Liv leads Norway's coolest program committee!
Liv Dingsør - Leder programkomitéen
  • The course is now set for Kongsberg Agenda 2025 Liv Dingsør - Leder programkomitéen

    The course is now set for Kongsberg Agenda 2025

    The task of the program committee is not small. The committee is to set the main direction for the festival, to inspire and motivate, and perhaps also provoke.

    Liv Dingsør, CEO of Digital Norway, believes that it is an honor and a great responsibility to lead the program committee for the third year in a row. The goal is to create a program that inspires, challenges, and leads to action.

    Several hundred program items are carried out during the technology festival. Most of these are organized by the diversity of companies and organizations participating in the festival. But not all! New this year is that the program committee will also be responsible for a selection of program items – on several of Kongsberg Agenda's concept stages.

    Here you just have to follow. The main direction will be announced on November 15.

- Technology shapes the future

Kongsberg Agenda had a chat with the committee chair who has just started working with the other committee members.

“How has it been to be the chair of the program committee so far?”

- Being able to help lead this work has been both meaningful and a lot of fun – and fortunately I have been surrounded by the brightest minds along the way! Kongsberg Agenda is a unique arena. It brings together technology and industry in a way that creates real change, where ideas can be shaped into concrete actions and new collaborations. Experiencing the city of Kongsberg as a melting pot of so many committed people, from business, academia, the public sector and research environments, has really strengthened my belief that technology is a crucial driver for positive social change.

“Why do you want to continue in this role?”

- It has perhaps simply become a bit addictive to be in the middle of the action when technology and society meet? Kongsberg Agenda is simply a living laboratory for good ideas - who wouldn't want to be a part of it! There is also so much happening in the wonderful world of technology right now. We have a unique opportunity to do something truly significant, and I still see enormous potential in developing this arena further.

“Why is it so important to continue working to ensure that technology is part of the value creation discussion going forward?”

- We live in a time where technology is inseparable from value creation. Both the Prime Minister and the Minister for Digitalization recently stated, at the presentation of Norway’s new digitalization strategy, that Norway will become the world’s most digitalized country by 2030. At the same time, the main messages in reports such as the one from Mario Draghi are overwhelming – other countries are investing massively in research and innovation, and Europe is falling behind the US and China at an increasing pace. Indicators where Norway has declined the most since 2017 are R&D activity in both the public sector and the business sector. The government has a stated ambition to invest in digitalization, expertise and business development, but when we follow the funds in the state budget for 2025, there is no doubt that public and private capital must stand together and that we must find each other in completely new partnerships across sectors if we are to manage to close the innovation gap. Kongsberg Agenda has established itself as one of the most important platforms in Norway to strengthen this link between technology and value - and facilitate dialogue between different actors that is the very catalyst for innovative thinking. What used to be pure industrial production is now an ecosystem of innovation, digitalization and knowledge development. Technology gives us the opportunity to meet global challenges, such as climate change and social inequality, with solutions that are both effective and inclusive. The program committee must also ensure that we broaden the discussions and raise debates related to the development of physical digital infrastructure, the necessity of Norwegian language models, quantum technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence in all its forms, the need for heavy computing capacity and a number of related and exciting topics related to the effective use of data and technology in industry and business.

"Ambitions for this year's program work?"

- My ambition for this year's program is to further develop the strategic focus on technology's crucial role in innovation, growth and value creation. We will create even stronger connections between different actors who can and should jointly drive innovation and practical solutions to the truly major societal challenges. And we will be even tougher when it comes to highlighting the difficult dilemmas, working more purposefully to quickly mature more people by offering knowledge, and moving the level of the societal debate to a more practical and action-focused direction with clear ownership of solutions.

- We will make sure that the discussions are even more relevant, and that they make people want to act. Maybe we will even get someone to say: "I have never been so excited about a discussion about sensor technology before!" That would be something!

- I especially hope that we will be able to show even more concrete examples of how technology is absolutely crucial for sustainable development in a number of industries, such as energy, the process industry and health. I also hope that we will be able to engage even more actors to take part in the discussions - I still have many on my block who I know will greatly enjoy and benefit from participating in Kongsberg Agenda.

- I am also fortunate to have an exceptional group of people on this year's program committee. Together, this committee has a unique understanding and insight into both the practical and societal consequences of the connection between technology, innovation, industry and politics – and brings with them experience and expertise related to important areas of sustainability, human-machine, international perspectives, digital infrastructure, cybersecurity, expertise, research management and much more! Now we are rolling up our sleeves with the goal of creating a program that inspires, challenges and leads to action. And that continues to be as open, inclusive and full of energy as it has been so far!

- Norway's coolest program committee!

  • Liv Dingsør - chair of the program committee and CEO Digital Norway

    Liv Dingsør - chair of the program committee and CEO Digital Norway

    Liv Dingsør is CEO of the non-profit organization DigitalNorway, which works to accelerate the digitalization of Norway. She has held management positions in DNB, Aker ASA, FSN Capital/Pm Retail, Nordic Innovation Group and Inviso. She is chairwoman of Inventas and a board member of Innovation Norway. She holds a Master of Science in Economics from NHH. Dingsør has participated in a number of public councils and committees related to the data economy. She is passionate about the power of data and technology for the broad spectrum of business and industry, and for increased public-private collaboration.

