Pontus Wärnestål

Award-winning designer, researcher (PhD), and educator with over two decades of practical experience integrating human-centered design with emerging technologies and AI in academic, industrial, and startup environments. – Published Author and Researcher: Author of 40+ peer-reviewed publications and books, including Designing AI-Powered Services, providing practical insights on AI and design integration. Featured in 20+ podcasts since 2019, sharing expertise on AI and human-centered design. – Education and Learning: Program Director, and lecturer with 25 years of teaching experience. Designed and leads the AI and Design education track at Ambition Empower, returning guest lecturer at YRGO, and have delivered over 100 keynotes and invited talks since 2020. Published innovative studio pedagogy work, earning a Best Paper Award. Recipient of the Excellent Teacher Award. – Leadership and Strategy: Deputy Vice Chancellor and Program Director at Halmstad University, where I launched and led the Digital Design and Innovation program, collaborating with 90+ companies. Experience leading UX, service design, and AI initiatives across diverse industries, including roles as Head of Design at Crispin Porter + Bogusky Europe, Head of Design Direction at inUse, and Design Lead at AI agency eghed. – Internationally Recognized Research: Developed the award-winning “Give Me a Break” app for child cancer survivors, receiving the Livestrong Innovation Prize and a nomination for the Swedish Design Award. Recognized for pioneering participatory design methodologies for children in sensitive contexts and human-centered design for real-world urban and architectural projects, earning a Best of CHI Honorable Mention Award. – Technical Expertise and Design: Skilled in both strategic design thinking and coding, I created design frameworks for business innovation and crafted adaptive spoken dialogue systems for Nokia Home Communication, which led to a patent for its dialogue model implementation, detailed in my PhD thesis. Decades of experience in crafting UX design solutions.