The Nordic way of getting things done rests on collaboration: trust in institutions, democratic values, and a region that works as one. OLAS is a club of people from technology and industry, entrepreneurship, science, culture, education, sport and wellbeing who meet in person, leave their job titles at the door, and think about what this technology is doing to the society we live in. Everyone contributes. It is free, by invitation, and strictly non-commercial.
People, not job titles.
OLAS is a community of people across Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland who are good at what they do and curious about everything else. Members come from technology and industry, entrepreneurship, science, culture, education, sport and wellbeing. The mix is deliberate: AI now reaches into work, health, law, learning and the arts, and no single profession sees the whole picture.
Titles matter less here than what you have actually lived through and what you are willing to share. We are inclusive by design, the room stays mixed on purpose, and the conversation is better for it. You are as likely to spend an evening in a design studio or a research lab as in a boardroom.
A small circle that kept growing.
OLAS started among alumni of the University of St. Gallen living in Denmark — a handful of people meeting for dinner, carrying two sets of habits with them. The Swiss one: precision, restraint, and taking an argument seriously. The Danish one: flat conversation, trust, and the assumption that nobody needs to perform.
The model came with them. The St. Gallen alumni association was founded in 1931 and is the oldest alumni network in Central Europe: more than 40,000 members and some 190 clubs across five continents, held together not by a head office but by members hosting one another — dinners, excursions and hundreds of gatherings a year, run by the people who turn up to them. It has lasted nearly a century because the experiences came first and the network followed.
OLAS takes that idea and opens it up beyond any one university. What began around a single table is now a Nordic community of people from across technology, industry, science, culture, education, sport and wellbeing, held together by the same things: shared values, real expertise, and the belief that good conversation belongs in a room rather than a feed. OLAS is independent of the university and its alumni association.
An informal club, run on contribution.
OLAS is not a business and does not behave like one. There are no fees, no sponsorship, no revenue and nothing for sale. Nobody is paid, including the people who organise it. It is an informal club of professionals who meet because the subject matters to them, and it runs entirely on what members choose to bring. There is no staff and no programme office: members host each other, which is why we gather a few times a year and why each evening belongs to whoever convenes it.
No fees, no sponsorship, no revenue, nothing sold. No one earns anything from OLAS, and nobody buys their way in.
Knowledge, experience, an introduction, or a room for an evening. Membership means taking part, not attending.
We host each other properly. The understated, high-trust evening where people relax and talk honestly is the whole point, not a nicety.
For nature and for people. We care how things turn out over decades, which is a longer horizon than most rooms use.
Dinners, workshops, company visits and time outdoors.
Everything here is an experience someone chose to create. A member opens a door, leads a session, or takes the group somewhere worth going, and the rest of us turn up and contribute.
Senior people across sectors who take your call and give you a straight answer, because you have eaten dinner together.
We go to each other’s companies, studios, labs and institutions, and learn how they really work: their craft, their values, their heritage.
Small rooms and real problems. Someone who knows the subject properly leads; everyone else argues with them.
Introductions, candid advice, and a second opinion from people who understand your position and want nothing from you.
Cultural outings, a morning on the water, a walk in the hills. Some of the best conversations happen with the room left behind.
Different fields, the same questions.
Members come from very different places, so the agenda is broad on purpose. What holds it together is a shared interest in how this technology is built, who it serves, and what it changes. Members propose what we take up next.
How systems are built, tested and held to account, and what sensible regulation looks like in practice.
Where AI genuinely helps: research, medicine, energy, climate and the natural world.
What changes for artists, writers, musicians and performers, and what is worth protecting.
How we teach, what young people need to learn now, and what we owe them.
Jobs, skills, and how organisations adopt this well rather than quickly.
Truth, trust, sovereignty, and how open societies hold up under pressure.
Four things we look for.
OLAS is an active fellowship. Everyone in the room is there because they bring something to it, and members are reviewed against the same four things, whether they come as individuals or on behalf of an organisation.
You contribute something real. Lead a workshop, present work you have actually done, host an evening, open a venue, or share a network, collection or facility that others cannot reach on their own. Everyone gives as much as they take.
You come as a peer. Everyone takes part as a peer, an expert or a host. The room is for conversation and long-term relationships; anything commercial belongs outside it, and member details stay private.
You share the pillars. Ethical and sustainable AI for the long-term good of Nordic society. Wellbeing of mind and body, because leadership that lasts needs it. Culture, heritage and hygge. And business conversation that respects people and the environment.
You know your field. Members are senior in what they do — leading an organisation, or simply the person others in the discipline call first — across technology, industry, science, sport, wellbeing, culture and education.
Most members arrive through an introduction from someone already in the room. If you have found us another way, write and tell us who you are; every request is read personally.
Join once. After that, it is yours.
You ask for an invitation and tell us enough to know who you are. Every request is read by a person, and membership is free.
We gather a few times a year across the Nordics: dinners, working sessions, and visits hosted by members in their own organisations.
You bring experience, an introduction, a room in your company, or an afternoon of your time.
One thing more, stated plainly: we collect nothing from your visit to this site. No cookies, no trackers, no analytics. The only details we hold are the ones you choose to send when you ask for an invitation, and we never share them.
Inspired by the Nordic pine cone.
The pine cone is one of the most resilient things in the Nordic forest. A single core holds it together, and the scales overlap so that each one shelters the next. It closes against hard weather and opens when the conditions are right. It is the closest thing in nature to what we are trying to be: union and resilience, many people around one set of values, looking after each other.
Partners add to the room.
Some of the best evenings happen because an organisation opens its doors and shows us how it really works — its craft, its values, the heritage behind the name. Nothing is sold and no money changes hands. We take one partner to a category, chosen personally.
Partner with OLAS →The decisions being taken now about how these systems are built, governed and used will shape work, learning and public life across the Nordics for years. They are too broad for one company, one discipline or one government to get right on its own.
OLAS brings the people who carry that responsibility into the same room, away from screens. The work is practical: digital sovereignty and data security, keeping our families and colleagues safe online, the environmental cost of what we build, and the space left for human creativity in art, sport, science, education and industry. Membership rests on what you have done and what you are willing to share. Everyone contributes, and everyone supports the people beside them.
Request an invitation