Casper Klynge is Microsoft’s Vice President for European Government Affairs with responsibility for all of Microsoft’s government affairs and public policy work across the continent. He serves on the senior leadership team of Microsoft’s CELA group.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Casper most recently served as Denmark’s (& the world’s first) Ambassador to the global tech industry.

Previous posts include: Ambassador to Indonesia, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea & ASEAN (2014-2017), Ambassador to the Republic of Cyprus (2013-2014), Deputy Head of NATO’s Provincial Reconstruction Team in Helmand Province, Afghanistan & Head of Mission of the EU’s civilian crisis management planning mission in Kosovo (2006-2008). Casper holds a M.Sc. in Political Science and is a 2009 Marshall Memorial Fellow.

Casper will be the keynote on 23 September between 12:00 – 14:00 CET.

Anita is CEO and Co-Founder at Iris.ai – the world’s first AI researcher and one of the Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in AI in 2017, according to Fast Company. She teaches about Artificial Intelligence at the Singularity University Nordic since 2017. Forbes claimed in 2018 she was among the world’s top 50 women in tech.

The past decade her career has spanned 10 industries including developing an e-learning tool in Silicon Valley, reducing energy consumption in the process industry, facilitating solar light business in Kenya and trying to disrupt the recruitment industry. She also dropped by 6 universities on the way. And built a race car.

Anita Schjøll Brede will be co-moderator on 25 September from 12.00 – 14.00 CET.

Atish Gonsalves is a social technologist, entrepreneur and the Founder & CEO of Gamoteca, a collaborative digital platform that enables organisations create their own mixed-reality learning games. 
 
With a background in software engineering, AI and human-computer interaction, Atish’s experience includes leadership roles at technology and international non-profit organisations including the United Nations. Atish has consistently implemented successful edtech solutions that have helped democratize learning for thousands of learners in difficult contexts. 
 
Atish is a global citizen, having lived in six countries and is a regular speaker at conferences and events on the role of technology-enhanced learning. 

Gamotecas gaming design is shortlisted for the UK Learning Awards 2020.

24 September 12:00 – 14:00 CET.

Laura has been at Google for almost 11 years, most recently working as the Product Lead for Assistive Learning.

Prior to her current role, she founded and led Grasshopper, a learning-to-code product out of Google’s internal incubator, Area 120, and also worked on Search, Analytics and Project Fi.

Laura is super passionate about the possibilities of AI in education and helping learners be the best versions of themselves. 

James Portnow is best known for writing the web series Extra Credits.

He is a game designer and consultant known for his theories on socially positive design. He received his Masters from Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center and went on to work for Activision as a designer on the Call of Duty series before raising funds to start his own company, Divide by Zero Games.

He currently serves as the CEO of Rainmaker Games, a design and consulting firm that has worked with partners from Zynga to Riot Games, in addition to writing the popular Extra Credits and Extra History series. 

Jeanette is a futurist and head of new business at the Institute’s advisory department. Together with her colleagues she advises top management in various industries on issues of strategic concern, using future studies methods.

Together with UNESCO, she works to enhance individuals’ and organisations’ futures literacy skills. In her role as head of new business, she is responsible for establishing partnerships with purposeful businesses, NGOs and investors. Besides, she takes the lead on developing concepts that suit the present projects.

Jeanette’s knowledge of both megatrends and societal development patterns, combined with her previous hands-on experience as an entrepreneur, provides her with rich insight into challenges and opportunities facing companies in fast-changing market.

In 50 years’ time, Jeanette aims to look back and see herself as having contributed to making the world a less anxious and more futures literate place, where uncertainty is seen as a resource rather than an enemy.

Jeanette holds a Master of Science in Global Studies from the Lund University in Sweden. (cand.scient.pol.)

Tonje Værdal Frydenlund, studied Landscape Architecture at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California, USA.

She joined SNØHETTA in 2001 and has been part of the Management since 2004. From 2013 -2019 she was Managing Director for Snøhetta Oslo, focusing on the Nordic and European market, and since 2019 she has focused on Business Development in the Nordic region.

For more than 30 years, Snøhetta has designed some of the world’s most notable public and cultural projects. Snøhetta kick-started its career in 1989 with the competition-winning entry for the new library of Alexandria, Egypt. Based in Oslo and New York, and with offices in Paris, Hong Kong, Innsbruck and Adelaide, Snøhetta is currently working on a wide range of international projects. Since its inception, the practice has maintained its original transdisciplinary approach, and integrates architectural, landscape, interior, product and graphic design across its projects. The collaborative nature between Snøhetta’s different disciplines is an essential driving force of the practice.

Snøhetta’s working method practices a simultaneous exploration of traditional handicraft and cutting-edge digital technology. At the heart of all Snøhetta’s work lies a commitment to social and environmental sustainability, shaping the built environment and design in the service of humanism. Snøhetta believes well-conceived design can help things run more efficiently, improve people’s well-being and make life more enjoyable. Every project is designed with strong, meaningful concepts in mind – concepts that can translate the ethos of its users and their context.

Melissa is Assistant Principal for Online Learning at University of Edinburgh in Scotland and Director of Services for Learning, Teaching and Web.

She is strategic lead for the University’s digital and distance learning and the many educational technology tools which have transformed the new normal for higher education.

With many years’ experience in digital leadership, Melissa will talk about how universities respond to crisis and business continuity with creativity and care.

