Technology can unlock life-changing opportunities for people with disabilities. Griet Vanhee previously worked as a speech therapist for ALS patients. She was recruited to the Swedish eye-tracking company Tobii and the newly formed division ⁠Tobii Dynavox⁠, focusing on AAC solutions - Assistive and Alternative Communications.

On stage at ⁠Women in Tech Sweden 2026⁠, Griet showcased one of their products together with twelve-year-old Linnea, suffering from cerebral palsy, who could communicate through an eye-tracking device and a screen prepared with letters, words and phrases.

Inclusion does not happen by accident, it happens by design. What potential could be fulfilled if more people were able to communicate on their own terms?

Podcast host: ⁠Christian von Essen⁠ // Learn more at ⁠hejaframtiden.se⁠ and ⁠subscribe to the newsletter on Substack⁠ (in Swedish).

When ⁠Ken Villum Klausen⁠ founded ⁠Lunar⁠ in Denmark almost 11 years ago, he could hardly foresee the current AI landscape.

With a resilient backbone formed on the struggles of building a proper Nordic challenger bank, Lunar is now increasingly positioning itself as an infrastructure for other fintech companies - and AI agents.

Are we finally moving into invisible banking?

Podcast host: ⁠Christian von Essen⁠ // Check out more episodes at ⁠hejaframtiden.se⁠ and ⁠subscribe to the newsletter⁠ (in Swedish)

The episode was produced in collaboration with Lunar.

AI solutions are being rolled out at an incredible pace, but how do organizations and individuals implement these new ways of working in practice? Turns out there's a gap in AI adoption, not only between genders, industries and continents, but within companies and teams as well.

Sweden-based ⁠Gertrude Chilufya⁠ is on a journey to bridge these gaps. As an AI Adoption Strategist, she helps individuals and leaders to get the AI ball rolling for increased productivity and better workflow.

Heja Framtiden met Gertrude at ⁠Women in Tech Sweden 2026⁠ in Stockholm.

Podcast host: Christian von Essen // Learn more at ⁠hejaframtiden.se⁠

Urban forests and gardens are increasingly important for shade, climate change mitigation, noise pollution and air quality. But out of the 100 Billion USD invested annually, there has been plenty of waste because trees are not properly taken care of. A third don't even survive their first year.

⁠Devon Young⁠ from Avanade and ⁠Hannah Prior⁠ from Microsoft set out to change this. Using their companies' combined technologies, they created a way of ⁠communicating with individual trees⁠ to see how they are doing. The solution is soon being rolled out to cities and municipalities looking to strengthening their preventive green maintenance.

Heja Framtiden met Devon and Hannah at the ⁠Women in Tech Sweden conference 2026⁠ in Stockholm.

Podcast host: ⁠Christian von Essen⁠

Check out ⁠hejaframtiden.se⁠ and ⁠subscribe to the newsletter⁠ (in Swedish). Also: ⁠epic talkshow at Maxim in Stockholm 7th of May⁠ (also in Swedish).

Anyone who's met ⁠Shaena Harrison⁠ remembers the encounter, since she probably introduced you to a person you didn't know you wanted to meet.

During her more than ten years in Stockholm, she has been working for tech companies like Klarna, Oneflow, LinkedIn, SingularityU Nordic and Telia, while volunteering at TEDx Stockholm.

Eventually, she realized that could build something unique based on her skill as a super-connector, and founded ⁠Wing People - The Human Connection Company⁠, offering busy executives a professional "wing person" at events and conferences in order to make the most out their time, money and effort.

In this episode, we dive into the topics of event design, connection skills, artificial intelligence and the power of opening doors for others.

Podcast host: ⁠Christian von Essen⁠

Check out ⁠hejaframtiden.se⁠ and ⁠subscribe to the newsletter⁠ (in Swedish).

Cryopreservation is a common process in nature. Given that it already works with IVF embryos, could it potentially work for entire human bodies?

James Arrowood believes so. He is CEO of Arizona-based non-profit organization ⁠Alcor Life Extension Foundation⁠, one of the largest cryonics facilities in the world. This is no longer just science fiction.

Heja Framtiden met him after a ⁠cryonics seminar at Institute for Futures Studies⁠ in Stockholm. How far has the technology come today and when will we see the first attempts to revive people in the future? How does it actually work? And what happens if you wake up a hundred years from now?

Podcast host: ⁠Christian von Essen⁠ // Learn more at ⁠hejaframtiden.se⁠ and check out the ⁠newsletter on Substack⁠ (in Swedish).

Mitchell Davis⁠ is a renowned authority in many different parts of the food system. He has been involved in The World's 50 Best Restaurants and the James Beard Foundation, and runs his own media outlet Kitchen Sense on platforms like Instagram and Substack.

Heja Framtiden met Mitchell at the ⁠Stockholm Food Forum⁠, when the new Eat Lancet Commission was released. The episode is part of a paid collaboration with Stockholm Business Region's initiative ⁠Stockholm ImpACT Days 2025⁠.

Podcast host: Christian von Essen // Learn more at ⁠hejaframtiden.se⁠ and ⁠subscribe to the newsletter (in Swedish)⁠.

Plenty of academic research end up in obscure publications behind big paywalls. When Abeni Wickham couldn't even access her own scientific paper, she realized that this was also undermining democracy.

This led to the foundation of ⁠SciFree⁠, a digital platform allowing libraries to provide citizens with open access to thousands of academic papers and journals. They also work with digital preservation to safeguard and improve our collective memory.

Heja Framtiden met Abeni at Norrsken House in Stockholm after the event AI for Knowledge and Democracy, as part of the overarching initiative ⁠Prompt What Matters⁠.

Podcast host: ⁠Christian von Essen⁠ // Learn more at ⁠hejaframtiden.se⁠ and ⁠subscribe to the newsletter⁠ (in Swedish).

Heja Framtiden is a Swedish podcast and platform for conversations about the future.

Here you can meet the futurists predicting the future, the entrepreneurs creating the future and the brilliant minds representing the future. With a variety of perspectives, we create a puzzle that never is solved. Whatever we think about the future, we should never stop cheering for it. Heja Framtiden is run by Christian von Essen in Stockholm, Sweden. Learn more at http://hejaframtiden.se

The main feed for Heja Framtiden (including Swedish episodes) can be found on Spotify, Apple and Youtube.

India faces many challenges related to climate change. But it's also a powerhouse of innovation and engineering.

Rajat Kukreja is Entrepreneurship Manager at the ⁠University of Toronto India Foundation⁠ in Mumbai, enabling connections between science, government and startups to build new collaborative projects around urban planning and climate resilience.

He has also been instrumental in developing the ⁠Sustainability Mafia⁠ network, currently gathering almost 100 climate tech founders in India. The ambition is to grow exponentially over the coming years, making sustainability "the default choice".

Heja Framtiden met Rajat during his participation in Swedish Institute's yearly ⁠Impact Pioneers⁠ programme in Stockholm.

Podcast host: ⁠Christian von Essen⁠ // Learn more at ⁠hejaframtiden.se⁠