Ulf E. Andersson

Ulf E. Andersson is Vice President of Svenska Rymdsällskapet (Swedish Space Society) and CEO of Svensk Framtidsbevakning (Swedish Future Scanning).

Ulf is working to promote the space sector and human presence in space. He has a lifelong interest in space and space travel, and also in the environment and sustainability. On a daily basis, Ulf divides his time between being an innovation strategist at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, and working in his consulting firm Swedish Future Scanning.

He is particularly interested in how we can build bases and eventually cities beyond Earth, and make them good places, not just for short stays, but for permanent human presence in space — on the Moon, Mars, and in large space stations in orbit. The resources of space and space technology can contribute to sustainability on earth as well.

The Swedish Space Society encourages everyone from all walks of life who are interested in the future of space and includes academics and space tech professionals. Ulf arranges seminars and technical visits, publishes a newsletter, publishes opinion materials in other media, and has a very active presence on social media.

The society arranges so-called “space pubs” in pubs and restaurants, so people can meet IRL in informal forms, and talk about space. They have been working for 10 years advocating for a robust space economy.

As the CEO of Swedish Future Scanning (Svensk Framtidsbevakning) since 2017, Ulf is focusing on urban food production, wastewater recycling, and urban greenery. This firm is working with the scanning of the world for good technological and biological tools, infrastructure, and systems in these areas, compiling reports showcasing state-of-the-art examples of good solutions currently existing worldwide.

Swedish Future Scanning is helping researchers, innovators, and entrepreneurs find funding for early-stage development of innovations. They are also working as moderators, workshop organizers, and educators for companies, NGOs, and City administrations. Their main customers have been the City of Stockholm, Sweden, the Royal Institute of Technology, and IVL the Swedish Environment Institute.

Ulf is a board member at the major research program Mistra TerraClean run by the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm with a large number of industrial and academic partners. This long-term research program is promoting innovative technologies for water and air purification. The program started in 2017 and has established a research and development platform to bring forward “smart” material chemistry and application device innovations directed at the remediation of problematic chemical exposures in society.

He has worked as an innovation strategist for more than a decade at the Swedish National Environmental Protection Agency. He facilitates the use of key enabling technologies such as IT, bio-, space- and nanotechnologies to develop better green tech and innovations for sustainability.

Previously, Ulf has worked in several government offices, national agencies, and think tanks. He has two different academic degrees in plant biology and other sciences (mathematics and statistics). He has been a space nerd all his life, seeing both the Soviet Sputnik 1 and the US Biosphere-2 as sources of inspiration.

Read The future of food, and food entrepreneurship at the Sweden Foodtech Village in Stockholm.

Visit his LinkedIn profile. Follow him on Facebook, FlashIntel, and Twitter.