Stockholm has long been a city where ideas travel easily between science, capital, and public purpose. This week, it leaned fully into that identity.
More than 80 chief executives and senior leaders from the Nordic, Baltic, and Arctic regions gathered in the Swedish capital to launch the Origination Finance Studios, a new initiative designed to rethink how capital is formed, deployed, and governed in a more volatile world.
The timing was deliberate. As political and economic uncertainty ripples across markets, and just days after leaders dispersed from Davos, Stockholm became the setting for a quieter but more consequential conversation. Not about short term signals or quarterly returns, but about whether finance itself needs a structural reset.
A Philosophy Rooted in the North, Aimed at the World
The convening was hosted by Osvald Bjelland, founder of Origination, whose work has long explored the intersection of leadership, climate, and long term stewardship. His framing was unapologetically values driven. Growth, he argued, must once again serve societies, not just shareholders.
The speaker roster elevated the event’s gravitas. Among those contributing were Professor Phoebe Koundouri, a globally recognized economist and member of the Nobel Prize in Economics nominating committee; Hans Vestberg, board member at BlackRock and former chair and CEO of Verizon; and Risto Siilasmaa, founder of F-Secure and former chair and interim CEO of Nokia. Their presence underscored the event’s blend of financial, technological, and strategic leadership. Other notable voices included chief executives from major regional companies and experts in sustainability and resilience.
That philosophy resonated with a region accustomed to blending competitiveness with social trust. But the ambition extends far beyond Northern Europe. The Origination Finance Studios plan to expand into emerging markets, with India identified as an early focal point for future engagement.
The goal is not to export a model wholesale, but to create connective tissue between regions that increasingly share the same challenges. Energy security. Climate risk. Digital vulnerability. And the question of who benefits when new systems are built.
From Capital Markets to Capital Architecture
The Origination Finance Studios are not a conference series in the traditional sense. They are being framed as a standing platform, one that brings together industry, finance, technology, and science to originate investable ideas and long horizon partnerships rather than simply debate them.
Participants ranged from clean energy executives and industrial leaders to bankers, technologists, security experts, and climate scientists. What unified the room was a shared belief that the next phase of economic growth will be defined less by scale alone and more by systems that reward resilience, inclusion, and long term value creation.
Stockholm was a fitting host. Over the past decade, the city has emerged as one of Europe’s most dynamic hubs for innovation and capital formation, with billions of dollars flowing into technology, green industry, and next generation infrastructure. That momentum gave the gathering a practical edge. This was not theory. It was a test of whether the Nordic model of collaboration could travel globally.
Four Conversations Shaping One Agenda
Discussions were organized around a set of core themes that reflect the pressures reshaping the global economy.
Energy transition dominated early sessions, with executives examining how capital can accelerate the move from pilot projects to industrial scale deployment of clean power. Mobility and connectivity followed, focused on transport, shipping, and logistics systems that must decarbonize without fragmenting global trade.
Security and resilience emerged as a defining concern. Cyber threats, infrastructure vulnerability, and geopolitical risk are no longer side issues. They now sit at the center of economic planning, influencing where capital flows and which projects can survive stress.
Across all themes, the emphasis was on execution. The Studios aim to move ideas from discussion into structured initiatives, backed by partners who can carry them across borders and into markets.
A Different Kind of Signal
There were no splashy announcements or headline grabbing deals. That, too, felt intentional.
In a year defined by volatility and fragmentation, the Stockholm gathering sent a subtler signal. That parts of the global business community are beginning to think less about reacting to crises and more about redesigning the financial plumbing beneath them.
Whether the Origination Finance Studios can translate that ambition into lasting impact remains to be seen. But for two days in Stockholm, a coalition of leaders suggested that the future of finance may be written not in the noise of global summits, but in smaller rooms where long term bets are still possible.
For now, the North is offering a blueprint. The rest of the world is watching.
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