Advania Named Rising Star at NVIDIA Partner Awards EMEA 2026

Advania Sweden has been named a Rising Star in the Nordic region at the NVIDIA Partner Awards EMEA 2026, recognizing its role in helping organizations move from AI ambition to measurable business outcomes.

The award reflects strong momentum built in Sweden, which serves as Advania’s frontrunner market for AI. That capability is increasingly being leveraged across the group to support customers in multiple markets.

Executive Insight | Maarten Kanters, Strategy Director

Nordic companies have embraced artificial intelligence at remarkable speed. According to a recent report from Boston Consulting Group, almost every company in the region now uses AI in some form. Yet despite this rapid adoption, only a small minority report substantial financial returns from their investments.

This raises an obvious question. If nearly everyone is using AI, why are so few seeing meaningful business impact?

The explanation is surprisingly simple. Many organizations are adding AI to existing workflows instead of redesigning how work gets done. And as a rule of thumb, if you paste AI on top of old habits, you will only get slightly better old habits.

Total Lifecycle Management is one of Advania’s three strategic growth priorities. The appointment of Joel Sundström as Strategy Director marks an important step in strengthening how the company develops and scales this offering across markets.

Joel joins from Casi, a Norwegian mobility tech company, where he was Chief Commercial Officer. He previously worked in business development and innovation, and earlier as a management consultant at Accenture advising Nordic clients. He holds an M.Sc. in Engineering Physics and a B.Sc. in Business Administration from Uppsala University.

In Gothenburg, Sweden, a new kind of bus depot is taking shape.

At Transdev’s facility in Järnbrott, only electric buses are allowed inside. Rows of vehicles charge between shifts, workshops and planning functions operate under one roof, and every part of the operation is connected.

This is not just a depot. It is a glimpse of how future public transport will work.

But for everything to run smoothly, the physical infrastructure needs a digital backbone. That’s where Advania steps in.

The word "sovereignty" is everywhere in European tech policy right now. It appears in Commission proposals, in procurement frameworks, in the names of cloud products that may or may not deserve the label. It has become, like many words that matter, a word that is starting to lose its meaning. That tension sat at the heart of this week's European Internet Forum lunch debate at the European Parliament in Brussels, where policymakers and industry gathered to discuss what the Commission's CAIDA proposal needs to succeed.

Advania was invited to contribute. Henric Skalberg, Head of Cyber Security and Compliance, took the floor as First Respondent alongside speakers from the European Commission, Thales, CISPE and the ITI Council. His argument was grounded in something most of the policy debate lacks: a decade of actually doing it.

Running 159 restaurants is about much more than food. It requires systems that simply work. Orders, payments, staffing, and daily operations all depend on IT being stable, secure, and always available, so teams can focus on what matters most, creating great food and guest experiences.

For Bitastad, one of Norway’s fastest growing restaurant groups, that meant building an IT setup that could scale without adding complexity or risk.

Executive Insight | Ægir Thorisson, CPO

There is a number I think every leader should remember.

Research consistently shows that most variation in team engagement is attributable to the manager, not compensation, not office design, not even the strategy deck. The manager.

I remember exactly when that statistic truly landed for me. I was already a CEO at the time, and I realised that if seventy percent of engagement sits with the manager, then it had also been sitting with me.

That insight is both empowering and slightly uncomfortable. Empowering because it confirms that leadership truly matters. Uncomfortable because it removes most of the easy explanations.

Human resources today is no longer only about policies and people management. It increasingly depends on reliable technology that gives organisations clear insight into their workforce, simplifies administration, and supports better decision making.

Across Iceland, many of the country’s leading companies and public institutions rely on Advania’s HR and payroll solutions to manage employee data, payroll processes, and workforce planning. For organisations with large and complex workforces, these systems have become a critical foundation for daily operations.

Mosfellsbær municipality is one of them.

Executive Insight | Ægir Thorisson, CPO

Trust is often described as a value. Something cultural. Something aspirational.
I have come to believe that this framing is too narrow.

Trust is not just how people feel inside an organization. It is how the organization actually runs. It shapes how decisions are made, how authority is distributed, how quickly problems surface, and how fast teams learn.

In practice, trust determines execution speed.

Managing hardware globally is not just about ordering laptops. It requires navigating compliance rules, customs regulations, pricing volatility, and logistics across multiple markets.

At Advania, we support global organisations in removing that complexity. In partnership with NORDEN, Advania Denmark built a scalable IT and hardware model that ensures consistent quality and delivery across its 19 offices worldwide.

Founded in 1871, NORDEN is a maritime logistics company connecting global trade through agile and efficient solutions. With around 500 employees across four continents, the company relies on data driven insights to optimise supply chains and reduce environmental impact. However, operating internationally naturally adds complexity to IT operations.

Executive Insight | Ægir Thorisson, CPO

Every leadership team I meet wants the same things.

Better decisions.
Faster execution.
More innovation.
Stronger ownership.

The assumption is straightforward. Put smart people together, give them clear goals, and performance will follow.

I used to think that too.

Executive Insight | Ægir Thorisson, CPO

For years, we have talked about burnout as if it were the defining workplace crisis of our time.
And to be clear, burnout is real. I have seen it. Most leaders have.
But when I look at the data, I see something else as well.

According to global engagement research from Gallup, employee engagement worldwide has declined. Europe sits at the bottom of the ranking. Just thirteen percent of European employees report being engaged at work.

Thirteen percent!