Lorenzo Ruscelli holds a Master of Science in Information Systems Management and Digital Innovation, specializing in Venture Capital and tech investments, and a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship.

He describes himself as a leader with a passion for people and technology. He partners with companies to develop disruptive business models and growth strategies based on Silicon Valley’s best practices, where he has lived and worked in the world’s most prominent innovation environment.

After spending several years working in management, Lorenzo has developed relevant leadership and organizational skills, which have proven helpful in his current role as a senior manager at Smart Innovation Norway.

Matias Heggdal holds a Bsc in Innovation and Project Management from Østfold University College. It includes one semester abroad at California State University Monterey Bay, USA. During his stay abroad he explored the startup ecosystem in Silicon Valley and consulted a Norwegian startup on how to best become a part of this ecosystem.

Matias has for the past years been active in the startup environment and is the co-founder of two startups. Matias’ passion is to facilitate good learning arenas for startups to accelerate growth and increased likelihood of international success. For his thesis, he researched best incubator practices amongst Norwegian and European incubators, and after completion he was hired at Smart Innovation Norway.

In his current job at Smart Innovation Norway, he holds the position as Program Manager in Venture. His responsibilities are to plan and execute all the Launchpad programs.

Focus on Compliance from a wider business perspective, and in particular Information Security and Cyber Security. In addition, broad financial experience and longtime experience in building strong and robust organizations. Managing with commercial focus both long term and short term. Strong on people management with focus both on teams and individuals. Many years’ experience in working with global companies. Headed up several restructuring projects delivered successfully and proven ability to deliver on growth targets.

Specialties: Compliance, information security, cyber security, funding, taxation, mergers and acquisitions, building efficient organizations, restructuring and profitable growth, people management.

Educational wise Tom has a Bachelor of Engineering from The Army College of Engineering, Economist from NKS College and Master of Management from Norwegian School of Management. He is a former top athlete and competed on a national and international level within speed skating and military pentathlon. After 10 years as officer in the Norwegian Defense Tom have first spent 18 years working for some of the leading consulting and IT/software companies Deloitte, SAP, EVRY and Contiki. The last 7 years Tom has been involved in two major startup/scaleup projects. The first one a B2B SaaS joint venture in shipping, where he was the project leader and later the acting CEO. He led the project from start, building team and product and later introduced the product VDC (Vessel Data Collector) to the market worldwide. The ship performance management product helped ships with reducing fuel (bulk) consumption and thereby reduced pollution. The second major project was another B2B SaaS within Lead Management, where he as founder and CEO took the company through all stages from startup to global scaleup. He has introduced a modern and more network-based lead capturing process for B2B companies, and is with the concept and product LeadX 360 disrupting B2B sales. He now holds the role as Founder and President in the company.

Inge Michael Bilet has broad experience from both Norwegian and international business, covering market research, FMC, energy and automobile industry. He has been an entrepreneur and part of large international companies.

In the year 2000, he took a Bachelor’s degree in Export Marketing (Norway/Germany), followed 20 years of experience from sales, marketing, market research, consultancy and innovation. His recent positions were Head of Marketing and Product Development at Fredrikstad EnergiSalg (Fortum) and Sustainability Advisor/Project Manager at Brox Consulting.

As Business Developer at Smart Innovation Norway, Inge Michael is determined to use his experience and expertise to speed up the transition to a circle economy, by helping companies innovate in a slightly faster pace, thus helping to create sustainable businesses.

Inge Michael is a business oriented, creative team player with a passion for sustainability, digitalization, new business models and circular economy.

Tor Ø. Frydenberg holds a M.Sc. degree in Radio Technology and Information Systems from the Norwegian University for Science and Technology (NTNU).

Tor held the position of CEO at Ericsson, Norway from 1999 to 2010, and as Vice President of Ericsson Professional Services in the Nordic and Baltic regions for 5 years in the same period.

Prior to 1999, he served as General Manager of Ericsson Radar, Kongsberg Ericsson Communications and Telettra Norge. Tor began his career as a scientist at Telenor Research & Development.

He is currently serving as an investor, chairman and member of the board for a number of start-up companies. At Smart Innovation Norway, he is engaged as a Special Advisor and Senior Consultant, specifically within the ICT industry.