Speaker | Researcher | Edge explorer

Living on the edges of AI leadership and ecosystems strategy.

Daniel Sunde-Hansen does experimental research at the edges of transforming society. As Director of Deloitte Center for the Edge, he explores how emerging shifts such as quantum, biotech, AI and AR create new opportunities for organizations and society. As a Ph.D. candidate in Leadership & Organization at BI Norwegian Business School, he researches the edges of leadership and strategy. He has spent the last decade leading innovation in large organizations, applying his Master's degree in innovation leadership in Complexity Science and Behavioral Economics. He writes, speaks and spars with leaders on working smarter, unlocking creativity and building a more human future, and shares field notes in his newsletter "Living the Edge", with his 26,000+ followers on LinkedIn. He works with a team of AI assistants, as team-building, they make realtime music together.

Speaking topics

  • Living with AI

    While you sleep, Daniel's team of AI agents—Pioneer, Guardian, and Integrator—work the night shift. Wake to review their completed work. Daniel researches this frontier by doing, leading agentic teams and building the curriculum through practice. This topic explores how to harness productive friction instead of falling into the sycophant cloud, how to shape the tools shaping you, and how to build AI-enabled creativity that accelerates innovation rather than just efficiency.

    Living the EdgeLiving with AI
    Living with AI

  • Transcending fear: How to be a badass leader!

    Are you ready to lead courageously in a world of rapid disruption? In this episode of i loopen, we sit down at Oslo Business Forum with Terence Mauri, acclaimed disruption speaker and MIT Entrepreneur Mentor; and Daniel Sunde-Hansen, Director of Deloitte's Center for the Edge in the Nordics. Together they unpack what it means to be a Techno sapiens and how leaders can build the "future-ready muscle" to thrive amid uncertainty. This video podcast offers insights on leading with courage, embracing risk, and building innovation-focused cultures.

    • Future of work and disruptive technologies

  • Future of work | Ecosystem innovation

    The future is marked by accelerating shifts in AI and robotics, fundamentally changing how we work and create value.

    • How can organizations strengthen their core while innovating on the edge?
    • Why is passion central to transformation?

    📺 Keynote on Fremtidens arbeidsliv (Future of Work in Norwegian).

    • Generative AI and AR

  • Where's the value with generative AI and AR?

    • How do we balance creative freedom and responsibility as the lines between the virtual and the real world blur?
    • How can we shape the next internet into a space for constructive action in the real world?
    🟢 What business opportunities does an AI-enhanced metaverse offer for AS Norway? (Deloitte Center for the Edge, 2023)

  • Technologies as blockchain and NFTs democratizes access to both art and finance, and opens up new connections between the edges of art and business.

    • Can digital art be a stable store of value, for companies and society?
    • What will the coming generations value?

    Explore Daniels small metaverse experiment with digital art / NFTs

    • Ecosystem innovation

  • A conversation with John Hagel

    "Center for the Edge founder John Hagel and Daniel Sunde-Hansen are interviewed by Tor Haugsnestad on the OBF podcast, the "Zoom out, zoom in" approach to strategy. What actions you as a leader need to do in the next six months to seize the long-term opportunity in the future.

  • Regenerative business models: Reframing the opportunity

    • Are we fully leveraging Norway's unique strengths in marine expertise and technology to create global benchmarks in sustainable practices?
    • Unimaginable scenarios are our greatest threat, so how can we develop imagination in people as well as AI systems?
    • How can leaders balance the pressure for short-term profits with the need to invest in sustainable innovation for long-term impact?

  • The healthcare sector is in crisis - Can the retail industry be a saving angel?

    With a constantly pressured healthcare system, there is a need for innovation.

    To address today's healthcare challenges and ensure capacity for all future health issues, we must open up to new possibilities, and the retail industry can play an important role. Never before have so many been so interested in investing in their own health and future.

  • Where is the value in regenerative business models?

