We are in the midst of a shift that affects everyone working closely with entrepreneurs. AI can now scan markets, inform decisions and suggest next steps in a startup’s journey. The World Economic Forum shows that 39% of today’s skills will change or become obsolete by 2030. This begs the question: what human capabilities do we need to develop to continue making a difference and what can AI do better?

During Sweden’s Innovation Day 2026, Hanna Wiljebrand, Team Development and HR, at SISP, gave both a presentation and a workshop on the topic:

– The more AI is able to do, the more important it will be to do what we humans do alone: read the room, sense a silence, and take courage when it shakes. Participants highlighted words like listening, critical thinking, empathy and reading between the lines, and this points to something bigger: the business advisor of the future needs a strong inner compass with self-awareness, courage and patience in uncertainty, says Hanna.

What did you find out during the workshop?

– What struck me was the consensus in the room that technology should never replace our own thinking, which also reflects MIT’s research on cognitive debt. One participant put it so well: “That we should NEVER stop thinking.” I also take with me the hope, the curiosity and the realisation that we have a shared responsibility to develop both technological competence and human maturity in parallel,” says Hanna.

How is the role of business advisors actually changing with AI?

– It shifts the focus from delivering answers to helping entrepreneurs ask better questions, stay on track and make wise decisions as the pace picks up. AI is taking over parts of the analysis, but human judgement, courage and trust is what carries the entrepreneur. Especially when things don’t go as planned,” Hanna concludes.

Are you interested in knowing more or taking the issue further in any way? Please contact Hanna Wiljebrand: hanna.wiljebrand@sisp.se.

See participants’ thoughts on AI and human capabilities from the workshop in the Menti image below.

To enable prosperity and innovation within the planetary boundaries, we need to re-evaluate the current system. At Sweden’s Innovation Riksdag 2026, we invited people to discuss the decisions that will shape the future – much of which is about economics.

This can be complex, but through the interactive DearEconomy, we got a real sense of the future consequences if we continue to innovate based on today’s economic system.

“We have to turn it around and start from what resources our planet actually has, otherwise the system will do it for us.”

Major consequences include rising sea levels, as presented by Professor Benjamin Horton, City University of Hong Kong. It is a critical situation and he emphasised that we need to act now.

Stefan Krook, serial entrepreneur and founder of Kivra, continued with a focus on what we can actually do now. If we change the economic system towards a “Laghum Economy” – his proposal to promote a habitable planet and call to rethink the rules of the market – we can steer the industry towards needing, and wanting, to move towards more sustainable solutions and innovate accordingly.

The work continues, together we can make a difference!

With 100 days to go until the elections, Sweden’s Innovation Riksdag featured the launch of the Innovation Election Barometer, a political panel and ministerial visits.

– We may not always feel that our issues are at the top of the election agenda. At the same time, this is exactly what we gather around on Sweden’s Innovation Riksdag: how we create new jobs for the future, strengthen Sweden’s competitiveness and meet the climate challenges. The common denominator is ‘innovation’,” says Ellinor Bokedal, Head of Policy at SISP.

To get innovation policy higher on the agenda, Benjamin Dousa emphasised how innovation can sometimes be complex, but when it is communicated, for example, how many jobs it actually creates, it becomes clearer and reaches more people.

SISP has developed the innovation election barometer to clarify where Sweden’s parties stand on innovation issues. Read more and share further.

– Sweden will be the richest country in Europe in ten years. To make this possible, we need not only a better business climate, more innovations and less red tape, but also more companies that dare to take risks, said Benjamin Dousa, Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade (M).

What do the other parties think?

Read interviews with the Social Democrats, the Centre Party and the Sweden Democrats. Read all interviews here.