Eric Schmidt
Executive Chairman of Alphabet Inc.
Eric Schmidt is the executive chairman of Alphabet Inc. He is responsible for the external matters of all of the holding company's businesses, including Google Inc., advising their CEOs and leadership on business and policy issues.
Eric joined Google in 2001 and helped grow the company from a Silicon Valley startup to a global leader in technology. He served as Google’s Chief Executive Officer from 2001-2011, and as chairman from 2011-2015. Prior to Google, Eric held leadership roles at Novell and Sun Microsystems, Inc. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University as well as a master’s degree and Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Eric is Chairman of the Department of Defense’s Innovation Board and was awarded the Medal for Distinguished Public Service by Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.
He is the co-author of The New Digital Age and How Google Works, and serves on the boards of the Mayo Clinic and the Broad Institute. He’s a Gulfstream pilot, and his philanthropic efforts through The Schmidt Family Foundation focus on climate change, including support of ocean and marine life studies at sea, as well as education, specifically cutting-edge research and technology in the natural sciences and engineering.
Carl Bildt
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden (2006-2014); Prime Minister of Sweden (1991-1994)
Carl Bildt has served as both Prime Minister of Sweden in 1991-1994, and Foreign Minister of Sweden in 2006-2014. During the first period, his government initiated major liberal economic reforms, as well as negotiated and signed membership agreement with the European Union. Subsequently, he served in international functions with the EU and UN, primarily related to the conflicts in the Balkans. He was Co-Chairman of the Dayton peace talks on Bosnia and become the first High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995-1997. Later, he was the Special Envoy of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to the region. After stepping down as leader of the Moderate Party of Sweden in 1999 and leaving Parliament in 2000, he was also engaged in corporate boards in Sweden and the US, as well as different international think-tanks. Returning as Foreign Minister of Sweden, he came to be seen as one of the most prominent and vocal of European foreign ministers during his year in office. He was one of the initiators of EU’s Eastern Partnership and pushed the EU forward on issues of the Middle East. Carl Bildt has continued to push the use of social media in international diplomacy.
Anna Felländer
Digital Economist, Senior Advisor BCG, Affiliated Faculty KTH, Board Member and Expert Advisor
Anna Felländer has extensive experience in analyzing how digitalization is affecting organisations, society and the economy. She has published a number of reports on the subject, for example on e-commerce, Fin Tech and the sharing economy. She currently holds positions in academia, government, the digital start-up scene and large organisations focusing on digitalisation. She is a visiting fellow at the Swedish House of Finance at SSE and is affiliated to the Royal Institute of Technology. Also, she is a Senior Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group and an advisor to the Minister of Digitalisation. She is also a board member and expert advisor to digital startups focusing on Artificial Intelligence. Felländer has been working with the Swedish government for ten years and has held the positions as Chief Economist and Digital Economist at Swedbank. Felländer has a Master of Science in International Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics.
Sigbritt Karlsson
President of KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Sigbritt Karlsson is the 19th President of KTH Royal Institute of Technology. She took office on November 12, 2016. Karlsson was president of the University of Skövde from 2010 to 2016. She has an academic background from KTH, where she earned her Master of Science degree in Chemical Engineering with a specialisation in biotechnology. She also has a PhD in polymer technology from KTH, and is professor of polymer technology targeting the polymeric materials technical environment. Karlsson has held a variety of positions at KTH. From 1996 to 2004 she served as Director of Studies. She was Vice Dean responsible for strategic education issues from 2008 to 2010. Prior to that, she served as Vice Dean of Faculty and was responsible for undergraduate studies at the School of Chemical Science. As President of KTH her goal is, in line with Vision 2027, to lift KTH to next level: "KTH will continue to strengthen its position as a leading international university. To get there we need the work to be characterized by equality and sustainable development".
Ronnie Leten
Chief Executive Officer and President of Atlas Copco AB
Ronnie Leten served as as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Atlas Copco AB since June 01, 2009 until April 26, 2017. He has extensive experience in Sales and marketing and general management of over 27 years in Atlas Copco Group Companies and also outside companies like General Biscuits, Tenneco Inc. etc.
