Donnie SC Lygonis

KTH Innovation

At KTH Innovation my job is to meet and coach researchers and students at The Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, in Stockholm, and help them commercialize their ideas and results.

I am humbled to be able to spend my days working hands-on with exponential technologies and people with ideas that actually have the potential to change & save the world. 

I have also have had the opportunity to be a part of KTH Innovation's own innovation process and helped develop the organization, some of the things I have helped co-create so far are:

- 15 TEDx events (http://www.tedxkth.com)
- The Innovation Pavilion (http://www.kth.se/innovation/passion/love-1.74062)
- The KTH Innovation Pre-Incubator Program  (https://www.kth.se/en/innovation/forinkubator)
- The Early Bird Network (http://www.kth.se/innovation/investera/earlybird-1.58191)
- Open Lab (http://openlab.se/)
- Student Innovator Award (https://www.facebook.com/events/202513163218458/)
- Armada Startup

Innovation Strategist & Business Coach

Entrepreneurs without borders

Entrepreneurs Without Borders (EWB) is a business driven non profit that aims to help local founders start and grow sustainable businesses. We have developed our proprietary framework that we call Entrepreneur2030, which is part of our vision that no startups are started without a clear idea of which global goal(s) they are trying to solve (see the UN 17 SDGs for 2030).

I got the first idea of EWB back in 2011, and started working actively on it in 2016, and 2019 we started our first pilot of our virtual campus for startups, offering workshops, lots of peer-to-peer learning, and a global alumni network with like-minded people.

Founder

Nordic Ignite

Nordic Ignite is an angel investment network that supports early-stage companies in the Nordics and Baltics, at pre-seed level. We focus on sectors where the Nordics have a competitive advantage, deep knowledge and strong infrastructure. 

In my role as an Angel ambassador I help provide deal flow, add input to investment decisions and help mentor portfolio investments.

Angel Ambassador

Constant Innovation AB

Constant Innovation is an early stage idea accelerator founded and run by me and my sister Deborah. We have been active on the Nordic startup scene since 1995 when we founded our first startup; children’s game publisher Romelix Interactive. Since then we have founded, supported and invested in more than 50 startups. Today we focus our efforts on projects connected to social good and sustainability.

To sign up for news on investment opportunities or booking us for speaking engagements, please get in touch.

Concept Developer & Professional Speaker

Validicity AB

Patent Pending blockchain solution aiming to solve the chain of custody issues in anti-doping. Developed in collaboration with the Arne Ljungqvist Foundation with anti-doping in mind, however the solution can be used for any logistics in general where proof-of-tamper is important.

Co-Founder

Mellanmål of Sweden

Mellanmål of Sweden is a US based company that imports and sells Swedish and Nordic healthy food products in the US. We have a full one-stop-shop operation and offer shipping, import, warehousing, sales and distribution all across USA.

Friendbase

Friendbase is the worlds first truly cross-platform virtual world chat service, where cell phone users seamlessly interact with computer users in realtime. It's a place for young people to meet and hang out with old and new friends, play games, cultivate pets, design and furnish their own apartments and much more.

We (the founding team) have more than 15 yrs experience from the game industry and business development, and have taken the product from idea to released product with over 2 500 000 users  (main user group being girls 14-20) using only social media and viral spread, no paid advertising or PR. 

http://www.friendbase.com

Founder and concept developer

Various gyms and fitness centers

I have been working as a fitness instructor since 1994. I started out at a small but great gym called Saga Motion and then moved on to Olympic Fitness in Göteborg, that was later aquired by SATS, and at the same time I started working as a boxing instructor. When I moved back to Stockholm I moved over to Kroppskultur and evolved into kickboxing and more classic boxing. After that I spent five years at World Class Vasastan and nowadays you'll find me at Nordic Wellness Odenplan Stockholm.

Fitness Instructor

Nordic Innovation House

I was picked as the first Swede to go to Silicon Valley on a Fellowship in a new pilot program run by the Swedish innovation agency Vinnova. The program is a four year pilot that will send over two senior advisors per year from the Swedish innovation system for 10 months each, in an effort to create and sustain a platform for Swedish startups in Silicon Valley as well as figure out how Sweden can create a more sustainable and scalable way of exporting ideas and getting them ready for a global market. 

Read more about my experiences on my blog: 

http://kth.se/blogs/donnie

Senior Advisor

Lohilo AB

I got the idea of creating a healthy ice cream back in 2011 but didn't act on it until 2013 when I contacted Swedish ice cream producers Alvestaglass. Together we developed Sweden's first ice cream for people who live an active life style and/or care about what they eat. 

I came up with the name Lohilo when trying to figure out what to call something that was Lo(w) on sugar, Hi(gh) on protein and Lo(w) on fat. Lo-Hi-Lo. As simple as that. 

We released the first product in June 2014 and then started distributing to shops in September and reached national coverage in only six months with a presence in over 600 stores, and the rest is as they say, history. 

The branding was done by my me and some friends and the whole thing was a by-the-book boot-strapped startup success story, growth hacked all the way, The first images on the boxes were friends from the gym, shot by a photographer that did it all pro-bono. 

The vision from the start was to create a brand that could become a health food brand, selling a lot more than ice cream, and who knows where the story will end?

SuperConnector | Innovation Strategist | Sustainable Innovation | Food Entrepreneur | 6x TEDx Speaker | Live on LinkedIn Wednesdays 2.30pm CET 🌞

I work as an Innovation Strategist and Business Coach at KTH Innovation, where I have been helping researchers and students at The Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, in Stockholm, for over 14 years. I assist them in turning their ideas and results into viable products and services. I love working hands-on with exponential technologies and people who have world-changing and world-saving ideas.

