Heja Framtiden – Global Conversations on the Future

During the process of producing and recycling batteries, there is always a waste product in the shape of black dust. It might seem like a minor issue, but it contains critical raw materials that are both valuable to the ecosystem and hazardous to the human workers. Arelys Sosa was part of the core team when building the very first Tesla Gigafactory in Nevada, and soon realised that no one took proper care of the valuable side stream. This eventually led her to Gothenburg, where she founded ⁠Drev⁠ four years ago - a startup tackling this problem using both patented hardware and smart tracking software. The company already has paying clients and are currently operating in several markets. Drev is on of eight finalists in ⁠Startup 4 Climate⁠, the competition initiated by Swedish electricity companies GodEl and Ellevio. After the final pitches on November 10th, two winning companies walk away with 1 MSEK each. Heja Framtiden has a paid collaboration with the competition. Podcast host: ⁠Christian von Essen⁠ // Learn more at ⁠hejaframtiden.se⁠ and ⁠check out the Substack⁠ (in Swedish).

Managing renewable energy assets is still a quite manual task - there are many different dashboards and alarms to monitor at all times. Brandon Vargas wants to reduce this complexity in order to accelerate the green energy transition. Together with Sajad Sharhani, he recently founded ⁠Evora Labs⁠ in Stockholm, using plenty of agentic AI to enable autonomous operations for renewables and energy storage. Combined with their hardware, the software layer can track operational data and financial performance for any large-scale energy project with a variety of assets. Evora is a finalist in the ⁠Startup 4 Climate⁠ competition in Sweden, where two winners will be awarded 10 MSEK each at the finals on November 10th. This episode is a paid collaboration with GodEl and Ellevio, founders of the competition. Podcasts host: ⁠Christian von Essen⁠ // Learn more at ⁠hejaframtiden.se⁠ and check out the ⁠newsletter on Substack⁠ (in Swedish).

The food industry is difficult to enter - especially if you build a consumer brand. Foodtech startup Angry Camel was founded in Malmö by Kotabia Aal and Bakr Jahhan in 2021, with an innovation that process chickpeas into a non-allergenic protein powder. They quickly realized that the B2B market was far more suitable, and decided that they would focus on providing an ingredient to larger food industry players. With help from ⁠Krinova Incubator & Science Park⁠ in Kristianstad, they managed to secure soft funding from Vinnova as well as investments from Bling Capital and Jenny Lindén Urnes, Chair of Lindéngruppen AB. In this episode, Kotaiba guides us through the challenging process of navigating the Swedish foodtech ecosystem. The episode is produced in collaboration with ⁠Krinova Food Studio⁠, where startups and incumbents can experiment with new food innovations. Podcast host: ⁠Christian von Essen⁠ // Learn more at ⁠hejaframtiden.se⁠ and check out the ⁠newsletter on Substack⁠ (in Swedish).

Many farmers run small businesses with limited time to evaluate different energy solutions. Javier Arroyo is on a mission to help this group become more self-sufficient and cost-efficient through batteries and smart software. He founded ⁠Edgy Systems⁠ for industries and the business segment ⁠Edgy Battery⁠ for farmers after previously working with battery engineering at Volvo Cars in Gothenburg. Heja Framtiden met Javier at the combined trade shows Stockholm Smart City, Energy, Infrastructure and Mobility i Kista. Podcast host: ⁠Christian von Essen⁠ Learn more at ⁠hejaframtiden.se⁠

Technology can unlock life-changing opportunities for people with disabilities. Griet Vanhee previously worked as a speech therapist for ALS patients. She was recruited to the Swedish eye-tracking company Tobii and the newly formed division ⁠Tobii Dynavox⁠, focusing on AAC solutions - Assistive and Alternative Communications. On stage at ⁠Women in Tech Sweden 2026⁠, Griet showcased one of their products together with twelve-year-old Linnea, suffering from cerebral palsy, who could communicate through an eye-tracking device and a screen prepared with letters, words and phrases. Inclusion does not happen by accident, it happens by design. What potential could be fulfilled if more people were able to communicate on their own terms?Podcast host: ⁠Christian von Essen⁠ // Learn more at ⁠hejaframtiden.se⁠ and ⁠subscribe to the newsletter on Substack⁠ (in Swedish).