  • Lilian Røstad - Simula Research Laboratory AS

    Lilian Røstad - Simula Research Laboratory AS

    Lillian Røstad is CEO of Simula Research Laboratory AS. Simula is owned by the state through the Ministry of Education and Research and has a mission to contribute to excellent research, education and innovation within digital technologies. Lillian is a civil engineer and holds a PhD from NTNU in cybersecurity.
    She has a background as a manager in the consulting industry for many years, and also has extensive experience from the public sector and large digitization projects.

  • Camilla Tepfers - InFuture Camilla Tepfers

    Camilla Tepfers - InFuture

    Camilla AC Tepfers has more than 25 years of experience in futures studies and strategy development, business development and innovation, and digitalization. She has board experience from a number of different industries including finance, real estate, media, technology, tourism and research. She has also written several books that have been included in the curriculum at Norwegian universities and college campuses.

  • Paul Chaffey - Halogen Paul Chaffey - Halogen

    Paul Chaffey - Halogen

    Paul Chaffey is a special advisor at Halogen AS, a Norwegian design and innovation company. Halogen uses system design, service design, design of safety-critical systems and content design in projects in both the private and public sectors. Paul participated in the establishment of Abelia, the Norwegian Association of Knowledge and Technology Enterprises, and led the organization from 2001 to 2013. He was State Secretary during the entire period of the Solberg government in office 2013-21 in the then Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation, working on public-private innovation, cross-sectoral entanglements, digitalisation policy, data sharing, ekom, privacy, structural reforms and coherent services in the public sector.

  • Vincent Fleischer - SINTEF Vincent Fleischer - Sintef

    Vincent Fleischer - SINTEF

    Vincent Fleischer is responsible for the strategy and communication work at SINTEF. He also leads the work to collect experiences from the use of public funds for research and innovation, and to advise the authorities on future policy design based on this. Fleischer has broad experience from strategy work, including in Innovation Norway and the Boston Consulting Group. He also has extensive experience from policy design in both the Ministry of Trade, Industry and the Ministry of Local Government. Fleischer holds an MBA from the Norwegian School of Economics, NHH, Bergen, and a Cand.polit. in Economic Geography from the University of Oslo.

  • Harald Solberg - Norwegian Industry

    Harald Solberg - Norwegian Industry

    Harald Solberg has a solid career as a politician and leader in Norwegian business and organization. He has been a deputy representative in the Storting for Vestfold KrF, an advisor at the Prime Minister's Office and State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance. After the change of government in 2005, Solberg was Deputy CEO of Mentor Media and later CEO of Dagsavisen. He joined the Norwegian Shipowners' Association in 2011 as Director of Business Policy and Communications, headed the Royal Secretariat at the Royal Court from 2016 to 2017, before becoming CEO of the Norwegian Shipowners' Association in January 2018. He joined the Confederation of Norwegian Industry in April 2024.

  • Stine Bjønnstu Holthe - Bulk Infrastructure

    Stine Bjønnstu Holthe - Bulk Infrastructure

    Stine Bjønnstu Holthe is Head of Sustainability at Bulk Infrastructure. She works actively to develop sustainable solutions for infrastructure that enable the digital society. She has a master's degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from NTNU and has extensive experience in project management and interdisciplinary problem solving. Stine is curious about all the opportunities technology gives us, and wants to contribute to Norway's ability to create new industries based on these.

  • Birger Steen - Nordic Semiconductor Birger Steen - Nordic Semiconductor

    Birger Steen - Nordic Semiconductor

    Chairman of the Board of Nordic Semiconductor since 2018 and Board Member since 2017. Over the past 30 years, Birger Steen has held both executive and non-executive leadership roles in the technology sector, including as CEO of Parallels, Inc. (2010-2016), Vice President of Microsoft Corp. (2002-2010), CEO of Freyr Battery (2023-2024), CEO of Scandinavia Online AB (2000-2002), thematic partner of Summa Equity AB (2019-2023), Vice President of Schibsted ASA (1997-2000), and consultant at McKinsey & Company (1993-1997). He holds a Master of Science in Engineering from the Norwegian Institute of Technology, an MBA from INSEAD, and is a graduate of the Norwegian Defense Intelligence Agency in Oslo. Birger has also held non-executive positions in Pagero AB (Chairman of the Board), Nordea Bank Abp (Chairman of the Operations Committee), Schibsted ASA, Cognite AS and PragmatIC Semiconductor Ltd.

  • Anne Cecilie Lund-Andersen - Program Manager Kongsberg Agenda Anne Cecilie Lund-Andersen - Programleder Kongsberg Agenda

    Anne Cecilie Lund-Andersen - Program Manager Kongsberg Agenda

    Anne Cecilie Lund-Andersen is the program manager for Kongsberg Agenda and the project group's representative on the main program committee. She is a trained journalist and political scientist, and has worked with journalism, communication and public relations throughout her career. Lund-Andersen has previously held positions related to communication and information management in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade and Industry, Aker Solutions and Kongsberg Gruppen. She also has a background as a senior advisor in the communications agency Kruse Larsen, and as a journalist in Oppland Arbeiderblad, Dagens Næringsliv and Aftenposten.