Ronnie has been the Chairman of AB Electrolux (publ) since March 26, 2014 and served as Deputy Chairman at AB Electrolux (publ) from 2012 to March 26, 2014. He has also been a Director of AB Electrolux (publ) since 2012. He currently serves as a Director of H.Essers N.V. as well as Director of SKF AB (since March 29, 2017). Since September 5, 2017 he is also Chair of the Board of Epiroc AB.
Mr. Leten holds a Master of Science in Applied Economics from the University of Hasselt, Belgium and is a Belgian Citizen born in 1956.
Nicklas Lundblad
VP, Public Policy & Government Relations EMEA, Google
Nicklas Lundblad has been with Google since 2007, first building the public policy team in the Nordics, after which he was recruited to build a long term policy research and strategy team in Mountain View. He spent three and half years in Mountain View building and leading this team, and then returned in 2013 to Sweden and took on the role as head of Google's European public policy team. He holds a PhD in informatics, and is an adjunct professor in innovation at The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. He is a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences in Sweden, an Eisenhower Fellow and has served on a number of boards. In 2012 he was one of 21 Google executives globally given a Great Manager Award. He is the author of three books on information technology and policy, and is a regular contributor to several newspapers and magazines.
Mikael Robertson
Senior partner, McKinsey
Mikael Robertson is a senior partner based in McKinsey’s Stockholm office. He primarily focuses on industrial goods and high-tech. He also leads McKinsey’s manufacturing practice in Europe and has co-led research on manufacturing of the future and future of work.
Erik Sandström
CDO Arbetsförmedlingen
Erik Sandström recently took on the position as director of a new division at Arbetsförmedlingen. He studied computer engineering at the Royal Institute of Technology and has spent more than 10 years as an entrepreneur in the IT sector. Arbetsförmedlingen is now reforming the agency, which includes one of the biggest investments in digitalization in the public sector and as head of the division covering national services (in contrast to local offices) Erik is a key player in the transformation. His vision is an open digital ecosystem for matching jobs, making Sweden the world’s most effective labor market. In order to kick start this, the agency has introduced the term “Jobtech” – job technology, and has introduced a platform for open data, open source and innovative cooperation. In order to boost digital competence in general, and amongst job-seekers in particular, the agency has, together with Google, taken the initiative to set up a training program in digital competence, which is expected to reduce the skills gap in Swedish society.
Åsa Tamsson
Associate partner, McKinsey
Åsa Tamsons is an associate partner in McKinsey’s Stockholm office. Her primary focus is within high-tech and telecommunications. She has also been based in McKinsey’s San Francisco and Sao Paulo offices. Åsa has been part of leading the future of work research.
Anna Wikland
Country Director for Google in Sweden
Anna Wikland is the Country Director for Google in Sweden and is keen to be part of driving the digital development agenda locally, to make sure Sweden grasps the major opportunities digital brings. Anna has extensive experience from the online world through various roles in both Sweden and the US. Besides her role at Google, Anna currently sits on the board at IT & Telekomföretagen. Additionally, she has been awarded the prize "The most powerful woman in Tech in Sweden" by Veckans Affärer and "The leader of the future" from Chef.
Ola Ahlvarsson
Moderator
Ola Ahlvarsson is a Swedish entrepreneur and athlete based out of Stockholm. He has since the mid 90’s been working in the field of digital entrepreneurship as an entrepreneur, investor, thought leader and advisor. He is the founder of over 20 companies including Epicenter, Starstable and Result.
Ola is an experienced speaker and moderator. He has hosted and lead discussions at the World Economic Forum, DLD in Munich, World Knowledge Forum in Seoul and Le Web in Paris. Ola is also the co-creator, host and moderator of SIME, a thought leader summit held in Stockholm every year hosting 2000 leaders from the Swedish and the International economy.