Collective action as AI Sweden's partners drive the agenda

It didn't begin like a typical event. When AI Sweden's partners walked into the Stockholm office, they were met not by a fixed agenda or a series of PowerPoint presentations. They were met by an afternoon schedule – empty and ready to be filled with content.

The concept is called "Unconference," a conference format where the participants themselves create the content.

Partners quickly set the agenda

After a brief introduction, participants from industry, the public sector, civil society, and academia began filling the schedule with the topics they wanted to discuss.

Ten minutes later, the agenda was set. “The path toward secure and controlled AI use,” “How do we lead the AI transformation – what kind of leadership is needed?”, “How can we help organizations make faster decisions?”, and “Sovereign AI models – should we build our own or just use Copilot?” became some of the discussion points.

"It is our conviction that the real power lies within the ecosystem and in the close cooperation between our partners. This was amply confirmed today, as experts from both AI Sweden and partner organizations helped shape a dynamic agenda with constructive discussions," says Henric Wirfelt, Partner Manager at AI Sweden, and continues:

Focus on legal and implementation issues

The participants then jumped into the sessions covering the questions they were most interested in debating.

Robin Tuorda, Head of Sales & Co-founder at rek.ai, was one of the attendees who contributed a topic of his own.

"We are here to discuss how we can help lower some of the hurdles that currently make AI implementation take a very long time. It’s a challenge we face when dealing with our customers. We see great value in being able to shape the agenda ourselves," he says.

For Matilda Modig at NOX Consulting, the Unconference format was new:

"I find that it creates immediate conversations where everyone is actively contributing their perspectives and challenges. For us, this is also a way to understand what issues exist among organizations and companies. In summary, the afternoon offered a lot of insights, many inspiring case studies, and above all, a willingness to share and learn together," she says.

The collaboration board became the next step

After three rounds of parallel sessions, the afternoon wrapped up not just with standard networking, but also with a "collaboration board." Participants were encouraged to put up notes for the discussions they wanted to continue and the collaborations they wanted to initiate. The board quickly filled up with concrete next steps. And some participants exchanged contact details to follow up afterward.

"This is exactly what AI Sweden is all about. Being a catalyst. Today, our partners proved that when we provide the framework, they fill it with content that creates genuine value," says Henric Wirfelt.