When ⁠Ken Villum Klausen⁠ founded ⁠Lunar⁠ in Denmark almost 11 years ago, he could hardly foresee the current AI landscape.With a resilient backbone formed on the struggles of building a proper Nordic challenger bank, Lunar is now increasingly positioning itself as an infrastructure for other fintech companies - and AI agents. Are we finally moving into invisible banking? Podcast host: ⁠Christian von Essen⁠ // Check out more episodes at ⁠hejaframtiden.se⁠ and ⁠subscribe to the newsletter⁠ (in Swedish)The episode was produced in collaboration with Lunar.

AI solutions are being rolled out at an incredible pace, but how do organizations and individuals implement these new ways of working in practice? Turns out there's a gap in AI adoption, not only between genders, industries and continents, but within companies and teams as well. Sweden-based ⁠Gertrude Chilufya⁠ is on a journey to bridge these gaps. As an AI Adoption Strategist, she helps individuals and leaders to get the AI ball rolling for increased productivity and better workflow. Heja Framtiden met Gertrude at ⁠Women in Tech Sweden 2026⁠ in Stockholm. Podcast host: Christian von Essen // Learn more at ⁠hejaframtiden.se⁠

Urban forests and gardens are increasingly important for shade, climate change mitigation, noise pollution and air quality. But out of the 100 Billion USD invested annually, there has been plenty of waste because trees are not properly taken care of. A third don't even survive their first year. ⁠Devon Young⁠ from Avanade and ⁠Hannah Prior⁠ from Microsoft set out to change this. Using their companies' combined technologies, they created a way of ⁠communicating with individual trees⁠ to see how they are doing. The solution is soon being rolled out to cities and municipalities looking to strengthening their preventive green maintenance. Heja Framtiden met Devon and Hannah at the ⁠Women in Tech Sweden conference 2026⁠ in Stockholm. Podcast host: ⁠Christian von Essen⁠Check out ⁠hejaframtiden.se⁠ and ⁠subscribe to the newsletter⁠ (in Swedish). Also: ⁠epic talkshow at Maxim in Stockholm 7th of May⁠ (also in Swedish).

Anyone who's met ⁠Shaena Harrison⁠ remembers the encounter, since she probably introduced you to a person you didn't know you wanted to meet.During her more than ten years in Stockholm, she has been working for tech companies like Klarna, Oneflow, LinkedIn, SingularityU Nordic and Telia, while volunteering at TEDx Stockholm. Eventually, she realized that could build something unique based on her skill as a super-connector, and founded ⁠Wing People - The Human Connection Company⁠, offering busy executives a professional "wing person" at events and conferences in order to make the most out their time, money and effort. In this episode, we dive into the topics of event design, connection skills, artificial intelligence and the power of opening doors for others. Podcast host: ⁠Christian von Essen⁠ Check out ⁠hejaframtiden.se⁠ and ⁠subscribe to the newsletter⁠ (in Swedish).

Cryopreservation is a common process in nature. Given that it already works with IVF embryos, could it potentially work for entire human bodies?James Arrowood believes so. He is CEO of Arizona-based non-profit organization ⁠Alcor Life Extension Foundation⁠, one of the largest cryonics facilities in the world. This is no longer just science fiction. Heja Framtiden met him after a ⁠cryonics seminar at Institute for Futures Studies⁠ in Stockholm. How far has the technology come today and when will we see the first attempts to revive people in the future? How does it actually work? And what happens if you wake up a hundred years from now? Podcast host: ⁠Christian von Essen⁠ // Learn more at ⁠hejaframtiden.se⁠ and check out the ⁠newsletter on Substack⁠ (in Swedish).