January, 2016

• 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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• 5 January

  5 Swedes showcased in Forbes “30 under 30” 2016

  

  This week, Forbes released their annual “30 under 30” list of young talent, and 5 Swedes made the cut. The list, which totals 600 people in 20 different categories, is an annual compilation of young global talent.  The categories listed include e-commerce, enterprise tech, gaming, and finance. Although the Nordics (and Europe as a whole) were far outnumbered by the …

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• 5 January

  Turning garbage into good

  

  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 …

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• 4 January

  Aim for improvement, not innovation

  

  Leaders and politicians are constantly touting the need for more innovation.  But is more innovation really what we need? Innovation moves us forward – as individuals, groups, businesses, and perhaps as a nation and civilization. At the same time – innovation is not mundane. Innovation is or leads to change. Major innovations such as the steam engine and the mobile …

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