Nicklas Bergman

Nicklas Bergman

Serial Entrepreneur, Deep Tech Investor | Futurist

I’ve spent the last 25 years working as an entrepreneur and technology investor, mostly focusing on investments and business development in emerging markets, instrumentation, nanotechnology, computing, new materials and new media art, currently through close to 15 direct and indirect investments. I’ve made lots of mistakes, been responsible for epic failures and lucky enough to be part of some successes along the way. Over the years I’ve said no to investments that turned into unicorns and spent way too much time in endless meetings with bankers, lawyers, and boards of directors.

A couple of years ago I cleared my schedule and embarked on a journey to understand where technology is taking us and if we are ready for the upcoming tech storm. Today I’m dividing my time between existing and new technology investments, a couple of my own skunkworks projects and speaking and writing on the future of technology and business. I’m strategic advisor to European Commissioner Carlos Moedas and the European Innovation Council, working on a new innovation strategy for Europe. I’m also Scandinavian representative of the TechCast Technology Think Tank in Washington DC, associated to the Society & Innovation section of the World Economic Forum and member of both the World Future Society and the Long Now Foundation.

As a writer, I’m very interested in the merger of technology, society and business. In 2016 I published a book on how to deal with new technologies from a business perspective: ”Surviving the Tech Storm – Strategy in Times of Technological Uncertainty” (Lid Publishing, London, 2016). With the conviction that technology is probably the strongest driver of change today, it’s obvious that anyone in a management position, or aspirations to eventually be in that position, must understand how technology is changing business from the ground up.

I’m also part of “Nordic Ways”, the 2016 key project at the SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University in Washington D.C., USA. The final result is a compilation of essays on how Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden are facing economic and social challenges through what has been known as the “Nordic Model”. Authored by people from the Nordic countries with backgrounds in politics, academia, design, arts, business, technology, and civil society, the book was released in the US in October 2016.

I’m co-founder and largest investor in several companies including:    • The Volvo trucks and buses distribution network in Romania, that grew into a 300 MEUR business and was acquired by Volvo Corp. in 2006.    • An electron microscopy company with a unique patented technology for movement and interaction on the atomic scale.