    Societal challenges are addressed by institutions with boundaries of scope. But challenges as health require complex systems approach, across traditional boundaries.

    • How can we turn environmental challenges, such as kelp deforestation, into resources?
    • Can we eat our way to health? Exploring innovative solutions and sustainable practices in food production and consumption.

  • Could we reimagine societal security?

    War in Europe and increasing polarization require a shift in how we view societal security, from a defense sector to a whole-of-society.

    • What is needed to strengthen trust between scale-ups and the defense sector?
    • Unimaginable scenarios are our greatest threat, so how can we develop imagination in people as well as AI systems?

    • Publications

    AI revolution 2018

    A 2025 view on my 2018 prediction: "Ready for the AI and robot revolution?"

    Oslo Business Forum / LinkedIn · Nov 4, 2025

    In 2018, I wrote a perspective for Oslo Business Forum: "Artificial Intelligence and Robotization – Are we ready for the revolution?" The prediction seemed dramatic then, but I should've gone much further. By 2025, blind studies show many prefer AI over humans for empathic conversations and even art. This reflection revisits the original 7-year-old perspective and invites readers to share thoughts on how it aged.

     Quantum Powerhouse

    Call for Action: How to Position and Prepare Norway to Become a Quantum Powerhouse

    ResearchGate · October, 2025

    This report explores Norway's position in the rapidly evolving quantum technology landscape, examining opportunities and risks. It emphasizes strategic choices, collaboration, and national differentiation over sovereignty for its own sake. The analysis argues that Norway's ability to differentiate and make deliberate tradeoffs will be more important than pursuing complete national control. By focusing on innovation, building value chains, and fostering collaboration, Norway can position itself as a valuable partner in the quantum era. The report includes PESTEL, VRIO, and SWOT analyses, concluding with strategic recommendations for action.

     A decade at the Edge

    A decade at the Edge: looking back, ahead and within

    Deloitte Center for the Edge · Dec 14, 2023

    If you look back on the past decade, what took you by surprise? We interviewed ten leaders who have worked with the Center for the Edge Europe over the past ten years, inviting them to share significant moments of insight. Their reflections are organized into three sections: The Call to Explore, Shift Explorers, and Leading by Narrative. Over the past decade, the Center has influenced the transformation of several large organisations by combining original research with action.

     Metaverse and AI

    Forretningsmuligheter i metaverset for AS Norge

    Deloitte Center for the Edge · Jun 2023

    What is the risk of not participating in shaping the rules for generative AI and the metaverse? Missing out on major opportunities. The metaverse could increase Norway's GDP by around 100 billion kroner by 2035, and we can help shape development in a constructive direction. But both business and the public sector must lean in much further. The greatest opportunity to shape the metaverse exists now.

     Center for the Edge

    We need opportunity-driven narratives

    Deloitte Center for the Edge · Jun 2, 2022
    Center for the Edge

    Norges neste narrativ?

    October, 2021
    Kunstig intelligens og robotisering

    Kunstig intelligens og robotisering - er vi klare for revolusjonen?

    Oslo Business Forum · May 8, 2018
    Må motstå teknologiske fristelser

    Må motstå teknologiske fristelser

    Dagens Næringsliv · Dec 29, 2017

    Startups threaten established companies, and increasingly more leaders see the need to make their own organization more innovative. Exploring new technologies can seem like a logical first step. A mission to innovate involves uncertainty and pressure, and new technology offers hope for insight and inspiration.

     Singularity University katalysator

    Singularity University: En verdifull katalysator?

    Dagens Næringsliv · Mar 17, 2017

    Leaders who don't meet the challenges that come with new technologies can end up paying a much higher price than the seminar fees at Singularity University. While the marketing is inflated and expensive, the think tank can inspire revolutionary innovation and add value to organizations. However, organizations must find frameworks for action and concrete solutions elsewhere.

    Innovasjon skjer best i det skjulte

    Dagens Perspektiv · Feb 16, 2017

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