegians have been in the comfort zone for far too long, and that change in the workplace is necessary. “There are a lot of changes we are now facing, and everything is dependent on how we choose to tackle them.  We are in this epoch of change, and …

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• 11 January

  How IoT will force traditional businesses to change

  

  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 …

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• 8 January

  Innovation center for the disabled successfully funded

  

  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 …

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• 7 January

  Vibecatch improves your company culture with 15 questions

  

  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 …

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• 7 January

  Mistbase: Tech that makes IoT possible

  

  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 …

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• 5 January

  How to talk to your Mom about AI

  

  2015 has seen an explosion in funding, interest in, and new product development around Artificial Intelligence. Facebook delivered M, Amazon gave us Echo, and Google launched TensorFlow, its open source machine learning library. A whole host of startups have also emerged, including x.ai, HyperScience, and Vicarious. There’s an interesting parallel to the web, circa 1998. At that time, tens of …

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