Við komum saman á Vertonet Hvatningardegi 2026 til að ræða hvað það þýðir að rata um síbreytilegan heim tækninnar af hugrekki og skýrleika. Hvernig mótum við okkar eigin leiðir á sama tíma og við styðjum aðra áfram? Og hvernig lítur það í raun út í dag að blómstra í tækniheiminum?

Láttu fagfólk veita þér innblástur – fólk sem hefur mætt hindrunum, tileinkað sér breytingar og leitt af framsýni – og þannig endurskilgreint hvað forysta í tækni getur verið.

Taktu þátt í degi sagna, stefnumótunar og samstöðu þar sem við byggjum upp sjálfstraust, samfélag og framtíð upplýsingatækninnar á Íslandi – saman.

Vertonet stendur árlega fyrir viðburði sem hvetur til, fagnar og eflir þátttöku kvenna og stúlkna í upplýsingatækni á Íslandi. Hvatningardagurinn er ávallt vel sóttur og býður upp á einstakt tækifæri til að finna innblástur, efla faglega hæfni og mynda tengsl innan hvetjandi samfélags.

Agenda:

13:00 - Venue opens

13:30 - Chair of Vertonet, opens the conference

13:40 - Oktavía Hrund Guðrúnar Jóns, Founder - future 404, the MC of the event, introduces the agenda

13:45 -

Jordanne Given, Radar Systems Engineer - MSRS

Radar, Reykjavík and Everything in Between

Eleven years ago Jordanne started as a modern apprentice in Edinburgh with no traditional route into tech and no clear plan. Today she's a Radar and Systems Engineer working across two companies on GPS-denied navigation and maritime domain awareness — based in Reykjavik, Iceland. This talk is about the decisions that got her there: the uncertain ones, the unconventional ones, and what she'd tell her younger self about building a career without a blueprint.

14:05 -

Anna Kristín Halfdanardottir, Software Engineer - Gangverk

Pull Up Your Own Chair

A little over four years ago I was a junior frontend developer. Today I lead an engineering discipline, teach at a university, and have led projects across industries from luxury auctions to healthcare. Nobody promoted me into any of it — I just started doing the work before anyone asked me to and was unafraid to learn new things.

This talk is about what happened in between: volunteering to lead when no one else would, saying "I'll own that" before I fully knew how, and learning that the feeling of not being ready never actually goes away — so it's useless as a reason to wait.

I'll share the moments I almost didn't step up, what changed when I did, and the practical habits that got me from "is it okay if I...?" to "I'm going to." If you're waiting for someone to tell you you're ready, this talk is your sign to stop.

14:25 -

Nataliia Baburina, Executive & Leadership Coach - Sense & Action

Resilience is a Skill: Finding My Way When Nothing Felt Stable

After moving to Iceland with my child following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, I found myself in constant uncertainty, leaving behind my family, a stable life, and a secure job, and soon facing layoffs and the challenge of starting over in a new job market.

In this talk, I share my personal experience of going through instability and the small, practical things that helped me keep moving.

Through this journey, I began to see resilience not as something you either have or don’t, but as a skill shaped by constraints, acceptance, and action.

At one point, I made a decision without any guarantees and chose to move forward anyway, and as a result, things I once saw as “someday” became part of my life much sooner than I expected.

At its core, this talk is about a simple idea: it’s not what happens to you that matters most, but who you choose to become and how you choose to respond.

14:45 - Coffee break

15:05 -

Anna C W de Matos, CEO - Circular Library Network

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Fundraising as a Non-AI Company in 2026

​This talk explores what fundraising looks like in 2026 for startups that aren’t built around AI. While capital is flowing heavily into AI-first companies, non-AI founders face a different set of expectations, biases, and opportunities. We’ll break down the good (where strong fundamentals still win), the bad (how investor attention has shifted), and the ugly (the common pitfalls and misconceptions founders encounter). Expect practical insights, candid lessons, and strategies for standing out in a market that currently favors the AI narrative.

15:25 -

Emiliya Ivanova-Nikolova, Founder & CEO - Íslandsdóttir.is

Why Good Ideas Don’t Get Funded

A good idea is not always enough to get funded. In this talk, Emiliya will share the practical reasons genuinely promising projects still get rejected, based on real patterns she has seen through her work with startups and innovation-driven companies. She will unpack the gap between having a strong idea and presenting a fundable case, from unclear positioning and weak proof to timing and mixed messaging. She will also touch on how a “no” can be used as valuable data to strengthen the business rather than just as a setback.

15:45 -

Ingunn Róbertsdóttir, Digital Product Designer - Leviosa

Things I Never Posted

​I have a notes app full of half-written thoughts, a ceramics hobby I definitely didn't plan, and a lot of feelings about AI that I've been too tired to post about. This talk is all of that. The grief, burnout, loneliness, and the slow unglamorous process of finding your footing again. Turns out the messy version of the story is the most useful one to tell.

16:05 - Panel Discussion

16:35 - Vertonet’s Incentive Award 2024

Every year, Vertonet selects a recipient for an incentive award, recognizing individuals who have made significant contributions to making the IT sector an attractive career choice for women and non-binaries. ​

16:50 - Cocktail - Networking

Let's take the opportunity to mingle and network over light refreshments