I am the founder of Entrepreneurs Without Borders, a non-profit organization that supports female entrepreneurs in starting and scaling sustainable businesses that align with the UN 17 SDGs for 2030. 

My latest own venture is Mellanmål Inc, a US based company focused on bringing Swedish better-for-you-and-the-planet food products to America and later the world, aiming to build a global leader in healthier snacks and small bites. 

Besides that, I am an experienced speaker, pitch coach, and serial entrepreneur, with patents and successes in various fields. I have also appeared in several TV shows as a jury and expert, and given 6 TEDx talks on topics related to innovation, entrepreneurship, and social impact.

What a crazy place to work... Just the past a few days... We used to say "It all starts here" and now we say "start here, go anywhere" 

⭐ Maja Åstrand Co-founder of Simulair is awarded the Stiftelsen SKAPA grand prize. 

⭐ Ella Karlsson Co-founder of Permly.ai is awarded best young business idea Solna stad 

⭐ Jonatan Hellvig and his teammate were awarded Bragdguldet for their Olympic beach volleyball win

⭐ Anton Osika and Fabian Edin, founders of Lovable were awarded the KTH Innovation Award 

⭐Katarina Hedbeck Co-founder of Interlinked AB received the Entrepreneurs Without Borders Award

⭐ The KTH Innovation Readiness Level framework now has just almost 4000 organisations using it, all over the world, I am currently in Brazil to workshop with universities and innovation hubs. 

And today it's time for another edition of KTH Innovation Collide, the meeting place of all of our people and many many more - over 500 signed up so far!

Teknikringen 1 - 17:00 to 19:00 - come and join the fun!

All. Images below courtesy of the photographers named in the posts

https://lnkd.in/dyGbpZAN

https://lnkd.in/dPBkp5_F

https://lnkd.in/ddagfx_6

Wohoo!! Big trumpets, happy fireworks! 

So glad to see the 2025 awardee of the Entrepreneurs Without Borders EWB Award receive this well deserved prize, joining the ranks of other great female founders like Maja Åstrand Sandra Vahdani of Simulair, Rutvika Acharya of Caplyzer, Kristina Stojanovic Leyla Ali Dholey of ex-Ovulai, Laura Jardine Paterson of CONCAT Tech, Dominique Uwase Alonga of ImagineWe Publishers. 

Well done and congratulations! 

Congratulations Katarina Hedbeck and Rebecca Stjernberg Bejhed and well done with all your work with Interlinked AB!  

https://lnkd.in/dJhducTF

View company: Entrepreneurs Without Borders

Happy to announce the 2025 EWB Award recipient Katarina Hedbeck, co-founder of Interlinked AB together with Rebecca Stjernberg Bejhed. 

This year's theme was "Grit and Perseverance" and we could not have found a better recipient that this team. 

Well deserved! 🥳🎉🎆🎇

And thank you to all prize sponsors that help make this such a valuable award 🙏❤️

Brainspot Innovation AB / Hans Alveros
The Branding Table / Kim Westerlund
Validicity AB / Deborah B. Lygonis
Pareto 80/20 / Maria Malmsjö Söderberg

And of course a large THANK YOU to our venue sponsor Vasakronan Pernilla Långström🙏🤗

Good Morning Monday Morning! 🤗🎉

From Curitiba, Brazil where I am spending the week with the innovation ecosystem going through the KTH Innovation Readiness Level, but that's not stopping us from getting the week going, right? 

This week:

Tuesday International Anti-Corruption Day
Tuesday Pepparkakans Dag 

Wednesday Nobel Day 
Wednesday Innovation Fika, something from Brazil, yes! 

Thursday Mountain's Day 

Friday International Day for Universal Health Care (shoutout to Nonso Opurum founder of SOSO CARE winner of the Entrepreneurs Without Borders EWB Award in 2022)

Saturday 13th is of course Lucia! ❤️

Sunday 3rd of Advent 🕯️🕯️🕯️
Sunday 14th is also Sustainable Entrepreneurship Day, a day started by Entrepreneurs Without Borders some years back.

So, get up get going, tag a friend, let's make this a great week for the world!

IT'S MONDAY!!

#superconnectorthursday and my 16th Anniversary at KTH Innovation 😲😅🥳

For my anniversary, I want you to:

1. Post your need in the comments below 👇
2. Scroll the comments and help people who have posted, OR post / tag someone else you know is looking for something! 🤗
3. Share the posts so more people can see it! 👀

Here we go my friends -#superconnectorthursday!

Morning everyone! Happy Friday 🥳

It's the International Volunteer Day today, so if you aren't volunteering yourself, help others that are! Donate to your favorite organization - or why not help people find what they need in my #superconnectorthursday post from yesterday? 

Here's the link to that post, I know there are some cool companies looking for people and also some other needs there!

https://lnkd.in/drvyeYy6

Have a happy Friday and a nice weekend, see you all next week! 

#volunteer #beabetterperson

Idag på Nobeldagen kommer här ett helt ojobbmässigt, obusinessigt, okarriärgrundande och oseriöst (plankar dina o-n där Charlotta Alnersson!) men varje dag på instagram så kör jag lucköppning av min julkalender som jag fick av mamma 🤗

En te-kalender med 25 teer, en för julens alla dagar (och ja 25, hon är ju engelska trots allt). 

Har tagit med mig 10 st på resan till Brasilien så jag inte missar några dagar pga resan, så det blir lucköppning på hotellrummet på morgonen innan dagen börjar. 

Idag vart det Tranbär, Hibiskus och Nypon! 🍵🫖 

Här länken till insta https://lnkd.in/dW7YcHSe

HAPPY NOBEL!

taplio