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How Nordic Companies and Organisations are Using AI

How Nordic Companies and Organisations are Using AI

Specific areas are seeing interest when deploying AI solutions

Peter Juel Jensen
November 07, 2023

Peter’s Pioneers: Checking the Nordic AI Pulse.
Welcome to the eighth edition of Peter’s AI Pioneers newsletter. Dive in for a roundup of this week's AI news, deals and insights covering the Nordic region.

📚 In This Issue:

How Nordic Companies and Organisations are Using AI
Get Ready for the AI Revolution in Four Steps
How to Navigate Changing AI Regulations
News Roundup
Cool Tools and Companies
Podcast Insights
Upcoming: Nordic AI Events You Shouldn't Miss

Top Three News Stories

How Nordic Companies and Organisations are Using AI

Nordic companies and organisations are either keen to or already busy implementing AI solutions. Their efforts focus on specific areas.

There are some of the findings from several recent studies.

A Swedish survey shows that 31% of companies are considering integrating AI technology. In the survey, 10 per cent of the companies state that they already use AI and that it is mainly in marketing, data management and customer service that the technology has been implemented.

In Denmark, 51 out of 191 public authorities surveyed say they use one or more solutions with artificial intelligence (AI) in their work, using 129 AI-based solutions. AI is primarily used in solutions to optimise and streamline repetitive tasks such as invoicing and mail and journaling processes.

My take: The recent surveys show the growing recognition amongst Nordic companies and organisations of AI’s transformative power. Many enterprises are already either contemplating or actively integrating AI technologies. This is a testament to the collective realisation that AI is a crucial factor for future growth and efficiency.

The initial focus on marketing, data management, and customer service likely focuses on low-hanging fruit. In other words, companies are generally deploying AI solutions that can perform simple, repetitive tasks. That said, it still enables businesses to leverage data-driven insights and automation for enhanced decision-making and customer engagement. A similar pattern emerges from the Danish study of public organisations.

Another noteworthy trend from the Danish study is the amount of AI tools and solutions deployed. It speaks to the AI market still being relatively immature.

The relatively narrow scope of use cases employed and the immature market indicate that we are yet to see the full spectrum of AI's potential harnessed.

It's a market in the making, with the vast potential for growth as more sophisticated, diverse, and tailored AI solutions emerge - and for entrepreneurs to create them.

Get Ready for the AI Revolution in Four Steps

Malin Rapp, lecturer of the year 2023 and leader developer at the training company Self Leaders, has four practical tips for preparing yourself for the AI revolution through self-leadership:

Time optimisation and prioritisation - focus on your most important tasks
Efficient teamwork - encourage learning from failing fast and a collaborative culture.
Positive communication - support open debate and setting lofty goals.
Continuous learning - step out of your comfort zone to grow.

My take: While the advice above is valuable and applies to any organisation, it is “old-world” thinking. By that, I mean that they are strategies and approaches which do not address the positive, fundamentally disruptive potential of AI in organisational contexts. In other words, there is a misunderstanding in thinking that AI is similar to previous technological advancements.

Instead, I would suggest the following approach:

Understand what AI can and cannot do - what are AI applications today and in future?
Identify AI must-haves and nice-to-haves - where can AI create fundamental, positive changes in your business processes?
Decide how to integrate AI - do you have the in-house capabilities for some or all aspects of AI projects, or will you rely on outside help?
Monitor implementation and outcomes - how can you test, measure and iterate to optimise the uses of AI in your company rapidly?

How to Navigate Changing AI Regulations

The frameworks and regulations surrounding AI are changing rapidly. In a recent article, Andreas Bjørnebye, a lawyer at EY Norway, lays out likely changes and how companies can navigate this changing landscape.

Bjørnebye highlights how many countries and regions are taking a risk-based approach to AI. He also predicts that to both manage risk and stimulate responsible development, many jurisdictions will set up regulatory sandboxes where businesses can collaborate with the public sector in testing out solutions and finding suitable rules.

By understanding the fundamental similarities and differences in various regulations that are on the way internationally, companies operating in several jurisdictions can more quickly develop their understanding of risk and their need for compliance. This can reduce costs and strengthen market positions. Even companies that do not immediately see that the regulations will affect them can benefit from keeping up to date with developments and being ready when AI hits them.

My take: Jokingly, I would say that consultants love complexity and multi-jurisdiction issues. These tend to be areas where their services are in high demand.

For me, the central idea is sandboxes. While regulatory sandboxes are great, there is little stopping companies from creating similar structures to test AI solutions and how they can benefit business operations.

These structures can, similarly, create clarity around what solutions would work, the risks associated with them, and more.

🎙Nordic News Roundup

Nordic Council creates a working committee to address AI challenges. [NO] (CW Norway)
Danish media uses AI to streamline its design processes and cut costs [DK] (Journalisten)
Danish CEOs are reticent to invest in AI [DK] (EY Denmark)
Norwegian bank and university team up to create new AI [NO] (NRK)

🛠️ Cool Tools & Companies

Dealflow from Denmark aims to create an AI-worker to automate finance for entrepreneurs worldwide.
Findable from Norway offers an AI-powered platform for construction and building documentation.
Woba from Denmark uses AI to analyse HR data and provides financial forecasts on talent retention.
Aeterna Labs from Sweden provides contextual advertising through AI.

Do you know cool tools or companies I should feature in the newsletter? Let me know!

🎧 Listen To

AI För Ledera [SE]- AI founder returns to the Swedish podcast for an episode that explores how AI is evolving - and what’s next.
AI Revolutionen [DK] - Asks the intriguing question: will AI actually “de-digitise” society and our lives?
Ugeskriftet [DK] - Examines the future of AI in the Danish healthcare system.

📅 Training, Meetups & Conferences

Conferences

8-9 November: Digital Tech Summit 2023: The heart of Nordic deep tech. [Copenhagen, Denmark]
20-21 November: AI Sweden at Internetdagarna 2023: Three seminars on AI in Sweden as part of Internetdagarna. [Online]
4-7 December: Human-Agent Interaction 2023: The premier interdisciplinary venue for discussing and disseminating state-of-the-art research and results. [Gothenburg, Sweden]
14 March (2024): Applied AI Nordics: Make AI practical and understandable and inspire how to get value from AI in business. [Copenhagen, Denmark]
17-18 April (2024): AI+: Get the latest updates from the world of artificial intelligence. [Halden, Norway]