Katrine Marçal

Katrine Marçal is an award-winning author, journalist and keynote speaker. Her first book “Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner” has been translated into more than 20 languages and was hailed by Margaret Atwood as “A smart, funny, readable book on economics, money and women”. It was named one of The Guardian’s Books of the Year in 2015.

Katrine works for Dagens Nyheter, the largest broadsheet newspaper in Sweden and she was one of only a handful of European journalists to get an exclusive interview with Michelle Obama before the publication of the Former First Lady’s memoir Becoming in 2018.

In her role as a financial journalist Katrine has interviewed many of the world’s most respected economic thinkers like Nouriel Roubini, Nassim Taleb and Yanis Varoufakis.

Her book “Mother of Invention: How Good Ideas Get Ignored In An Economy Build For Men” became a bestseller in Sweden in 2020 and will be published in English by William Collins in 2021.

Mother Of Invention: Why Including Women Is The Missing Key To Innovation

Why didn’t we get wheels on suitcases until 1972? Why were electric cars considered “feminine” when they first arrived more than 100 years ago? How come a bra making company created the suit Neil Armstrong wore to the moon?

In this talk, Katrine leads audiences through fascinating examples of how innovators have failed to take women’s experiences into account, analysing what they can tell us about gender and innovation today. She examines current realms where our ideas about gender holds us back in a similar way making the argument that the future will be shaped by companies that dare to think differently about gender and inclusion.

Audiences will learn to become better observers of current gender bias and how it impacts innovation within their own organizations. Katrine offers both concrete examples from the past and a solid sense of how gender-informed innovation will drive significant growth, competitiveness and sustainable development in the future.