Innovation investor Nicklas Bergman: ‘Curiosity drives human development’

During his career, Nicklas Bergman became convinced that technology changes constantly and new niches for previously unimaginable products or services emerge. Today, he is trying to understand which direction we are heading as well as if we are able to manage the techstorm. ‘I am very optimistic about the opportunities with emerging technologies, but that said we have to decide what we want technology to do. In the future, there are many potential technological pitfalls, for example in genetics, robotics and artificial intelligence. If we don’t discuss the challenges and risks and decide on limitations and frameworks, things can go very wrong’.

According to him, the privacy threat is a reality today. Everyone has to decide if, what and how they want to share online. Many services today are free based on the fact that we share personal data, so in that perspective it’s hard to avoid identifications.

When asked about emerging technology, Nicklas Bergman highlighted finance and service industries that are becoming automatic and intermediaries are omitted.

‘Right now I see a lot of activity in financial technologies and services as well as in gaming. In the not so distant future, we will most likely see more and more useful and mainstream applications coming out of the Internet of Things, and also even more interesting applications based on machine learning and artificial intelligence’, says the technology expert.

Nicklas Bergman does not believe that society is able to turn away from the new technology. ‘Curiosity is one of the strongest drivers of human development, and that includes new gadgets. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if we will see a not so distant counter reaction to excessive consumption, including gadgets and high-end technology’, he says.

The Vilnius Innovation Forum will host more than 40 speakers. Among them – the first LinkedIn employee outside the United States and former head of the company‘s European department Kevin Eyres, Head of Marketing for the Baltic States at Google Regimantas Urbanas, Head of Society and Innovation, Member of the Executive Committee at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Nicholas Davis, Director for Accelerators and Technology at CERN Dr. Frederick Bordry and more than 40 other speakers.

The Vilnius Innovation Forum 2015 is hosted by the Ministry of Economy and the Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology. The event is sponsored by the European Regional Development Fund.