Eli Haugerud

Head of Communities
Communities

Eli Haugerud

Head of Communities

Eli Haugerud hold a M.Sc. degree in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Oslo (UiO) and has taken several additional master courses within Design Thinking and strategic innovation, computers science and pedagogy.

Eli has previously worked at Tekna for 12 years and held positions as Head of Innovation, Director of Politics and Head of Professional Societies. She has been developing networks, policies and arenas to share competence and building a better society. Prior to her time at Tekna, she came from a background as a leader in international IT companies and the education sector. Eli also currently holds some positions within tech and engineering organization boards.

In her job at Smart Innovation Norway, she holds the position as Head of Clusters and is responsible for the company’s overall operation of the two clusters, NCE Smart Energy Markets and Cluster for Applied AI. She is a part of the management team and reports to the CEO.

Anja Wingstedt

Manager, Smart Cities and Communities
Communities

Anja Wingstedt

Manager, Smart Cities and Communities

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

Project Manager / Consultant
Communities

Mikael af Ekenstam

Project Manager / Consultant

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

Celine Berggreen-Clausen

Senior Advisor, Smart Cities and Communities (leave of absence)
Communities
Celine Berggreen-Clausen

Celine Berggreen-Clausen

Senior Advisor, Smart Cities and Communities (leave of absence)

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.

Tore Odden

Project Manager / Advisor
Communities

Tore Odden

Project Manager / Advisor

Stian Melhus

Cluster Leader, DECOM Cluster
Communities

Stian Melhus

Cluster Leader, DECOM Cluster

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.  

Brita Staal

Brita Staal

Climate Lead, Smart Cities and Communities
Communities
Brita Staal

Brita Staal

Climate Lead, Smart Cities and Communities

Brita is an experienced climate- and sustainability leader with a demonstrated history of change- and sustainability management successes. She has 10 years experience with climate- and sustainability management, both from leading roles in Nordic and global companies, and as advisor within strategy development. She also has valueable experience from international aid- and development work, Norwegian Foreign Affairs, and international NGO development and management.

Brita holds a Master of Science in Development Management, with specialization in sustainability and impact analysis. Her Masters thesis evaluated Norad’s Matchmaking Programme in regards to sustainable development in north-south business relations, and she thereby have special insight to impact measures and development opportunities in public-private partnerships.

Brita has strong founder and business development skills, and brings in experiences from building organisations within climaterisk tech, climate advocacy and impact investment. As Climate Lead, Brita get to use all her experiences and skills in order to strengthen Smart Innovations overall climate - and sustainability impact through our smart city and research projects, our cluster involvement and through incubation and venture.

Manuela Freté

Project Manager / Consultant
Communities

Manuela Freté

Project Manager / Consultant

Manuela has more than 10 years of experience within project management of sustainability and innovation projects focused on topics such as circular economy (food, plastic and construction waste), and energy. She has worked both for the public and private sector and managed several international consortiums and different types of stakeholders.

Manuela holds a BA in International Relations with French and Spanish from University of Sussex and a master’s degree in European Studies from Sciences Po Paris which concluded with a traineeship at the European Commission in the sustainable consumption and production directorate. In France, Manuela has been working with ESG reporting and with designing sustainability strategies for public and private companies nationally and internationally. She has also been leading EU research and innovation projects (FP7, H2020) since 2013 and is author and co-author of several EU publications.

In Smart Innovation Norway, Manuela is managing the H2020 GIFT project, which aims to test innovative technological solutions in the energy sector. She is also supporting the ongoing work of the Smart Cities and Communities team in northern Norway (such as Smart Narvik) and is developing innovation projects in the region.