Open Research Days - inspiration and knowledge sharing at its best

Digital Futures hosted the Open Research Days on 20-21 April, covering research project presentations, greeting new partners AstraZeneca, Saab and Xylem, panel discussions, networking and mingling.

The program on Day 1 included a variety of topics such as 6G Communication Sensing Computing, Safe and Smart Power Systems, Trustworthy Software and Systems, AI for Environment, Smart Mobility and Digitalized Built Environment.

Digital Futures Postdocs presented their research in a classic poster session, and Director Karl H Johansson chaired a panel discussion on ‘How to get impact from digital transformation research’ with Simon Knight, Saikat Chatterjee, Hedvig Kjellström, Tobias Oechtering, Roberto Guanciale, Emil Björnson, and Elena Gutierrez Farewik in the panel.

Three men in suits stand and smile in front of a screen displaying “Open Research Day.” The background features colourful abstract shapes and event dates partly visible on the left. — Left to right: Petter Bedoire – CTO Saab, Ulf Carlsson – Director Innovation & Predevelopment Xylem Water Infrastructure and Anders Bergman – Digital Business Transformation Lead AstraZeneca.

Day 2 focussed on the Industrial and Societal Partnership Program, where Mikael Lindström, KTH Deputy President, welcomed Digital Futures’ new partners AstraZeneca, Saab and Xylem. This Strategic Collaboration also includes partners City of Stockholm, Region Stockholm, Ericsson, and Scania.

New and current partners then joined Mikael Lindström in a lively panel discussion, where the audience contributed with lots of questions and comments. Good remarks were such as “Digital Futures is not only the place to be – but to act”, It is important to be “excited about the right things”, “Projects should be based on real problems”, “Collaboration is key” and “Result should benefit the citizens of Stockholm”.

A man stands and speaks to an audience while five people stand together onstage in front of a projected presentation slide at a professional event. Some members of the audience are raising their hands. — Panel chair Mikael Lindström – KTH Deputy President, together with panellists Ulf Carlsson – Director Innovation & Predevelopment Xylem Water Infrastructure, Petter Bedoire – CTO Saab, Anders Bergman – Digital Business Transformation Lead AstraZeneca, o Karin Ekdahl Wästberg – Chief Innovation Officer City of Stockholm, and Magnus Frodigh – Vice President and Head of Ericsson Research.

The event covered more than 70 research projects, where Day 2 included a focus on Transforming Education, Social AI, Digitalized Medicine, Digitalized Health Care, AI for Biology, Robots and People, as well as industrial and societal innovation projects.

A woman wearing a green jacket speaks into a microphone whilst standing at a round table, gesturing with her hand. A projected presentation with text is visible in the background. — Elena Gutierrez Farewik, KTH

A man in a suit gestures while presenting to a group in a conference room. A large screen behind him displays an image of machinery labelled Subsystem A. Several people are seated and listening attentively. — Project ‘Towards Safe Smart Construction: Algorithms, Digital Twins and Infrastructures’ presented by Ulf Håkansson, PhD, Technical Manager, Skanska Sweden AB.

A group of six men stand in a small room, talking and holding coffee cups. Behind them, a screen displays a presentation titled SMART. Shelves line the walls, and a laptop is on a table near the screen. — 2. Smart Predictive Maintenance for Pharmaceutical – SMART presented by Mario Romero.

Seven people dressed in business attire stand in a row, smiling, in front of a screen displaying Open Research Day and colourful abstract graphics. The background features wooden walls and a sign reading Station No. 5. — Johanna Gavefalk – Chief Communications Officer Digital Futures, Karl H Johansson – Director Digital Futures, Petter Bedoire – CTO Saab, Ulf Carlsson – Director Innovation & Predevelopment Xylem Water Infrastructure, Anna Kiefer – Chief Operating Officer Digital Futures, Anders Bergman – Digital Business Transformation Lead AstraZeneca, and Mikael Lindström – KTH Deputy President.

The event was co-organized by Professor Yifang Ban, Head of Division Geoinformatics at KTH, Associate Director for Dissemination & Impact at Digital Futures and Johanna Gavefalk, Chief Communications Officer at Digital Futures, supported by Vendela Hasselberg, Administrative Coordinator at Digital Futures and Sissi Rizko, Program Officer at Digital Futures.

Open Research Days – inspiration and knowledge sharing at its best

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