Nicklas Bergman
Straight-talking Swedish entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and thinker, Nicklas Bergman understands and interpret the technological megatrends currently shaping business, society, and culture. He works with forward-thinking leaders and organizations, established and new, to help them navigate an increasingly uncertain future
Niclas’s the perfect guide to take an audience from neglect and skepticism to curiosity and preparedness for the challenges and opportunities the future might hold. In other words, inviting Nicklas is a fool-proof way to future-proof your organization.
30+ years working as an entrepreneur have given Nicklas an immense understanding of building companies across different regions and economic climates. From being the co-founder and largest investor in an electron microscopy company featuring unique patented nanoscale technologies to developing a Scandinavian ski resort that has attracted investments close to 200 million EUR to setting up a Volvo distribution network in Romania that grew into a 300 million EUR business,
Nicklas has been able to capitalize in emerging areas that are often shrouded in ambiguity and uncertainty thanks to an unflinching curiosity and desire to understand how trends work.
20+ years working as a technology investor have taught him to stay agile in times of great uncertainty. He has seen companies go up in flames, businesses rise from the ashes, and tiny players conquer the world. At times, he has witnessed returns fifty-two times the size of his investment. Other times, zero. This hands-on, curious, and unyielding approach to exploring what comes next with both a strong business and tech background gives Nicklas a unique perspective. He uses this hard-earned experience as one of six investment committee members at the EIC Fund, an EUR 5 billion deep tech VC fund investing in more than 100 European startups annually.
10+ years working as a futurist has turned him into probably the most pragmatic futurist in the tech space. Nicklas lives with technology 24/7 and meets with scientists, innovators, entrepreneurs, and fellow investors daily. He’s optimistic about the promises emerging from new technologies but is also concerned that society is not ready for the upcoming techstorm. Some years ago, he cleared his schedule and embarked on a journey to understand where technology takes us. The result was Navigating the Techstorm: The Business Impact of Technology Beyond the Hype (Lid Publishing, London). The book was listed in Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the top 10 business books to read in 2018.
Since then, he divides his time between technology investments, a couple of skunkworks projects, and speaking and advising about how others can best navigate the opportunities and challenges of the near future. Nicklas believes we’re entering an era in which technology will redefine who we are and that it’s no longer just a question of what technology can do for us but what we should allow technology to do. We must discuss the meaning and direction of any technological innovation or scientific breakthrough. Technology is pointless unless it serves to improve people’s lives, and ethical perspectives are getting more and more complicated as new innovations and gadgets enter our lives.
Nicklas Bergman – Keynote Themes
Littered with pop-culture references to help bring a bit of humanity to what is ultimately an inhumane subject, Nicklas’ speeches are highly visual and accessible while being thought-provoking in their nature. Looking at what is coming next, Nicklas’ presentations are tailored to fit the client, event, and audience and work in both large inspirational settings and smaller C-suite audiences, where the keynote preferably turns into more of a discussion.
Nicklas has been a keynote speaker at events such as:
- summit on technology and societal effects, hosted by the Swedish prime minister and parts of his cabinet (Stockholm)
- the global Innovation Summit for the top 250 managers of French energy giant Engie SA (Paris)
- summit on emerging markets and Industry 4.0 for the World Bank and IFC (Marrakech)
- South By Southwest (SXSW) 2015 conference on technology, music, and film with 30 000+ attendants, www.sxsw.com (Austin)
- the World Future Society’s annual conference on the state of the future (San Francisco)
- summit on the future of technology investing at the Institutional Investor Summit (Bahrain)
- Oracle Open World Asia, keynote in front of a 1,000 people audience (Singapore)
- the World Economic Forum annual innovation meeting (Tianjin)
- a masterclass with the management team of Vestas, the 15 billion EUR global wind turbine manufacturer (Bengaluru)
Throughout Nicklas’ career, three common denominators are entrepreneurship, technology, and uncertainty. Based on his experiences as a company founder, builder, and investor, this translates into four specific keynote themes in the intersection of society, business, culture, politics, and technology. Read more about the keynotes below.
Popular topics
1. Navigating the Techstorm – Insights Beyond the Hype
With serious skin in the game as a long-time technology entrepreneur and investor, Nicklas is uniquely positioned to guide an audience through the challenge of understanding how technology is rapidly changing the way we do business. As an advisor to management teams, investors, and policymakers, he knows how to navigate in these times of great technological uncertainty.
It’s Nicklas’ firm belief that digitization, although highly relevant, is only the warm-up. The real disruption will come at the intersection of new digital technologies such as AI, crypto, and augmented reality in combination with exponential progress in nanotechnology, neurotechnology, and genetics. In a couple of decades, this will create a radically different world from what we live in today…
Whether you’re looking for a tactical quarterly perspective, a strategic perspective over the next several years, or a more visionary (sci-fi) outlook spanning several decades, Nicklas will connect the dots between scientific break-throughs, new emerging technologies, business impact, startup trends, as well as cultural and societal ripples. He will also share highly useful tools the audience can take back and immediately put to work.
2. Geopolitics, Megatrends, and Inevitable Surprises
Because of his global mindset and presence, paired with continuous interactions with innovators, investors, scholars, policymakers, artists, activists, entrepreneurs, and the like, Nicklas is able to draw thought provoking conclusions about the state of the world today.
Is this as good as it gets? Have we reached the pinnacle of our evolution as a species? Far from it! With human ingenuity driving an ever-increasing rate of innovation, we will see a radically different society in the coming decades. Improved health, slowing global population growth, increasing energy demands, continued strong economic growth in emerging economies, and further advances in new enabling technologies create a complex web of opportunities and challenges.
Nicklas is convinced that we’re entering an era in which technology will redefine who we are, and it’s no longer just a question of what it can do for us but what we should allow technology to do. One thing is certain: society is not prepared for what’s to come. For the audience, this keynote will provide a deeper understanding of the state of the world, with an emphasis on global power shifts and the opportunities and challenges that comes from an increasing focus on innovation and technological independence.
3. Finding Opportunities in Times of Great Uncertainty
Nicklas’ experiences from starting a company in Eastern Europe in 1991, co-founding a nanotechnology company in 2000, building a ski resort from scratch, and investing in dozens of startups have made him immune to uncertainty. He’s learned that instead of spending your time trying to gather even more information in a complex environment, you must aim to build a resilient and flexible mindset.
By understanding that there are different kinds of uncertainty and strategies for coping, a leader can often make sense of and develop alternatives in ambiguous situations. With a different perspective on uncertainty, you can make it work for you. It’s not about having the most information; it’s about being content with the fact that you will never have full information. Also, scanning your surroundings while being curious and a bit skeptical will give you a competitive edge.
4. The Entrepreneurial Journey – Luck, Timing, and Talent
Whether it’s co-founding a company in Eastern Europe in 1991 and scaling that to a 300 MEUR business in 15 years, conquering the world of nanotechnology with a ten people team, building a ski resort from scratch (apart from the mountain itself), investing in a North Sea offshore engineering company, or a Central America forestry operation, success always comes down to luck, timing, and talent (in that order).
Through the eyes of an entrepreneur, Nicklas shares colorful stories and useful insights from 30 years as an entrepreneur and investor. Not only the successful moments but also the challenges, struggles, and mistakes along the way. In other words, an eclectic mix of epic failures and a couple of home runs, leaving the audience with an appetite for entrepreneurship and venturing into the unknown.
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