Pioneer AI: Checking the Nordic AI Pulse.
Welcome to 2024’s 3rd edition of The Nordic AI Pulse, the weekly newsletter from Pioneer AI, our Nordic-focused AI investment fund. Dive in for a roundup of AI news, deals, and insights covering the Nordic region.

📚 In This Issue:

1. Why Pioneer AI are techno-optimists

2. Nordic News Roundup

3. Cool Tools and Companies

4. Please “Steal” This Start-up Idea

5. Nordic AI Funding News

6. Podcast Insights

7. Upcoming: Nordic AI Events You Shouldn't Miss

Pioneer Insights

Why Pioneer AI are techno-optimists

Pioneer AI co-founder Simon Torpegaard Kvistgard recently wrote an article called “Five Charts That Explain Why I’m a Tech-Optimist”. Here, we summarise some of his points - and what they mean to you. Click here to read the full article. 

There's a compelling case for techno-optimism in a world full of pessimism, including regarding technology and artificial intelligence.

We see technological advancements as key drivers of positive change and should be wary of unnecessarily impeding them.

A key aspect of this optimism is the exponential nature of technological growth, particularly in areas like AI. Contrary to the linear perception often held by humans, certain technologies evolve at a staggering pace, fundamentally altering our ways of living and working.

Moreover, the narrative surrounding technology often focuses on its dangers and the supposed all-consuming greed of its creators, overshadowing the benefits. Recognising the dual aspects of technological progress is essential; where there is potential for misuse or negative impact, there is also immense potential for solving critical global issues, such as climate change and energy transition, through innovations like AI.

The path forward, as seen through the lens of techno-optimism, involves embracing AI and other exponential technologies. This approach is not about unchecked advancement but about harnessing their potential to address the shortcomings of previous technologies and finding sustainable solutions for a better quality of life for everyone.

I would love to hear your thoughts on techno-optimism. Let me know on the Pioneer AI LinkedIn page here. 

🎙Nordic News Roundup

• Meet Elliot Evertsson Norrevik, the 15-year-old Swedish founder behind a successful AI start-up. [SE] (Breakit)

• Major car brands are getting ready to retrofit their cars with AI. [DK] (FDM)

• A new study indicates that AI can provide the equivalent of 155.000 workers’ input across public organisations and functions. [NO] (Kommunal Rapport) (Paywall)

• A Danish ferry line has been nominated for a prestigious award for its use of AI. [DK] (TV2 Bornholm)

• How company leaders need to be proactive where AI is concerned. [NO] (Computer World)

• Special advice for SMEs: Here’s how you get started with AI. [DK] (Erhvervsplus)

• How AI will influence 40% of all jobs in the coming years. [SE] (Affarsvarlden)

• Big Four consultancy: AI isn’t fairy dust - companies need to figure out what to use AI for to be successful. [DK] (Watchmedier) (Paywall)

• Norwegian teachers report wide-scale issues with students using AI to cheat. [NO] (Utdanningsnytt)

• Why Denmark is perfectly poised to supercharge the green transition with AI. [DK] (Børsen)

🛠️ Cool Tools & Companies

• Yatek from Norway helps therapists treat social anxiety using VR exposure therapy and AI.

• Clutch from Denmark is your virtual coach for racket sports powered by AI.

• sommifyAI from Finland is an AI sommelier for making the best possible wine choices.

• Lightbringer from Sweden offers generative AI technology that helps prepare patent applications more quickly and easily.

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

💵Please “Steal” This Start-up Idea

We would love to see someone build the following (and if you do, we might invest in you):

Introducing HomedecorAItor, an advanced AI tool offering a seamless, efficient, and personalised home decoration and design approach. HomedecorAItor quickly generates unique designs for specific spaces, incorporating user preferences and any existing furniture, colours, textures, and more. Proprietary AI technology capable of learning from design trends and customer feedback ensures modern and personalised design ideas. The solution can be expanded to integrate virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) capabilities, allowing users to visualize designs in their actual spaces in real-time.

