– We’re rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic while China takes over the world

Entrepreneur and inventor Jon Bøhmer doesn't mince words. Norwegian boards are too slow, too afraid, and too poorly informed. While China operates in high gear and AI changes the rules of the game, Bøhmer argues that traditional board work is a recipe for disaster.

– I went to the bank manager in 1987 to borrow money for a computer company. He told me that computing was dangerous and asked if I couldn’t start a transport agency or a pet shop instead, Jon Bøhmer recounts.

He shakes his head with a smile.

– It’s part of the story that his son later started a transport company that went bankrupt. And the pet shops in Brumunddal? They’ve gone belly up, one by one. So his "safe" risk analysis didn't quite hit the mark.

Almost 40 years, several international companies, and a stock exchange listing later, the inventor sees the same fear of the new in Norwegian boardrooms. But where the banker in Brumunddal in the 80s could be excused by ignorance, Bøhmer believes today's leaders have no excuse.

– If your board meets a couple of times a year to look at historical numbers, it is a massive bottleneck. The world moves too fast for that.

Jon Bøhmer is not like other business leaders. He is the man who got the artist Pushwagner as his first investor, who exposed terror financing via charcoal in Somalia, and who is now planning to store energy in molten iron at 2000 degrees. But despite awards from the Financial Times and features in National Geographic, his most important message to Norwegian leaders is characterized by deep concern for "bussines Norway."

– It sounds a bit like you think we’re playing the violin on the Titanic?

– Yes. While the ship is going down, we’re discussing whether the chair should stand here or there on the deck. We have a false sense of security because we have money in the bank, but we have forgotten how to create new value, says Bøhmer, continuing:

«We have a false sense of security because we have money in the bank, but we have forgotten how to create new value.»

– We sit here thinking we have plenty of time. But we don't. In China, they have a five-year plan that they "slam home" and over-deliver on. There, 1.4 billion people work six days a week, and they are hungry. In Norway, we have no plan. We are mostly concerned with what wax to put on our skis when we get to the cabin.

The search algorithm on the truck bed

To understand Jon's frustration with today's decision-making processes, we have to go back to a chicken farm in Brumunddal in the 70s. His father was an entrepreneur who tried everything from new types of strawberries to collecting recycled paper.

– We collected recycled paper from the entire Mjøsa region. When we tipped it off the truck, I figured out that I had to stand on top of the load. I directed the throwing process so that everything resembling comic books ended up on top. That way, I didn't have to dig through tons of paper to find the gems.

This became Jon's first lesson in information gathering: Positioning is everything. With a box full of comics, he cycled from antique shop to antique shop in Oslo, trading his way to comic book gold.

– It was the search algorithm of the pre-internet era. I had access to much more information than everyone else.

Today, he believes that Norwegian boards are standing on the ground digging through the paper pile, instead of standing on top of the load. They lack the overview and the digital tools needed to extract valuable information in real-time and share it seamlessly between management and the board.

Chocolate cake and terror financing

Jon Bøhmer's career is a study in resistance, but also in playful curiosity. He has built companies like Scala (digital signage) and the listed Kyoto Group. But the story of the "Kyoto Box" didn't start in a boardroom, but in the kitchen with his children.

– I brought some cardboard boxes and plexiglass home. My son painted the inside black, and then we put in a pot with chocolate cake mix. Then I took a nap. When I woke up, I got warm chocolate cake from my kids. They had learned a bit of physics, and I had proven the point: Solar energy doesn't have to be expensive or complicated.

The invention won awards worldwide. But when he tried to get the UN to use it in refugee camps in Kenya, he hit a wall.

– I sent loads of boxes to the refugee camp in Dadaab, but they just disappeared. I eventually realized that they weren't interested in the boxes succeeding. Why? Because the system profited from the status quo.

Jon discovered that the UN was buying charcoal to distribute to the refugees. The charcoal came from areas controlled by the terrorist group Al-Shabaab.

– I found out that Al-Shabaab was making money for weapons by forcing locals to make charcoal. Then they exported it, and the UN stood there with open eyes buying it. It was a symbiosis between the UN and terrorist groups.

– What did that experience teach you about large organizations?

– That they benefit from the status quo remaining as it is. If they had solved the refugee problem, all those people would have lost their jobs. It's the same in many boardrooms: You are more concerned with protecting the established order than solving the actual problem.

A "malicious" phone call from Innovation Norway

After years in Kenya, Jon returned home to Norway broke in 2016. The rescue came from an unexpected source: The eccentric artist Pushwagner, whom Jon and his wife had taken care of when he was down for the count in the 90s, became his first investor.

But "the system" was still not convinced. Jon tells of a conversation with a caseworker in Innovation Norway that is burned into his memory.

– He called me and said: "Jon, you know this as well as we do. You will never pull this off."

– Wow, encouraging!

– Yes. It was so calculatedly evil. There was a sort of consensus that I was stupid for not understanding what they knew: That I was going to fail. Five years later, the company was listed and valued at nearly a billion.

This is the core of Jon's criticism. He believes Norway has become a country where sticking your neck out is a disadvantage.

– The most important thing for a Norwegian company with ambitions is actually to pretend we aren't Norwegian. Establish yourself abroad as quickly as possible. If I had moved ten miles east to Sweden, I would have had ten times better prerequisites.

– You mean one should hide one's Norwegian background?

– Yes, almost. It is the only responsible thing to do. Norway is a niche country that doesn't understand the export of anything other than raw materials. We must own the intangible rights, or Intellectual Property. But that mindset is completely foreign back home.

