Meet Bernt Mannesson, the man behind LVI and the first Swedish CCTV

Published on April 17, 2025

Recently, one of our four founders and former CEO, Bernt Mannesson, visited our headquarters in Sweden. Bernt was involved in designing Sweden's first CCTV (video magnifier), MagniVision 01, back in 1972. This system included a converted TV monitor and became the foundation for LVI's operations a few years later. Read the full story below.

Portrait photo of Bernt Mannesson standing in front of our large backgroundlit History wall at LVI headquarters in Sweden, where Bernt is point at 1972, the first year mentioned in our history, and the year when the first CCTV was developed.t år som vår historia börjar med och det år han konstruerade MagniVision 01, Sveriges första läskamera.
Bernt Mannesson is pointing out 1972, the first year at our History wall in our headquarters.

The first video magnifier in Sweden

During Bernt's visit to LVI, our staff brought out a MagniVision 01 from storage – the video magnifier that Bernt and his colleagues designed in 1972. Bernt expertly unpacked the system, unfolded the camera arm, and showed us how it works.

Photo of Bernt standing next to MagniVision 01, that is found in our museum.
Bernt standing next to the MagniVision 01, still is stored in our headquarters.

Bernt shared the story of how MagniVision 01, Sweden's first reading camera, was developed. It began with Jan-Ingvar Lindström, who worked at the Swedish Institute for the Disabled in the early 1970s. During a trip to the USA, Lindström visited Santa Monica Hospital in Los Angeles, he saw a CCTV (video magnifier) with standard zoom optics, developed by a visually impaired man. Inspired by this innovative machine, Lindström commissioned Chalmers University in Gothenburg to develop a similar video magnifier. This led to an advanced optical solution with built-in prisms for text scanning. Telub, a Swedish company mainly focused on the Defense area, was asked if they were interested in manufacturing it. The optics proved too expensive, so Telub continued working with conventional zoom optics.

At this time, Bernt was working in Telub's technical design department as the Project Manager for tactile products for the blind. He was assigned to develop a solution with three colleagues Erling Bergmark, Kaj Ekberg and Kenneth Johansson.

In 1972, the Magnivision 01 was developed. In 1978, Bernt and his colleagues sought to form a self-governing organization within Telub due to frustrations with long, complicated decision-making processes. When they went unheard, they presented a proposal to run the project independently and this lead up to the foundation of LVI.

LVI is founded

The four colleagues then formed the company Växjö Elektronoptik, later renamed LVI Low Vision International. Telub retained production responsibilities under an annual contract, while the new company handled sales, design, and marketing. When Telub wanted to increase the price for production, Bernt and his colleagues turned to the Swedish Development Fund for help. To bring down costs, they compared prices with other manufacturing companies in the area. This eventually led to a joint production venture with another company, Micropower, from Tävelsås, located a few miles south of Växjö in Sweden.

Initially, LVI used conventional zoom optics for its video magnifiers but later switched to cameras with enhanced optics from Japan. In the mid-1980s, Bernt visited the designer of the original CCTV in Los Angeles and showcased LVI's latest product, MagniVision 04. The designer was impressed by Sweden's advancements.

- Bernt laughed, “It was a nice feather in the cap.”

Bernt recounted LVI's success and expansion into Norway, Denmark, other European countries, and eventually the USA. LVI was the first company to introduce innovations such as color systems, autofocus, HD systems and computer-connected, portable reading cameras for schools (MagniLink Student, later MagniLink S).

Same company, Same vision, New techniques

During his visit to our newly renovated headquarters, Bernt was impressed with the premises and was above all else pleased that the company he co-founded is alive and well. He noted that while the core mission remains the same – enlarging and amplifying printed text for the visually impaired – the technology has significantly improved, with higher resolution images and smaller, lighter products.

Our current CEO, Henrik Blomdahl, took the opportunity to show the company's latest products with built-in AI technology. Henrik demonstrated how our MagniLink iTAB can read text aloud, summarize content, interpret handwritten text, and present information in different languages – all with simple voice commands. Bernt was impressed by all of the technological advancements.

Picture of our CEO, Henrik Blomdahl, showing Bernt our latest technology by demonstrating AI on our MagniLink iTAB unit.

LVIs CEO, Henrik Blomdahl, demonstrating the MagniLink iTAB with built-in AI technology.

The thing Mannesson missed most from his time at LVI was the construction aspect. He continues to draw and construct things in CAD programs and has made a lot of furniture that he designed himself.

Bernt brought coffee for the entire staff, which was greatly appreciated. We thank him for his celebratory visit and the fascinating history lesson, which we are now sharing with you.

Photo showing our staff cutting a piece of a traditional cinnamon wheat bread that Bernt brought to us for our Fika.