The chair of NorwAI, Schibsted's Sven Størmer Thaulow, looked at Telenor key note speaker Ieva Martinkinate on stage and thereafter, overlooking the conference hall of NorwAI Innovate in Trondheim recently, and noted he was filled with joy and anticipation over the large gathering of the Norwegian AI community present.

-     Incredibly good to see such a heterogeneous gathering of participants as at this conference. There were young students, postdocs and PhDs, researchers, employees and top executives from industry, says Sven Størmer Thaulow. 

-    Precisely such a group is one of the prerequisites for achieving interdisciplinary interaction between business and researchers in order to achieve innovations, he adds. 

Chairman of the board Sven Størmer Thalow, daily EVP and Chief Data and Technology Officer in the Schibsted Group, says that the conference NorwAI Innovate had the ambition to become the most important meeting place for Norway's AI environment.

- The conference was sold out. I think we are already the largest in Norway of its kind. NorwAI is an ambitious project that has brought together many important Norwegian industrial companies and academic institutions for a joint effort. It bodes well for the sequel.

The conference had a clear innovation focus with sessions for industrial excellence and social significance with case presentations and practical courses. The NorwAI chair of the board himself contributed with a session on the use of use cases based on Schibsted's many experiences within the domain. Through hackaton and poster competition for students, NorwAI Innovate also offered good opportunities to meet and get to know Norway's future AI programmers. International research elements further contributed to the breadth and depth of the event.

- Line-up with lecturers including Nobel Prize winner Edvard Moser was so good that we have to put ourselves in the saddle to top this next year, laughs Sven Størmer Thaulow.

- You also met with Crown Prince Haakon Magnus who invited NorwAI's management to a breakfast conversation to find out more. How was it?

- The Crown Prince seemed genuinely curious and interested in applied AI. He was concerned with how AI technology would develop and gain significance also in the longer term. There was no playing to the gallery from the Crown Prince's side. He was very active in the conversation and it was a rewarding meeting, says Sven Størmer Thaulow.

Caption: Chairman of the board Sven Størmer Thaulow himself contributed to a strong line-up of lecturers to draw on their experiences from top management in several Norwegian technology companies.