AI in social services – navigating privacy, law and innovation together.

We're excited to welcome Niklas Hörling and Mirelle Mård as speakers at Techheads 2026. Niklas is Head of Digitalisation (CDO) at Kalmar kommun, where he leads the municipality's digital transformation efforts. Mirelle is Innovation Leader (Innovationsledare) at Kalmar kommun.

In this session, Niklas and Mirelle will share the story of how Kalmar kommun explored AI-based speech-to-text in social services – and the regulatory sandbox they conducted together with the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (IMY). But more than a tech case, this is a talk about what happens when operational needs, law, technology and innovation collide. By bringing together lawyers, tech specialists, vendors, authorities and practitioners around the same table, they found a path forward where many only saw obstacles. A story about the courage to try something new, the power of cross-professional collaboration, and why the future of innovation is built together.