The Origination Foundation

Osvald Bjelland

Founder & Chairman, Origination Foundation

Osvald Bjelland is an entrepreneur, investor, and cultural leader committed to shaping people- and planet-positive models of growth. As founder and Chairman of the Origination Foundation, he has spent decades convening global leaders across business, policy, science, and the arts to act on behalf of future generations.

Previously the founder and CEO of Xyntéo and The Performance Theatre, Bjelland has created spaces for bold dialogue and systemic thinking on sustainability, energy, and human progress. His current mission with Origination is to build a global community of originators with the strategic foresight and courage to invest for the long term – particularly in frontier markets where the stakes and the opportunities are greatest.

Born in a small Norwegian village near the Bjelland family farm, Osvald’s outlook is both rooted and global. He is a Senior Fellow at Columbia University’s Sustainable Investing Research Initiative (SIRI), and has been a visiting fellow at Oxford and Stanford. He holds a PhD from the University of Leeds and an MBA from Henley Business School.

He is the editor and co-author of Hope for Life on Our Planet: Inspiration for Seven Generations, a collection of essays from over 60 global leaders, published in 2025.

Together with his wife, Thorhild Widvey – a cultural advocate and former Minister of Culture – Osvald continues to champion the power of long-term thinking, creativity, and community in building a better world for future generations.