He goes so far as to speak of a collective Norwegian illusion. That Norwegian boards and decision-makers suffer from a notion that the world is waiting for us, and that the oil age will last forever. Not entirely surprisingly, Bøhmer believes neither corresponds with reality.

– The entire Norwegian economy is based on other countries not succeeding with what we succeed with. That they won't get electric cars, that they will continue to buy our oil. It is a lethal strategy.

But the gravity of the situation has begun to seep in among some top leaders, Bøhmer adds.

– At Arendalsuka last year, I heard speakers say that Norway might have to go through an "industrial death" before we actually wake up and realize that we have to build new industry. I’m afraid that’s true. We aren't willing to risk anything until we have to.

Fact box: How to stop the board from becoming a bottleneck

Jon Bøhmer's three tips for boards that want to promote, not inhibit, innovation:

Frequency: Do you meet 4 times a year? Forget it. The world changes every week. Jon's boards meet every 14 days to keep up.

Information: Don't base decisions on historical reports. Use a digital platform that gives the board access to real-time data, and use AI to simulate scenarios based on the future, not the past.

Culture: The board should be an "island" that protects innovation against the organization's apathy. It must be safe to propose ideas that seem "crazy" at the start.

Kick out the lawyers, bring in the engineers

If Norwegian boards function poorly, whose fault is it? Bøhmer points to the composition around the table.

– Today I have a board consisting of five engineers. Every one of them understands what the product is and what the technology requires. That is absolutely crucial.

– How does that differ from the norm?

– Norwegian boards are overpopulated by lawyers, social workers, and business graduates. They often don't understand the technical setup. They are there to watch the money and avoid risk. But when you have a million Chinese people thinking about every minute detail, you can't have a board that only looks at the bottom line. You must have people who understand what you are actually doing.

Death of the specialist

Bøhmer believes the technological shift the world is in the midst of also forces a completely new type of competence around Norwegian board tables. And it challenges the traditional way we assemble boards here in the "duck pond."

– Before, it was about having deep specialized expertise. That is almost a waste now. You can become a specialist in a field in an afternoon if you ask the AI the right questions.

– Does that mean the generalists win?

– Yes. It is curiosity and the ability to see connections that count. You can't compete against Chinese people working around the clock and using AI if your board takes three months to send documents back and forth and read a PDF report.

The future is 2000 degrees hot

Although he is approaching 60, Jon has no plans to slow down. Now everything is about the company Huma Energy and an idea that is literally red-hot. He wants to solve what Bill Gates calls "the hardest problem in the green shift": How do we decarbonize heavy industry?

– We have figured out electric cars and the power grid. But how do you melt steel and glass without coal? You need extremely high temperatures.

His solution is to store energy in molten iron.

– Imagine taking a mini version of the earth's core in a block weighing almost 100 kilos. It's heavy as hell. But you can heat it up with electricity and extract the heat when you need it. It is ten times cheaper than batteries.

To realize this, he needs boards that dare to bet. Boards that don't ask for "safe" pet shops, but see the opportunity for an industrial revolution. And – as Bøhmer puts it – he misses a support system that functions more like a matchmaker.

– Yes, I miss a "Matchmaker." Instead of giving me 100,000 kroner after five months of case processing and filling out masses of forms, they should have said: "Hey, we see what you're doing. Here is a company that needs exactly that solution, we'll put you in touch for a pilot project."

He believes the most important capital a board can provide is not money, but access.

– If Innovation Norway – or an active board – had as its main function to find pilot customers, it would revolutionize the pace of innovation. That is where the value lies.

The board can be an island in the storm

Ultimately, Jon's message is about culture. He describes innovation as a lonely exercise.

– People think innovation is a bed of roses, that we walk around high-fiving. It's not. It's a hell of a hassle. It's like Elon Musk says: "Staring into the abyss while chewing glass." You face resistance, arguing, and apathy.

In this landscape, the board plays a critical role.

– It is so incredibly much easier to say no than to say yes. Apathy is 90 percent of the response you get when you come up with something new. People's gut instinct is to protect the present day.

It is exactly here that a turnaround is required in Norwegian boards. They must dare to move from the status quo – to daring to take informed chances.

– If you manage to assemble the right board, it becomes an island in all this negativity. A sanctuary where you get interest, and where you aren't rejected immediately. Where they say: "Hm, this is interesting, what do you need to test this hypothesis?" says Bøhmer and quickly adds:

– The alternative is that the best minds go abroad. Or that they give up. The board must be the place where the future is allowed to begin.

AI is a socialist technology

Now, it's not like Jon Bøhmer is a man who just complains. Far from it! He is a solution-oriented optimist. And right now he is actually more optimistic than he has been for a long time, thanks to artificial intelligence.

– For me, the biggest thing that has happened in my life is getting an assistant who sits on my lap and can answer all strange questions immediately. I have had thousands of discussions with Claude.

He believes AI has totally changed the rules for board work and innovation.

– Before, it took 5-10 years to reach what we call TRL 6, the stage where you have a functioning prototype. Now you can do it in one to two years. Why? Because you can test all hypotheses, simulate all outcomes, and make a watertight plan together with the AI before spending a dime on physical development!

He calls it a democratization of innovation.

– I view AI as an almost socialist technology. Anyone can pay 20 dollars a month and get unlimited good advice. Then you have no excuse anymore. If you don't come up with something then, it's just because you aren't curious.

For det er her grensen går for maskinene, mener oppfinneren.

– AI does nothing unless you ask. It is completely dependent on human curiosity. So if you are going to learn one thing in 2026, it is not coding, but the ability to ask the right questions.