Anne Hoyer
Most IoT and digital innovation projects run out of budget before they create value, and the reasons are rarely technical. They are structural. One function owns the work while others join too late, and the partner ecosystem needed to scale sits outside the room.
Anne Hoyer helps organisations turn IoT and digital innovation from pilot into scaled business value, drawing on senior operational roles at SAP, CGI and Danfoss.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Anne Hoyer
- She has built IoT and digital innovation functions inside SAP, CGI France and Danfoss. Boards get a practitioner’s view of why these programmes stall before ROI arrives.
- Her Copenhagen Goodwill Ambassador position gives her privileged access to one of the world’s most studied Smart City programmes, which she translates into concrete lessons for corporate and municipal leaders.
- She works natively in the partnership economics of modern technology: when to build capability in-house versus when to co-create with hyperscalers and scale-ups. Leadership teams leave with a sharper model of how their own tech ecosystem should be structured.
- A former radio and podcast host before moving into tech, she brings communications discipline to the stage that IoT speakers often lack. Complex material reaches commercial audiences cleanly.
Biography highlights
- Head of Partnerships in Digital Services at Danfoss, leading partnership strategy as the group operates as a Microsoft-managed ISV.
- Previously headhunted to CGI Business Consulting France in 2018 to launch the firm’s SAP Advanced Technology practice.
- Began her technology career at SAP, reaching a global IoT role in Barcelona within the Leonardo IoT and Predictive Maintenance portfolio.
- Copenhagen Goodwill Ambassador since 2019 with Copenhagen Capacity, representing the city globally on technology and urban sustainability.
- Named one of the 30 Inspirational Women to Watch in Tech by Inc.com (2017), shortlisted as Future CIO of the Year by Information Age (2018), and selected as a Global Rising Star by SAP.
- Chairs the Advisory Board at Smart IoT London and founded Group Saint Honoré, a consultancy supporting tech scale-ups on commercial go-to-market.
Biography
IoT promised an operational revolution. The industry is still learning to deliver one. Most projects are orphaned between IT and the business, starved of the partner ecosystem that actually makes them scale. This is the terrain Anne Hoyer works in.
Her career has tracked that problem from three different angles. At SAP, she progressed to a global IoT role in Barcelona covering Leonardo IoT and Predictive Maintenance Services. In 2018 she was headhunted to CGI Business Consulting in France to launch the firm’s SAP Advanced Technology practice. She now leads partnerships inside Danfoss’s Digital Services function, brokering alliances between big tech, system integrators and scale-ups while the group operates as a Microsoft-managed ISV.
The Copenhagen connection runs deeper than geography. Since 2019 she has served as an official Copenhagen Goodwill Ambassador with Copenhagen Capacity, representing the city internationally on technology and urban sustainability. Copenhagen has been named among the world’s smartest cities, and she carries its case study material directly into her corporate keynotes.
The stagecraft has history. Before joining SAP in 2015, Anne hosted a weekly show on Danish commercial radio and co-created Trendpodding, the first fashion podcast in Denmark. The communications discipline of those years still shows on stage. Board audiences hear the strategic case without getting lost in the architecture. Her external recognition tracks the work: Inc.com’s 30 Inspirational Women to Watch in Tech (2017), Information Age’s Future CIO of the Year shortlist (2018), and SAP’s Global Rising Star. She also chairs the Advisory Board at Smart IoT London and founded Group Saint Honoré, a consultancy supporting tech scale-ups on commercial go-to-market.
Key speaking topics
- IoT and data-driven innovation
- Smart cities and urban sustainability
- Digital transformation in industrial sectors
- Partnership and ecosystem strategy
- Women in technology
- Innovation leadership
Ideal for
- CDOs, CTOs and Chief Innovation Officers running IoT or digital transformation programmes
- Industrial, energy and manufacturing leadership teams moving from product to software and service models
- Smart city and municipal leadership teams responsible for urban technology strategy
- Women-in-tech networks and early-career technology talent programmes
Audience outcomes
- A clearer read on why IoT and digital innovation programmes lose momentum inside large organisations, and where the interventions actually sit
- Working lessons from one of the world’s most studied Smart City programmes, with direct transfer value into corporate transformation agendas
- A sharper view of how a leadership team should structure partnerships with hyperscalers, scale-ups and research institutions
- Confidence that IoT and innovation investments can be sequenced for commercial return when the business case leads the technology choice
- For younger technology audiences, a credible path from non-technical backgrounds into senior IoT and innovation roles
Talks
A walk through the decisions and events that moved Copenhagen into the world’s top-ranked Smart City programmes, translated into practical lessons for corporate and municipal leaders.
Key takeaways:
- How a mature Smart City programme actually operates, beyond the positioning narrative
- What transferred successfully into Copenhagen’s urban fabric, and what stalled on the way
- Where public, private and ecosystem partnerships carry the weight of Smart City delivery
How to move IoT and data-driven innovation from a concept on a slide into a programme that creates commercial value, drawn from a decade of global implementations across SAP, CGI and Danfoss.
Key takeaways:
- Why IoT projects typically lose momentum inside large organisations, and where the budget actually leaks
- How to read the current state of the IoT industry and where commercial value is shifting
- What a modern innovation partnership looks like across hyperscalers, scale-ups and research institutions
A motivational talk for younger technology professionals and women-in-tech audiences, drawing on Anne’s career transition from Danish commercial radio and podcasting into global IoT leadership.
Key takeaways:
- Why a non-technical background can accelerate a technology career when positioned correctly
- What senior roles in IoT and innovation actually look like from the inside
- Concrete habits that compound confidence and authority in a male-dominated field