Making the strategy game into an art form, he is the world champion of chess at the age of 22 and taking his charismatic character into the world of fashion, working with brands such as G-star. Magnus has made chess about ten thousands times as popular as it was before he came along. Take nothing away from the previous generation, but the 26-year-old Norwegian has been electrifying for what had come to thought of as slow, boring game that computers played better than humans. There is so much still to come for this truly unique artist.

Director and owner of Standard Oslo, the top gallery in the little oil-soaked Norwegian capital that now hosts Europe’s most exhilarating art scene. His artists are so in demand that American collectors fly to Norway to see sold-out shows – 75% of his sold art leaves the country. He sits on the board of directors at Frieze Art Fair and is a favourite with Artworks contributor Matthew Slotover.

Sweden’s most outspoken arts person Mårten Castenfors, director of Liljevachs and Stockholm Konst. Mårten is as straight-forward as he is approachable, and apparently a rather good diver and passionate potato farmer.

They’re everywhere and they must be the most addictive digital games on the planet. Co-founder of King.com and co-creator of Candy Crush Saga, which has soared above Angry Birds as the most popular game in the world, he is responsible for millions of unsuspected gamers. When King floated on the New York Stock Exchange its share was bloodied during its debut, with nearly $1bn (£600m) wiped off its market valuation on the first day on the first day of trading. Today the company is in the hands of gaming giant Activision Blizzard who acquired King.com for $5.9 billion, a deal that made it the largest game network in the world with more than 500 million users.

Leading the charge for Nordic and female filmmaking, and the founder of the Stockholm International Film Festival, she has launched a SEK5 million (€600,000) fund for female directors to redress the imbalance of women in film.

After being successfully sued for misappropriation, the Swedish conceptual artist sold the court’s verdict notification to a collector of his generally defiant, rebellious and attentionseeking work. That’s good business. He has latterly mellowed somewhat.

This silver fox started his own publication at 16 and is now one of Sweden’s loudest voices in culture. Regularly debates the need for Scandinavian businesspeople to focus more on the arts and educate themselves – fantastic idea.

One-time professional musician, he is the founder and creative director of super-cool clothing brand Acne, which he set up with no particular design qualifications. Hugely creative outlook across fashion, film, design and music.

Hugely passionate and outspoken about the importance of the arts and a major supporter of the Jewish Theatre in Stockholm, the Israeli Batsheva Dance Company and owner of Magasin 3, he is also the founder and chairman of investment firm Proventus.

Promoting criticism sounds like fun, especially when most people criticise promotion. Art critic in SvD, curator and former editor of Paletten, she brought the World Congress for international arts critics to Stockholm in the autumn of 2015, where a key theme for the congress was freedom of expression within the field of visual art.

Great opera and classical music lover, she is among the most important and substantial philanthropists in Sweden through the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation. Emphatic promoter of Sweden abroad, she is the Swedish Consul General in San Francisco.

Legend in the art world, he is the founding director of Tate Modern in London, was director of Stockholm’s Moderna Museet for nine years and most recently in Hong Kong for a few years, spearheading the launch of the innovative museum M+. He is a regular at Artworks.

Accomplished businessman and corporate art collector, he has built up a collection of several hundred art works for his company Elekta, and is focused on promoting the wellbeing and inspiration of employees. Elekta’s art collection was started by its Founder, Laurent Leksell and it’s focused on contemporary Swedish art. The aim of the collection is to contribute to the joy and well-being of Elekta employees. There are a total of more than 200 art objects in the collection.

Brothers with five years between them, so they don’t argue too much. Founders of Fotografiska, they have built up the Stockholm photography gallery from three people to 200 in just a few years. So they must be doing something right. Keen photographers themselves. Fotografiska has recently raised a new round of external funding to facilitate its international expansion. They plan to open sister branches in China and the US, or so we heard.

Recently he has been speculating on the timing of the next art market crash and his latest book The Collectors undress and discuss just that, the art market. He writes for Veckans Affärer on finance, business and the arts, including the inner workings of auction houses.

Starting young as a voice artist on animated films, her first album came out when she was 16. She now selfproduces her chart-topping pop music through her own label, Konichiwa Records. Used to date Maria Bonnier Dahlin fellow Olof Inger.

Bright and humble tech entrepreneur and co-founder of ArtStack, the world’s largest social art sharing platform that lets you collect your favourite art, share with your friends and browse their collections too, he has much to offer.

After leaving Stockholm in 1994 to set up a gallery in New York, he’s moved back across the Atlantic with a gallery in London. He works with some of the best contemporary artists of our time, including Cindy Sherman and Robert Mapplethorpe.

It’s either the work of a genius or a joker, maybe both, but there are frustrated feathered friends flying all over the shop. One of the founders of Rovio, he is today in co-founder at Brand Breaker and tech conference Slush.

