18th September 2026
18th September 2026
The future of Ísland.is in the spotlight
Digital Iceland's annual conference, Connecting the State, was held for the seventh time on 17 September at the Hilton Nordica. This year's theme was The Future of Ísland.is, and the day's topics covered the next steps in digital public services, the utilisation and challenges of artificial intelligence, and the importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration between the government, public entities, and the business sector. The conference was particularly well attended this year, with around 300 guests from both the public and private sectors coming together.
Better and simpler digital services are not just a convenience for the public, but also one of the most effective ways to run the state with accountability, bringing both direct financial benefits to the Treasury and economic benefits to society as a whole,” said Daði Már Kristófersson, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, who opened the conference.
We are over the moon with this year's conference. The presentations we heard from the UK, Denmark, and of course from our leading domestic experts were truly inspiring. Closing the conference with a keynote speech from Áslaug Arna, the new director of the Fenris AI project, was really motivating and enjoyable. It is clear that the future of Ísland.is is truly bright,” says Birna Íris Jónsdóttir, Director of Digital Iceland.
Trust, courage and ambitious goals
Among this year's speakers was Christine Bellamy, Director-General at the Government Digital Service in the UK, who discussed the importance of trust in public services, generational attitudes towards them, and how personalised solutions and AI agents are changing people's interactions with the public sector.
Christian Bason, co-founder of TransitionCollective, discussed how leaders can lead change by challenging conventional ideas, dealing with uncertainty, and creating value by designing decisions that facilitate transformation in times of rapid societal change.
In his presentation, Hjálmar Gíslason, founder and CEO of GRID, discussed the work of a task force who is currently reviewing the Icelandic government's approach to artificial intelligence. Its role includes assessing the government's strategy, actions, and priorities in this area.
Digital health and the potential of MCP
In his presentation, Sigurður Þórarinsson, Director of Digital Health, spoke about the role, purpose, and projects of the Digital Health service and development centre, which was established at the beginning of the year and is part of the Ministry of Health. Sigurður said that an innovative approach and mindset are important for the healthcare system in order to improve continuity of service and increasingly use technology to create an even better healthcare system.
Eiríkur Nilsson, co-founder and CTO of Aranja, spoke about AI agents and showed how he had connected his agent to My Pages on Ísland.is, where it had access to his personal information. This allowed him to ask the AI various questions and receive immediate answers based on real information about him from My Pages.
The closing words of the conference were from Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir, the new director of AI projects at Fenris. Áslaug emphasised the success Iceland has achieved in digital services and how important it is that we adopt new technology quickly but safely.