Techarena 2026 buzzing with AI excitement
- 10 hours ago
- 2 min read
Techarena 2026 kicked off at the Strawberry Arena in Stockholm on February 11, centered on the theme "New era, next mindset – The AI Momentum," exploring how the Nordics and Europe can lead in the global AI race. The event brought together political leaders, startups/scale-ups and tech visionaries to discuss digital sovereignty, infrastructure, and the strategic scaling of innovation.
Here are the top 10 take-aways from Day 1:
Sweden’s AI Funding Surge: Sweden raised over $450 million in AI funding in 2025, which is double the amount from the previous year.
The End of Traditional Software Development: AI is fundamentally changing development workflows; we are currently in the last era of building software in the traditional way.
The "Moonshot" Mandate: Europe needs to shift away from risk aversion toward high-risk "moonshot" projects to attract top talent and remain competitive.
From Energy to Intelligence Exporter: Instead of just exporting fossil-free energy, Sweden aims to leverage its energy surplus to power an "AI-driven economy" and become a "net intelligence exporter".
AI Literacy as "Hygiene": AI competence is no longer a specialty but a key baseline competence and "hygiene factor" for society and the workforce.
Evolving Regulatory Innovation: Rather than "bashing" the EU AI Act, Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch called to reinvent regulatory innovation so it evolves alongside technology.
Mistral AI’s Massive Investment: Mistral AI yesterday announced a €1.2 billion investment in building low-carbon AI cloud infrastructure in Sweden.
"Coalition of the Willing": To bypass slow consensus-building, Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson suggested leveraging smaller groups of motivated allies to increase innovation speed in Europe.
The Trust Crisis in Media: With 60% of readers struggling to identify fake news (the surge in AI-generated content is exacerbating the problem, making it difficult to distingusih between what’s real and not), building brand trust and community has become essential for the future of journalism.
Early Talent is Vital: Scaling legends like Sinch and Legora emphasized that recruiting the right, product-obsessed people at an early stage is the single most critical factor for success.
Observation: Missing the Commercial engine
While the day was packed with discussions and insights on infrastructure, engineering and capital, there was a surprising lack of focus on Marketing and Sales as strategic tools for scaling. Although one roundtable noted that a "good Marketing strategy" is necessary to move from local to global success, it was framed more as a "challenge" than a core strategy. The discussion highlighted that Americans take more risks with marketing – starting visibility and awareness before a product is even "ready" – whereas Europeans remain too risk-averse. Additionally, it was noted that founders often struggle to "let go" enough to effectively build marketing and sales teams, which can hinder a company’s ability to reach its full scale.
Photos by Mimmis Cleeren from the event below.
Looking forward to Day 2 of the event!