ODA Inspiration Day 2025: Leading the change in tech

10. June 2025 Julia Stephan

More than 1,400 people gathered at Oslo Concert Hall to take part in ODA Inspiration Day 2025 this May! Others joined from Bergen, Trondheim, and online, forming one of the largest gatherings for women in tech in the Nordics. This year's event marked 20 years of the ODA Network and carried a theme that couldn't be more timely: Incognito: Beyond the Visible.

The theme invited us to look deeper, beyond the surface of technology, workplaces, and society. Throughout the day, speakers from different backgrounds shared knowledge, stories, and research that helped make the invisible visible.

M rtha Rehnberg urged us to see AI as a human decision and a responsibility. Technology is not neutral, it reflects our values, our blind spots, and our choices. She sees big bold visions as a chance to realize these responsibilities, because they turn into self-fulfilling prophecies: The right minds to achieve these visions will follow the call automatically and with the minds, funding will follow.

Runa Sandvik reminded us that digital security should be available to everyone. The ability to communicate securely, particularly in contexts such as investigative journalism, is fundamental to upholding the integrity of information in society.

Mina Adampour combined neuroscience and social justice to show how inequality imprints itself not just on society but on the human brain. She connected health, inclusion, and sustainability, stressing that systems must be designed with biology and humanity in mind.

Omri Preiss addressed the fragile balance between technology and democracy. He called for policy frameworks that protect human rights and fight disinformation, urging both public institutions and tech companies to co-create responsible digital ecosystems.

Sven Bisgaard Sundet and Michael Stilson from Avlogga explored how our digital habits, especially screen use and social media, are often shaped by invisible design choices that affect how we live and interact.

Our DAM systems are technology with impact For the Fotoware participants, these themes resonated deeply. Our technology is built to manage digital content, such as photos, videos, and documents that carry meaning, history, and often sensitive or personal information of people.

Many of our customers operate in sectors that carry significant responsibility in society, like healthcare providers, police forces, telecommunications, media outlets, cultural institutions, education, and public services. The way they manage digital content matters. It affects how information is shared, how histories are preserved, and how people are represented.

This means we cannot afford to treat Digital Asset Management as neutral. We think carefully about how our tools are used and how they need to be built to be secure and trustworthy. Being a responsible technology provider is about making thoughtful choices every day that align with our values (responsible is one of them!), and with the needs of the people and institutions who rely on us.

Change starts with us One very powerful moment of the event came from the ODA volunteers, who organized this day and support the network's mission on their own initiative. When they said, I have a role model, they were looking around the room, the audience, at each other. That simple statement was a powerful reminder: real leadership starts with us.

Anne Gretland - CEO Anne Gretland, Fotowares CEO and co-founder of ODA Network, shared her reflections after the event:

Role models pave the way, open doors, and lift others. They are part of making women seen and heard, and are brave enough to challenge the current state - and lead the change.

Anne also highlighted how proud she is to be surrounded by strong, inspiring, and diverse people at Fotoware, across the whole company - from product teams to management, from commercial to consultancy. These are people who drive progress every day, sometimes visibly, sometimes behind the scenes, always with purpose.

The mindset of embracing diversity is shared across our company, as many of our team members saw themselves in the conversations that took place at ODA Inspiration Day. And we took something home from it, as professionals in our jobs, but also as human individuals:

Radmila Stoltz - CCO Technology is shaping the future - but for that future to truly serve everyone, it must be built by everyone. Diverse teams bring the insight needed to design for all user groups and needs. Studies show that women often prioritize societal safety - one of the most pressing challenges of our time.

At Fotoware, we've long placed stability and security at the heart of our platform, and it's inspiring to see the bright minds behind ODA pushing the conversation beyond the invisible.'

Christiane Vinck - Product Manager Great software products that will help our users to streamline their content workflows demand so much more than just' a good user experience and great coding quality.

As a Product Manager I have the responsibility to create products for the world we live in and the society that we want to be. How do the political climate, environmental impact and continuous innovations like AI influence our solutions at Fotoware? I want to have a broad, interdisciplinary perspective on everything I do and events such as the ODA Inspiration Day help me to learn more. Knowledge is power - use it wisely!

Nina Metzger - Key Account Manager My takeaway from ODA Inspiration Day is that, working as a Key Account Manager at Fotoware, I play a role not just in sales, but in guiding customers through the broader impact of technology. From responsible AI to secure communication and sustainability - the topics were highly relevant to our work and values.

I left inspired especially by the brilliant Mina Adampour from Oslo University

LINK:	https://www.fotoware.com/blog/oda-inspiration-day-2025-leading-the-cha...
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