🚀AI Funding News

Select Nordic AI companies that have raised funds in recent months:

• Artelize from Denmark

• Wudpecker from Finland

• Kuva Space from Finland

• ProptechOS from Sweden

• proemial from Denmark

• 1X from Norway

• Human Touch Robotics from Norway

• Biila from Finland

• Magic Feedback from Denmark

• Meltwater from Norway

• Valkiv from Sweden

Congratulations to all of the founders and teams!

Pioneer AI top 3 deal and funding highlights and insights: 

1: Kuva Space raised US$17.6 million for its combination of satellite imagery and AI. The broader picture: the more detailed and plentiful satellite images are, the more (and more detailed) AI use cases. And there we are gathering a LOT of satellite images.

2: Promeial raised €2 million. Its solutions employ advanced AI to create personalised summaries of the latest research papers. Its star-studded field of investors and advisors showcases the international awareness that Scandinavian AI has. We expect to see more great things emerge from this company in the near future.

3: Magic Feedback secured €1.2 million. Its focus is streamlining how companies handle and make use of user feedback. Finding ways to operationalise insights on users’ feedback to better understand their needs and improve products is often a sore point. If/when Magic Feedback proves its ability to alleviate that pain at scale, it will be like strapping rocket boosters to its market potential.

Are there other Nordic companies that should be on this list? Let me know!

🎧 Listen To

• EDB 5.0 [DK]- examines the importance of data handling and AI in the Danish healthcare sector.

• Game Over? [NO] - looks into the crystal ball and makes bold predictions about the next five years in AI.

• AI Sweden Podcast [SE] - how to prepare your company or organisation for AI success.

📅 Training, Meetups & Conferences

Conferences

• February 1-2 (2024): Danish Digitalization, Data Science and AI: AI research and knowledge-sharing conference. [Nyborg, Denmark]

• 14 March (2024): Applied AI Nordics: Make AI practical and understandable and inspire how to get value from AI in business. [Copenhagen, Denmark]

• 14 March (2024): AI-Con 2024: AI in the context of content and marketing. [Oslo, Norway]

• 17-18 April (2024): AI+: Get the latest updates from the world of artificial intelligence. [Halden, Norway]

• 24-25 April (2024): Data Innovation Summit: One of the most influential Nordic events on data, analytics and AI. [Stockholm, Sweden]

• 25 April: Applied AI Nordics: Leading Nordic AI conference. This year’s subject is how to move from opportunistic to strategic AI. [Copenhagen, Denmark]

• April 27-28: SAIM 2024: Conference for sharing knowledge and results in theory, methodology and applications of Artificial Intelligence, Soft Computing, and Machine Learning. [Copenhagen, Denmark]

• May 15-17: DevSum 20: International conference exploring the latest trends and technologies within development. [Stockholm, Sweden]

• June 10-11: SCAI Symposium 2024: The 14th Scandinavian conference on AI (SCAI) that brings together AI researchers and practitioners to present and discuss ongoing AI work and future trends. [Jonkøping, Sweden]

• June 10-14: HHAI 2024: The third international Hybrid Human Artificial Intelligence conference exploring AI systems that cooperate synergistically, proactively, and purposefully with humans. [Malmø, Sweden]

• July 18-19: ICAIAE 2024: Scientific conference for exchanging and sharing experiences and results of using AI for education. [Copenhagen, Denmark]

• October 14-18: Process Mining Conference 2024: Industry and scientific conference on process mining. [Copenhagen, Denmark]

• October 21-22: Nordic AI Meet: Symposium early-career AI researchers to network, collaborate, exchange ideas, and form a Nordic approach to building AI solutions for the societal good. [Helsinki, Finland]

• October 21-23: D3A: The Danish Digitalization, Data Science and AI brings together a diverse audience to explore the latest trends and research in AI. [Nyborg, Denmark]

Meetups

• AI Copenhagen

• Aarhus AI

• Stockholm AI

• AI Community of Sweden

• AI Engineering Sweden 

• Oslo AI

• Oslo Generative AI Meetup

• Oslo AI Product Lab

Do you know an event, meetup or similar that you think should be on the list? Let me know!

Got an AI story or insight from the Nordics? Share it with me!

Reply to this email or connect on LinkedIn.

Until next time,

Peter