Her experience of using MOOCs and online masters courses to reach new audiences in new ways will be of interest to the KnowHow EdTech audience.

Melissa Highton will speak under the topic Digital is the new normal on 23 September between 12:00 and 14:00 CET.

For the past 20 years, Professor Jennifer Rowsell has been a researcher in literacy education exploring ways of expanding definitions of literacy to be more digital, multimodal, critical, and responsive to children and teenagers’ contemporary needs and motivations.

Having worked in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, Rowsell has conducted research in the areas of digital literacies, videogame design, social media and multimodal design, literacy and activism, and a variety of arts-based approaches to teaching and learning literacy and based on this research she has co-written 30 books.

A central focus across all of her research has been incorporating cross-sector professionals in media, design, mental health, and arts sectors into pedagogical planning with teachers in schools and community contexts.

She is a Co-Editor of the Routledge Expanding Literacies in Education book series and Co-Editor of Digital Culture and Education. She holds the position of Professor of Literacies and Social Innovation and Co-Deputy Head of School at the University of Bristol’s School of Education.

Alexandra has been working with ICT and education for a decade. First in Acer and then in DELL. For the past few years shes been working in Google, based in Helsinki.

As our audience may well know she held a very inspirational talk at the KnowHow Edtech in 2019, and she will continue her track record in 2020. Key-word: free Google content for education!

Ahtiainen will speak on 24 September between 12:00 and 14:00 CET. The topic is Tools and toys.

Petteri Joenpolvi is CEO of ADESANTE, whose vision is “Zero Surgical Failures”.

ADESANTE is a Finnish healthtech company providing solutions for healthcare service providers, having SurgeryVision as their flagship product.

Petteri started his healthcare career in the 90`s, as a registered nurse in a Cardio – Thoracic Intensive Care Unit. He has always focused on improving the quality of healthcare.

Since moving from hospital to the business world in 2000, Petteri has worked eleven years in GE Healthcare, in several roles (Application specialist, Project Manager, Marketing Manager, Product Manager) and internationally (Europe, Middle East and South-East Asia).

Petteri has also worked in domestic healthcare technology businesses by bringing new technologies into the Finnish healthcare market.

For the last two years Petteri has run the company ADESANTE, which products are utilizing several interesting technologies (XR, AI, Blockchain, 5G, Computer vision, etc.) from other industries.

SurgeryVision: www.surgeryvision.com

Henning Pedersen started fiddling with electronics as a kid and began coding at 15.

He then pursued a career in filmmaking and consulting, and made commercials and instructional films for more than 10 years.

In 2011 he made his first camera drone and quickly became an expert on the field. After seeing a cheap CNC machine at the Oslo Mini Maker Faire he started to manufacture drone kits. The effort also resulted in a Guinnes World Record with a 150 kilo heavy drone in 2015. He was then a full-time drone maker, speaker and lecturer. In 2018 he teamed up with Steinar Holøs and founded MakeKit the next year.

Steinar Holøs, founded MakeKit early 2019 and been inventing educational kits ever since. With a passion for providing relevant and engaging learning, MakeKit have developed kits for problem-based, cross-curriculum learning that are both maker- and environmentally friendly.

Steiner first found the joy in school, after starting engineering school and doing a range of project with a practical impact, one of which was a full-size car called FROST, that went on to win a prestigious design award.

Over the last ten years, he has been developing a range of different products, from consumer goods, military gear to sports equipment. Among many other projects was the new MOVE system from Rottefella.

Steinar is currently the CEO of MakeKit, where they are working on making tools for education that give everyone the joy of creating and understanding.

Passionate about learning and technology

– I belive in people as drivers for change, and with the right mindset we all can be important change agents for innovation and future ways of working. We need to work smarter, and learn and develop as a part of our everyday work.

Her educational background is six years at the University of Oslo, in psycology, leadership, and a pedagogical Master in ICT in learning.

Merete has worked in serveral companies – Equinor, Bristow and the University of Stavanger – with learning and development, and focus on driving inovation in learning, and the latest years worked with digital skills and mindset for the digital transformation and innovative times we are in the middel of. 

The future is now! #new ways of working 

– I like learning by making – and started experimenting with digital learning, video, podcasts and changeagents in learning – several years ago, tells Merete.

Digital ninjas as change agents and change makers was her idea, back in 2017 (now adopted by a lot of other companies like NAV, Lyse, Orkla, SR-Bank and more) when we started a great learning journey to upskill Equinor with more digital skillset for everyone, and change mindset for the future ways of working.

Merete even got an award in 2020 – one of Norways top 50 tech-women – https://kampanje.com/tech/2020/03/norges-50-fremste-tech-kvinner-2020/

Tobias Heiberg is the Head of the Teacher Education Programme at Playful Learning at University College Copenhagen (Københavns Professionshøjskole).

For several years, Tobias has worked to create substantial quality in the Danish educational sector on both a national policy level and locally with Danish teacher training.

His work is centered around driving educational cultures between future and tradition. If we genuinely want to develop and strengthen a different set of competencies in our school systems, we must focus on developing more consistent and concrete examples of new learning environments that correspond more profoundly with the competencies of tomorrow. Based on that philosophy Tobias Heiberg was one of the driving forces in creating such examples with Future Classroom Lab and the innovative teacher training programme Future Classroom Teacher at Københavns Professionshøjskole.

Tobias Heiberg will be the moderator for the conference, all three days.