EIVIND SOLBERG

QUALIFICATIONS

ABOUT MYSELF

Improving life through creation is the core of what drives me. Knowing that it is difficult is what makes it fun. With 25 years of experience in concept and product development, last 8 years as founder of the tech company Playfinity, I possess a holistic insight to bringing ideas and concepts to life. As foundation I am an industrial designer with strong hands-on experience as designer and managing design processes, as well as performing mechanical engineering and technology development. My desire is to drive meaningful innovation, hence Playfinity. I thrive in the collaboration between different professions, cultures and people types, and strive to create collective problem solving and ideas. Concept development, presenting and selling ideas has always been the base of my work.

WHO AM I

Improvement (Improving life) through creation is the core of what drives me. Knowing that it is difficult is what makes it fun. With 25 years of experience in concept and product development, last 8 years as founder of the tech company Playfinity, I possess a holistic insight to bringing ideas and concepts to life. As foundation I am an industrial designer with strong hands-on experience as designer and managing design processes, as well as performing mechanical engineering and technology development. My desire is to drive meaningful innovation, hence Playfinity. I thrive in the collaboration between different professions, cultures and people types, and strive to create collective problem solving and ideas. Concept development, presenting and selling ideas has always been the base of my work.

Playfinity

Identified the core idea/concept, assembled core team of co-founders and founded a Norwegian tech-company. Obtained funding (investors and soft funding). Designed, developed and produced several pioneering tech products, and brought these to the global market as a B2C brand with minimal team and resources. Established and maintained an international network of partners within amongst production, technology development, software development, patents and brand building. Pioneered a new market segment, Active Gaming. Mission: Inspire kids to healthier, happier lives. 

Inventas

Was lead designer and co-partner founding the Oslo department of Inventas, Norway's largest development agency. Established a core network of clients through pitching the company and leading and performing successful projects. 

Stay/Ekornes

Elevated the hotel interior design company to new level being the first in this business segment to present interior designs via 3D-visualizations and animations. Took over as head of design and development at the furniture factory Stay acquired, Hov Dokka, and played a central part in the process of Stay being acquired by Ekornes.

Design without boarders

Was the pioneer designer of the newly founded program, Design without borders, led by Norsk Form (now DOGA). Created a concept of progressive temporary shelters for the international red cross (Latin America) that was continued for 10 years after my engagement. Top nominated for the world’s largest design award, The Index projects awards.

SUCCESS
STORIES

PROJECT EXPERIENCE

Concept development: Defined core founding concept for tech company, Playfinity. Developed a wide range of product and service concepts through the design agency Inventas for Norwegian tech companies. Business and product concepts for STAY. Concept for International Red Cross for shelter system.

Presentation, pitching and sales: Pitched Playfinity to Investors for funding, collaboration partners, and for team recruitment. Recruited new clients for Inventas. Presenting and selling concepts for Stay´s mayor hotel clients. Presenting and building a network for implementing a shelter system in Latin America.

Project management: Planning, coordinating and budgeting all product development internally at Playfinity, and with production facilities in China, Pakistan, Tunisia, Norway and France. Managing numerous projects for Inventas and Stay. Managed the complete project in Guatemala within the design without borders program.

Product development, product design, design processes: Designed, developed, and manufactured Playfinity's complete range of connected products. Developed and designed a wide range of products as lead designer at Inventas, consumer products to industrial components. 

Mechanical Engineering: Prototyped, tested, constructed and modeled all products for mass production at Playfinity for extreme outdoor robustness, and cost efficient production. Co-engineered at Inventas. I constructed a wide range of furniture and interior constructions as head of development and lead designer at Stay.

UX/UI design, app development: Planned, user-tested, and designed and co-designed apps for Playfinity. Collaboration with illustrators and gaming experts. UX/UI projects at Inventas.

User testing/User driven innovation: Managing user testing at Playfinity. Managed several user driven innovation projects at Inventas. Collaborated with an international agency (We are pi/MNL research) for in-depth research and testing in USA.

Production and logistics: Establish contact with a network of manufacturers and suppliers for Playfinity, setting up and following up production and planning logistics to warehouses. 

Brand building: Collaborated with leading global brand agencies (We are Pi / Trigger) forming Playfinity's brand, communication and business model.

Patents, brand registration and design protection: Filed several patents, brand registrations and design protections at Playfinity in collaboration with patent agencies. 

Graphic design & Package design: Designed all the packaging and graphic design for Playfinity products, including packaging construction/die-cuts. Graphics on products. Created and designed many of Playfinity's screens and assets in apps, as well as marketing material. 

Certification: Led certification process for Playfinity's tech-unit in collaboration with industry partner, enabling global sales.

SKILLS

Technical Skills:

Concept & Innovation Development

Project management

Product design, design processes and product development

Mechanical engineering

UX/UI design

2D/3D/Animation visualisation

Graphic design

Soft Skills:

Design focus

Analytical thinking

Sales and presentations

Team player

Problem-solving

WORK EXPERIENCE

BRAND EXPERIENCE

Playfinity

Jotron

Hexagon Ragasco

Tomra

Nammo

ABB

Trox

Medema

Invotron

Lilleborg

Inventas

Eltek

Kverneland

Hitec

Nidar

Grove Knutsen

MDG

Oshaug

Stokke

Saxi

Ekornes

Hov Dokka

Stay

International Red Cross

MDG

Oshaug

Stokke

Saxi

Ekornes

Hov Dokka

Stay

International Red Cross

Invotron

Lilleborg

Inventas

Eltek

Kverneland

Hitec

Nidar

Grove Knutsen

Playfinity

Jotron

Hexagon Ragasco

Tomra

Nammo

ABB

Trox

Medema

EDUCATION

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) (MSc) - design institute

Iniversitat Politecnica de Valencia - Design engineering

Indian Institute of Science - Mechanical engineering

Sergeant course in the Norwegian military (USK), cannon commander

Nesbru High School

Norwegian

LANGUAGE

Written    - Native language
Verbal      - Native language

English

Written    - Excellent
Verbal      - Excellent

Spanish

Written    - Beginner
Verbal      - Intermediate

LANGUAGE

INTERESTS & HOBBYS

Sports

Hiking

Drawing

Reading

Horseback riding

Piano

Gitar

Composing music

Chess

Boardgames

“Study people, not algorithms. Algorithms change, people do not.” – Justin Welsh"