Has anyone else in the world made a greater contribution to popularising art and interior design? Or DIY? Cheap never looked so good, even if you do have to build it yourself. The founder of IKEA drives the rare moving work of art, a Ferrari 250GTO.

Imagine having hit song after hit song and not having to be constantly in the spotlight; sounds pretty good doesn’t it. He’s written and produced songs for One Direction and Nicki Minaj, and even helps Russell Crowe with his vocals.

Representing Scandinavia on foreign shores, the digital maestro is just about to unleash her media expertise at Tate. As one of the driving forces behind the BBC iPlayer, there’s a lot to look out for as she gets into gear.

Digital native DJ, collaborator, record producer and social entrepreneur, he is set for world domination. Signed at 17, he has already donated $1 million to charity and co-founded House for Hunger. Rumours has it that he is starting to pick up a hefty appetite for art collecting too!

If someone suggested making supper with twigs and bugs, you’d probably pass. But if that person was the chef behind Copenhagen’s Noma, rated the best restaurant in the world, then you might not. You might still though?

He once fired over half the executives of a company within two months of starting there. Now chairman of three of the largest companies in the Nordic countries, he has a collection of 11,000-plus antique books and sits on the board of several arts organisations.

Who says people in finance are only interested in money? He may be a founder of Brummer & Partners, one of Europe’s top hedge funds, but he spends as much time as possible working with Moderna Museet and Audiorama, and several projects in Africa. Money well spent.

Quite a big responsibility really; protecting and growing one of the biggest and best-loved brands in the world that makes up the building blocks of childhood for millions of people worldwide. As chief executive of LEGO he nurtures innovation.

Board member of five companies, not including Doberman where she is chief executive and part-owner, she is a design and innovation legend with clients including Dagens Nyheter, IKEA and the New York City Department of IT & Telecommunications.

How many artists do you know who have had global success singing in a language which they invented themselves? The lead singer of Sigur Ros is the master of mixing the unconventional with the popular and is also half of the Jonsi & Alex art collaboration.

So Minecraft is a pretty big deal. With more than 40 million players working together as a community to build new spaces to play, he has now handed over the digital game to a colleague to focus on new projects. Not sure if it makes any difference to being an influence on this list, but he has become incredibly rich on the back his creation and farewell to Microsoft. At least, it’s a fine proof that you can be be an artist whilst making good […]

Making a career out of being kind of crazy, her music has captured imaginations worldwide. She certainly pushes boundaries, and has recently experimented with producing apps and crowdfunded projects.

Balancing finance-style market analysis with artistic flair must be tough, but fun. If you want hard-core information on the art market, look no further than his company ArtTactic which provides market research and advice.

The most unexpected Justin Bieber fan in the world, the drummer with Metallica has brought Nordic influence all over the world through heavy metal. He also wrote the foreword for Denmark’s Noma chef Rene Redzepi’s latest book. Who would have thought it?

If anyone from the Nordic countries is going to put up a fight with Chuck Norris then it would be Dolph. This iconic actor also used to hang out with Andy Warhol and Keith Haring on the New York art scene, and also has degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering.

Working with more than 90 people from his studio in Berlin, which also happens to be next door neighbour to Ai Weiwei, he is a true multidisciplinarian who doesn’t impose any limits on himself. Working on artistic and social entrepreneurship projects, he’s calling some pretty cool shots.

Some people think he’s the greatest innovator in the music industry, some think he is destroying it. Either way, Spotify, the company he started only nine years ago, is changing everything musical.

Ambitious entrepreneur who wants to bring real art to everybody, he is chief executive of Artfinder, the service that connects art lovers with artists, building careers and collections together. Silicon Valley technology experience in the art world can only be a good thing.

Entrepreneur changing retail experience design and founder of Klarna – part bank, part retail technology, part big data company, part experience design innovator – he is also married to photographer Nina Sundén Siemiatkowski.

Leader in cultural collaboration and humanistic design, she is chief executive of Svensk Form, one of the oldest design organisations in the world, but focused on the future with a balance of personal and political perspectives.

If the Nordic countries are enjoying something of a purple patch at the moment then thanks must go, in part, to this man. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the rest of the Millennium trilogy certainly helped light the fuse that sparked the global explosion of Nordic culture.

Once described as Finland’s Margaret Thatcher and Iron Lady, Dr Hämäläinen encourages public-private alliance to fund artistic endeavours. She chairs the board of the Finnish National Opera and was the governor of the Bank of Finland.

This is perhaps as close as you get to Nordic Renaissance man. Musician, writer, philosopher, social theorist, political and religious activist, and innovator, he turns his hand to many things from management theory to the first Spotify band Gravitonas.

Not only is she the actress behind the eponymous Sarah Lund character in The Killing, but she’s also helping to fight cancer. Raising awareness through Denmark’s TV2 campaign, she recently received treatment for breast cancer and is recovering well.

Director of Let the Right One In and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, he is a globally acclaimed movie maker with his next film, The Brothers Lionheart, set to be the most expensive in Scandinavian history.