CONVERSATION: Stockholm’s AI start-up landscape

Описание: CONVERSATION: Stockholm’s AI start-up landscape
Moderated by Lisa Ericsson, Head of KTH Innovation
Panelists:
Elin Mårtensson, Founder & CEO AI-Bob
Hamed Mohammadpour, Co-Founder and CEO of Finna
Urban Forssell, Head of AI Strategy and Innovation at Digital Futures

CONVERSATION: Stockholm’s AI start-up landscape – from local innovators to global disruptors: mapping the future of AI in Stockholm

Abstract: Stockholm has rapidly become a hub for cutting-edge AI innovation, where global ambition meets Nordic pragmatism. The city’s start-up ecosystem is brimming with ventures applying artificial intelligence to fields as diverse as healthcare, finance, climate tech, and creative industries. But what makes Stockholm uniquely positioned to nurture these AI-driven companies? What challenges lie ahead for founders, investors, and policy makers—and how can the city’s ecosystem sustain momentum in the face of global competition?

This conversation brings together founders and ecosystem builders to explore the opportunities and obstacles shaping Stockholm’s AI start-up landscape. Together, we’ll unpack the dynamics of talent, funding, regulation, and collaboration, and ask how Stockholm can scale its AI promise into long-term global impact.

Lisa Ericsson is Head of KTH Innovation, CEO of KTH Ventures AB, the university’s investment arm. She founded KTH Innovation in 2007 and has built it into a leading ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship. With over 25 years of experience, she holds several board positions in the innovation landscape and serves on the advisory council of Sweden’s intellectual property office, PRV. Lisa holds a degree in Business Administration and has completed courses at MIT, SSE, and Cambridge.

Elin Mårtensson is the Co-Founder & CEO of AI-BOB, a Swedish ConTech company tackling the multi-trillion-euro problem of construction errors by building tools that catch issues early — making construction smarter, cleaner, and future-proof.
With over a decade in construction leading large-scale projects, she’s seen firsthand how errors drain budgets and resources. In fact a quarter of all investment in the industry goes to fixing mistakes, generating hundreds of millions of tons of unnecessary waste each year. Determined to change that, Elin founded AI-BOB in spring 2024, an AI solution that automatically validates 3D models against regulations and requirements to detect design flaws before they reach the building site — saving time, money, and the planet.

Hamed Mohammadpour is the Co-Founder and CEO of Finna, an AI-powered operating system designed for lean startups. With a Master’s in Data Science from KTH, he brings extensive experience as a Product Engineer and AI practitioner at PostHog, Juni, and Anyfin. Hamed specializes in building AI-driven products that address real business challenges. Previously, he co-founded Vectorboard.ai (Berkeley SkyDeck) and Stockholm Founders Coral, and founded HackerPM to bridge the gap between technical and non-technical founders, fostering collaboration and innovation in startup ecosystems.

Urban Forssell is an accomplished international business executive and advisor with over 25 years of leadership experience in technology and industrial sectors. He currently holds a position as Head of AI Strategy and Innovation at Digital Futures and KTH Research Support Office and serves as Executive Chairman of ManoMotion AB.
Previously he has held senior leadership positions in Neonode Inc., Öhlins Racing AB, and NIRA Dynamics AB and also have experience from Autoliv Electronics AB and Mecel AB.

Urban holds a Ph.D. in Automatic Control from Linköping University and a M.Sc. in Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering from Linköping University.