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Alma Sandberg is our Deputy CEO.

She holds a BA in Social Sciences and an MSc in Entrepreneurship & Innovation from Lund University. Alma also brings 15+ years of experience in business development, solid knowledge of EU projects, EU funding, EU policy, strategic partnerships, and driving innovation.

In her role as Deputy CEO at OpenTech, Alma shares responsibility with the CEO for leading the company’s operations. This includes representing the company externally, maintaining relationships with stakeholders, and ensuring alignment with the company’s values and goals. Another key aspect of her role is to oversee personnel development, budgeting, project management, and other operational tasks.

Alma loves anything that involves finding solutions to social challenges by applying technology to new application areas. She loves engaging in projects and initiatives that play an important role in empowering startups, SMEs, and especially women entrepreneurs.

In her free time, Alma loves traveling to discover the world with her kids and family, hiking in the beautiful nature of Skåne, and socialising with friends. Alma usually says, “Once a volunteer, always a volunteer,” which is why she also engages as a mentor and board member for different organisations.

Asma Mansour is a Project Manager at OpenTech.

She has a bachelor’s in Accounting and two master’s degrees – one in Financial Engineering and one in Leadership for Sustainability.

Professionally, Asma has a long background working with social innovation and social entrepreneurship. This includes experience in building EU consortiums, fundraising, designing and managing projects, as well as project monitoring and evaluation. She also has +10 years’ experience with community mobilisation, stakeholder management and partnership building.

What she enjoys the most about working at OpenTech is the opportunity to gain knowledge about the industrial and public sectors, and exploring different ways to contribute to their social and environmental sustainability through digitalisation and the use of AI and technology.

Outside work, Asma enjoys spending time with her family, socialising, volunteering, watching movies, and participating in cultural events.

Carolina Garcés is our Senior Project Manager for Innovation & Internationalisation. 

She holds a law degree with a Masters in EU Economic & Commercial Law from Lausanne University, as well as a MSc in Entrepreneurship & Innovation from Lund University. Carolina also brings 10+ years of experience working with innovation ecosystems, business development, investment attraction, policy making, and legal counselling for large-scale infrastructure projects.

In her role as Project Manager at OpenTech, Carolina leads two key areas: Skills & Talent Supply, as well as Internationalisation. Her work encompasses EU collaboration and national projects – for instance, focusing on the digital transformation, innovation ecosystems, and cluster development. She also leads the initiative Clusters of Sweden on behalf of OpenTech.

With a keen interest in harnessing technology and innovation for sustainable development, Carolina is particularly motivated by initiatives that address global societal challenges, catalyse economic growth, and promote social impact.

In her spare time, Carolina enjoys traveling around the world, where she appreciates the richness of human diversity and the beauty of our interconnected world. She is also a vintage clothing enthusiast and a culinary explorer.

Dorota Calus is our Project Financial Controller.

She holds a Civil Engineering degree from Gdansk University of Technology, with a specialisation in Management & Economics. Dorota also has university training in Public Procurement, as well as Data Science. Her professional journey spans over two decades across various sectors, including finance, project management, and entrepreneurship.

At OpenTech, her role as Project Financial Controller entails overseeing the financial aspects of our projects, ensuring adherence to funding regulations, and facilitating budget planning and forecasting. She works closely with project managers and external stakeholders to optimise financial strategies and mitigate risks – ultimately driving successful project outcomes.

What excites her most about working at OpenTech is the dynamic nature of the tech industry and the opportunity to be at the forefront of innovation. She enjoys the challenge of translating complex financial data into actionable insights that propel our projects forward. Moreover, being part of a vibrant community of tech enthusiasts and storytellers fuels her passion for the work at OpenTech.

Outside of work, she is a passionate gardener, an avid traveler, and a food enthusiast. She cherishes spending quality time with her family and friends, exploring new culinary delights, and immersing herself in diverse cultural experiences.

Fredrik Richter is our Communications Strategist & Acting Head of Communications.

With over 20 years of experience in business development, communication and brand marketing, Fredrik has worked across a variety of settings, from innovative startups to large corporations, consistently bridging the gap between technology and its users.

Holding a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering, Fredrik uses his technical background to craft valuable and engaging communication for the tech community. His experience in content marketing and of building strong brands is instrumental in strengthening the position of the members within our community.

Fredrik thrives on understanding the unique business and technology of every company. He is passionate about providing fresh perspectives and helping businesses by telling their stories in a way that resonates. For Fredrik, it’s extremely rewarding to be able to guide a company to its next level of success.

