Send us a text Today on FutureCast we are chatting with Ari Jónsson. Ari is a NASA Ames Center Research Scientist and Stanford Alumni. He is currently the CEO of AWAREGO and Rector of Reykjavik University, a role he has held since 2007, and he will soon be moving on to become CEO of the institute. Ari is on the board of Iceland Venture Studio and is also an investor. Through his work over the years he has been a good friend, mentor and co-conspirator in building the startup community in Icela...
Send us a text Jarðgerðarfélagið (the Composting Company) was founded by Julia Brenner and Björk Brynjarsdóttir. They work with circular solutions in bokashi composting for municipalities, companies and individuals. While studying entrepreneurship in Denmark, Björk learned about bokashi composting, which is a method of composting organic ingredients (such as leftovers and organic ingredients from the kitchen) by fermentation. Julia is a soil scientist. They wanted to offer people the opportun...
Send us a text In the 7th Episode of FutureCast the host Bala Kamallakharan is speaking to Anna Worthington De Matos, the Founder and CEO of the Munasafn RVK Tool Library. A not for profit project that aims in extending the life of tools and things through the practical applications of Circular Economy. She is also the organiser for Reddingakaffi events, where so far 642KG of materials have been kept from going to landfills by repairing everyday use items. She believed the best way to impleme...
Send us a text Kathryn Gunnarsson is the founder and CEO of Gecko, a Talent agency focused on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields in Iceland. There has been a great demand for experts in this field and a number of expatriates have moved to Iceland to work in these fields. We talk a lot about Future of Work, how to build diversity at work and how you build networks and networking platforms like Startup Iceland and other strategies that enable people to integrate and ...
Send us a text The host, Bala Kamallakharan talks to Thor Sigfusson, the founder of Iceland Ocean Cluster. Thor is a visionary, and one of the pioneers in the 100% utilisation of fish – or zero waste – in Iceland. They talk about the circular economy, food waste, innovation in the seafood industry, how to utilise the network to help founders, funding, and how the next generation is taking on new challenges in this industry.
Send us a text The 4th episode of #FutureCast is a conversation with David Gunnarsson, the CEO of Dohop. David and Bala Kamallakharan, the host of FutureCast, have known each other for over a decade and Bala has been following the Dohop journey from the very early days. They talk about doing the impossible, i.e. raising funding for a travel company during a pandemic when almost all travel is prohibited. They also discuss how David got into the business of startups and what it means to build a...
Send us a text Kjartan has been part of the gaming industry in Iceland for as long as I can remember. He spoke in the first ever Startup Iceland in 2012 about CCP Games. Kjartan and 6 other co-founders, veteran developers from Iceland and Finland came together to form Mainframe games. They are creating a cloud-native Massive Multiplayer Online game, a vibrant world with new ways to engage and connect with our friends. It’s the game of a lifetime... We talk about his PhD in Chaos Physics, his ...
Send us a text In this episode we speak to Hjalmar Gislason, the Co-Founder and CEO of Grid. We talk about what Hjalli and his team are building with Grid, what inspired him to take on this massive project. Hjalli shares his journey of being a 5 time founder and how he has progressively learnt to build great teams and how Reykjavik is not such a bad place to start a technology company.
Send us a text Conversation about how to build the future starting from Iceland. Startup Iceland started as a way to get all founders in Iceland to meet one another and to learn from each other and to learn from other founders and influencers from other startup communities. Innovation is all about tinkering. We are having our first conversation with Kevin Laws, the CEO of AngelList. AngelList is the largest platform for Angel investors and Entrepreneurs to find capital, talent and traction. I...
Send us a text Valur Grettisson and Poppy Askham go over the today's Icelandic news concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. deCODEGenetics published the latest findings from their analysis of COVID-19 screening data today. In other news, a woman was arrested for impersonating a nurse and possibly a lawyer. Join us a we dive into this strange story and more. Note: The Covid-Cast crew are going on a short vacation from recording while we consider our next steps, but tune in when we come back ne...
Send us a text There was a breakthrough today when the government announced that they are going to ease the restriction because of the COVID-19. Also, the numbers of infected haven’t been this low for more than a month.
Send us a text The numbers of new COVID-19 cases have dropped significantly in Iceland today, but the situation is worsening in the country’s hospitals. The prospects of the tourism sector are also deteriorating as 26 cruises have now cancelled their trips to Iceland this summer. Violence is also in the news as threats have been made against the Chief of Police, the Surgeon General and the Head of Epidemiology in recent days Domestic violence is thought to be on the rise as more people stay a...
Send us a text Valur Grettisson and Poppy Askham go over Iceland’s latest COVID-19 news including travel advice, an outbreak of the virus in a Westfjords nursing home and discussions about PPE supplies in Iceland. As we start the week during which Iceland’s outbreak is predicted to peak, over 1500 Icelanders are infected and six people have died from the virus.
Send us a text In this episode of COVID-Cast, Valur Grettisson and Sam O’Donnell discuss the current number of patients in Iceland, a four-month-old boy who got infected with the virus, and also dive into the current situation in the United States, where Sam is from.
Send us a text Valur Grettisson and Poppy Askham go over Iceland’s latest COVID-19 news and Poppy talks about the current situation in her home country, the UK. The rise in Iceland’s number of confirmed cases is apparently slowing. This might change, but it could be a sign for hope. More about this in the COVID-Cast.
Send us a text Valur Grettisson and Hannah Jane Cohen go through the latest news about the COVID-19 pandemic in Iceland. Currently, the numbers of patients are up but the virus is spreading slower in Iceland than in other parts of Europe. Also on the roster: Iceland recently uncovered about 26,000 desperately needed testing swabs. The Blue Lagoon has been hit hard by the epidemic and laid off over 100 employees today. The two also talk Social Distancing entertainment: Valur is reading Dracula...
Send us a text Icelanders are now close to 1,000 individuals with COVID-19, and the government is preparing for a back up hospital. Valur Grettisson, editor-in-chief at the Reykjavík Grapevine and Sveinbjörn Pálsson, our art director, go through the news and updates about the virus in Iceland as well as answering questions from our readers.
Send us a text In this episode, we discuss the recent spike in COVID-19 transmissions. Iceland is currently headed towards higher numbers than initial predictions told. We also recently experienced the first death of an Icelander from COVID-19. As well, we talk about the almost 10,000 people in quarantine in the country. Support Grapevine - The High Five Club
Send us a text The start of a new week in Iceland comes with a whole host of new measures in the fight against COVID-19. Travel restrictions, a new 20 person gathering ban and the closure of swimming pools, sports centres, libraries and entertainment venues have all recently been announced. Today to discuss these changes, plus reports of infections in Parliament and redundancies at Icelandair, are Hannah Jane Cohen, culture editor and listings director at the Reykjavík Grapevine, and intern P...
Send us a text About 400 people have the Covid-19 virus in Iceland now, the first Covid-19-related death has been confirmed, and a crew on a trawler has the virus. Also, Iceland have agreed to participate in the EU travel ban. This information is not in the Covid-Cast, because it was announced just moments after we finished recording. So, the borders are closed to every country outside the Schengen area. Support Grapevine—become a member of The High Five Club