Contact the Smart Cities and Communities team

Anja Wingstedt holds a MSc in Urban and Industrial Water Managment from Dresdens University of Technology in Germany. It includes one year of studies and a master thesis at SINTEF in Trondheim.

Anja has over 15 years of varied experience from sustainable water and industrial water management while working in various municipalities in Østfold. Since 2012, until joining Smart Innovation Norway in 2019, she has worked as a consultant at COWI. As a consultant, she has gained insight into the challenges that municipalities are facing today regarding water, industrial water and flooding management.

Anja is involved with the Smart City programs in Skiptvet, Halden and Borg Havn, where the main tasks are to initiate and deliver innovation projects in collaboration with business partners, funding organizations and public sector. Her focus will be on energy efficiency, digitization, sustainability and Smart City development in close cooperation with Norwegian municipalities, businesses, academia and end-users.

Mikael af Ekenstam has extensive knowledge and long experience in working with topics central in the Smart Cities and Communities concept. This includes working with energy- and environmental related issues in highly profiled building and infrastructure projects, as well as designing low-carbon city development and planning for sustainable development in municipalities.

Specific topics where Mikael has in-depth knowledge include energy efficiency, renewable energy, green public procurement and carbon and environmental management in projects and organizations.

Mikael has a MSc in Environmental Science from Gothenburg University. He has previously worked as an energy and environmental advisor at Sweco, with project management as well as engineering. He also held the positions as Chief Sustainability Officer and Environmental Coordinator at Sweco Norway for a couple of years.

In Smart Innovation Norway, Mikael works with Smart Narvik, which is a smart city project with partners Nordkraft, the Port of Narvik and Narvik municipality. He will also work with the Smart Arctic Network, where the goal is to achieve a more sustainable development of society and business in the Arctic region.

Celine Berggreen-Clausen holds a BSc in Economic Geography from University of Gothenburg, School of Business, Economics and Law, and has conducted master studies in Urban Geography and Geographical Information Systems at University of Copenhagen and Lund University. She wrote her thesis on sustainability as a factor of economic growth attraction.

Formerly, Celine held the role of working group leader and representative in the Digital Transition Partnership within the Urban Agenda for the EU, working to provide improved public services to citizens, to support European cities in exploiting the possibilities of digitalisation, and to assist European businesses to develop new innovations and create new business opportunities for global markets.

Before joining Smart Innovation Norway, Celine led the smart city and digital transformation initiatives for the City of Malmoe and the City of Helsingborg in Sweden. Her main areas of expertise are digitalisation, partnerships and policy development for sustainable communities and sharing economies. Conducted closely with international and national stakeholders, industry, academia and civil society, this work has been rewarded with the Special Achievement in GIS Award (Esri Inc.), Open Knowledge Award (Open Knowledge Foundation) and has been published in ICT journals.

At her current position as Senior Advisor, Celine will be involved in Norwegian Smart City programs. The main goal is to initiate and deliver innovation projects focusing on energy efficiency, digitalisation, sustainability and Smart City and Community development in close cooperation with municipalities, businesses, academia and end-users.

Stian Melhus is cluster leader for the Cluster for Decommissioning and Repurposing at Smart Innovation Norway, facilitating collaborations and developing a knowledge base for the new industry growing out of Norway’s plans to decommission its nuclear reactors.

He holds a bachelor's degree in Innovation and Project Management from Østfold University College with a focus on developing leaders. He has worked actively with marine restoration with local environmental groups, both with practical restoration and with facilitating creative think tanks for problem solving.

Stian is an energetic people person who loves to create arenas where people can flourish and be creative and share knowledge in large groups. He is passionate about green technology and innovation and dreams about a world where businesses have a circular approach to business and development.  

Manuela is Head of the Energy Transition department at Smart Innovation Norway, where she oversees a team of researchers and consultants dedicated to developing innovative sustainability projects. Her work spans key areas such as energy transition, circular economy, and the application of AI, with a focus on both national and European initiatives. With extensive experience in designing and leading research and innovation projects, Manuela has contributed to several EU publications.

Beyond her leadership role, she is also an active mentor to start-ups within Smart Innovation Norway’s Venture department, supporting early-stage companies in scaling sustainable solutions.

Manuela holds a Master’s degree in European Studies from Sciences Po Paris, where she completed a traineeship at the European Commission. Prior to joining Smart Innovation Norway, she worked as a Sustainability Manager at Deloitte Paris, where she co-developed sustainability strategies and advised public and private organizations on ESG reporting and compliance.