In his free time, Fredrik enjoys cooking, baking, traveling to new cultures, and spending time with family and friends. He is also part of a musical duo, performing for example live music quizzes. Additionally, he is an active board member and volunteer, dedicated to supporting newcomers.

Helena Pataki is our Content Manager.

With a BA in arts and communication, she has spent years working in the film industry and the cultural sector within municipalities. She has managed content production and led communication efforts in a variety of international and cross-cultural settings.

At OpenTech, Helena’s role involves crafting and implementing content strategies that enhance our organization’s visibility and impact. She ensures that our messaging is consistent across all platforms, and she is involved in the ongoing rebranding process.

What Helena values most about working at OpenTech is the opportunity to work alongside innovative minds who are passionate about shaping the future of technology.

Outside of work, Helena spends her time in the studio experimenting with photography and AI, going on adventures with her dog Blomman, foraging in nature, and cooking for friends.

Jessica Pålsson is our Head of Communications (currently on parental leave).

She holds a BA in Communication from Denmark and a MSc. in Entrepreneurship & Innovation Management from the Netherlands. She also brings 10+ years of experience from tech and innovation communication in international settings.

In her role, Jessica ensures that all important activities going on at OpenTech reach our community in an engaging way. This includes sharing news from our members and partners, and providing information about upcoming opportunities. Another key aspect of her role is positioning tech in Skåne and ensuring that our region gets visibility – both nationally and internationally.

One of the things she enjoys most about working at OpenTech is meeting so many inspiring people that are developing technology to improve the way we work and live. She is also fascinated about how technology is adopted by different user groups in society and considers herself lucky to be able to study, observe, and facilitate that process from the front line.

When not communicating at work, Jessica can be found snowboarding, enjoying new food/music, or travelling with family and friends. She is also an active board member and works with an NGO focusing on diversity and inclusion in the tech industry.

Jonas Jönsson is our Project Manager for Power Hour.

Jonas has been helping startups and entrepreneurs for 20 years, where he mainly focuses on coaching and aspects of funding. He holds a Master’s Degree in Social Science and really enjoys working with teams and personal development in connection to tech in use.

In his role as Project Manager, Jonas prepares startups and scaleups to meet our Power Hour panel and takes care of everything related to the event. In doing so, he enables young tech companies to discuss their current challenges with an experienced panel of people from both startups and bigger tech companies in the region.

Apart from working together with all the knowledgeable colleagues at OpenTech, Jonas thinks the best things about his role is making a difference for early-stage tech companies. Through Power Hour, Jonas helps more than 20 regional startups and scaleups every year with valuable contacts, advice, and feedback. This excites him!

When not at OpenTech, Jonas also spends his time as a business coach at Minc Incubator in Malmö. In his spare time, the best thing he knows is taking care of his garden in the beech forest in the middle of Skåne.

Magnus Bäckmark is a Senior Project Manager at OpenTech.

Magnus brings 25+ years of experience in telecom and mobile development. This is complemented by a decade of entrepreneurship, which includes the co-founding of an R&D company in tech.

At OpenTech, Magnus leads one of our EU-funded open innovation projects, DigIT Hub Sweden. He works together with a large number of project partners, funders, and regional stakeholders to boost digitalisation in southern Sweden – particularly, within the manufacturing industry and the public sector.

Magnus thrives on being at the cutting edge of development and interacting with diverse tech companies. The international aspect of his work adds an exciting dimension, where he enjoys collaborating with counterparts from other European digitalisation hubs.

In his spare time, Magnus is a passionate chef, who loves to experiment in the kitchen and explore new flavors. As a hobby photographer and nature lover, he is often out in the woods and nature, capturing moments with his camera lens and enjoying the tranquility and beauty of the surroundings as often as he can.

Marina Trattner is our General Counsel.

She holds a Master’s Degree (LL.M) in European Business Law and specialises in Competition, Public Procurement, Compliance, IT Law, and Data Protection. In addition, she also has a Master of Journalism and brings +15 years of experience of working with stakeholders in different countries.

As a General Counsel at OpenTech, Marina helps us to identify risks related to business activities in multijurisdictional environments and provides legal advice to our CEO and members of the managing board. This includes assessing commercial contracts, EU‐funded projects, public procurement, and data protection. She also drafts, reviews, and negotiates business contracts.

Marina enjoys working with the different teams at OpenTech, and thrives on analyzing complex problems and finding unconventional solutions. The opportunity to cooperate with tech companies and provide strategic advice inspires her every day – and she always strives to make OpenTech and our members even more efficient, innovative, and sustainable.

Apart from her work as General Counsel, Marina conducts research at different archives and analyzes hand-written texts from the 1500s – 1700s. Together with international historians, she restores the unknown pages of our history. In addition, she also works with an NGO that arranges rehabilitation of Ukrainian military medics and volunteers in Sweden.

Mikaela is a Project Manager at OpenTech (currently on parental leave).

Mikaela brings an exciting background as a former pro-athlete and consultancy co-pilot with experience in B2B sales. At OpenTech, she is particularly passionate about supporting our members with all things related to entrepreneurship and business operations.

When she’s not busy connecting people or supporting new businesses, you’ll likely find Mikaela enjoying good cuisine, engaging in interesting conversations, or traveling.

Molly Löfqvist is our Head of Member Community & Events.

She holds a Master in International Business Administration & Economics from Lund University and has also studied at Vienna University, Freiburg University, and Istituto Michelangelo in Florence.

Molly brings 30+ years of working experience from both smaller and larger organisations, with roles including communication, marketing, advertising, sales, change management, art exhibitions, project management, international business relations, and export consulting.

In her current role, Molly ensures that all members in the OpenTech community are taken well care of. This includes on-boarding of new members, continuously nurturing a fruitful collaboration of existing members, as well as the expansion of our network in Skåne. Molly is also in charge of our major OpenTech events that are organised in cooperation with our members.

The things she enjoys most at OpenTech is getting to meet exciting people with diverse backgrounds and being part of creating business results by connecting people. 

When not at work, Molly can be found at her summer house in Skillinge where she loves to spend time with her husband, two children, and friends. She also enjoys travelling and has stayed abroad in various countries for longer periods of time.

Ola Svedin is the CEO of OpenTech.

Ola has more than 30 years of experience from telecom, IT security, smart card, biometrics, and space industries. He has led large mobile phone and chipset development programs, and as inventor and R&D director of a world-leading fingerprint tech startup Ola was a pioneer in the biometrics industry.

He is a passionate driver of the transition of society to the digital world. Under his leadership, OpenTech has doubled in size and is leading the European Digital Innovation Hub, DigIT Hub Sweden.

On behalf of OpenTech, Ola is also the chairperson of the national Swedish cluster association, Clusters of Sweden, and is the vice president of Silicon Europe Alliance.

Outside of work, Ola is a passionate skier, music lover, avid traveler, and foodie. His hidden talents include Pinball Wizard and (very) amateur salsa cubana dancer.

Olivia Samuelsson is our Communications Lead for the project DigIT Hub Sweden.

She has a diverse educational background in communications, technology, and art – spanning from web development to museum curation. Her professional past is primarily rooted in the cluster and innovation sectors, specifically focused on digitalisation and social development.

Olivia’s role at OpenTech is leading the communications team within the DigIT Hub Sweden project, a European Digital Innovation Hub aiming to support the digitalisation of companies and the public sector in southern Sweden.

Her responsibilities vary day by day, but ultimately revolve around ensuring that the project’s activities and achievements effectively reach its target audience. She is also responsible for ensuring that the project is accurately represented both nationally and internationally, and is part of fostering collaborations with similar initiatives across Europe.

What Olivia values most about working at OpenTech is the culture of openness to ideas and innovation, as well as the diverse array of people she encounters. She enjoys the dynamic nature of her work, where each day presents new opportunities for exploration; making it the ideal environment for someone who is curiosity-driven and perhaps a bit restless.

Besides work, Olivia enjoys collecting vinyl records, travelling, and starting up new art projects every week.

Rahim Hotek is the Finance Manager at OpenTech.

Rahim holds two bachelor’s degrees in Finance & Accounting, and has more than 10 years of practical experience in finance.

At OpenTech, he oversees all financial aspects of our projects and the overall organisation. In his role, he often provides important information for decision-making and project applications.

Besides finance, Rahim is really into technology and digital gadgets. He thoroughly enjoys the ability to work in an environment where it is possible to mix his background in finance with his interest in tech and digitalisation. He is also driven by the varied and challenging tasks that he gets to put his teeth into on a daily basis.

When he’s not crunching numbers at OpenTech, Rahim likes to hang out with his family, play football, and watch matches whenever he can.