THE MOST IMPORTANT CONFERENCE OF THE YEAR

We were welcomed by the chairman of the regional board and the chairman of Techtank and Produktionslyftet

Anna Throne Holst, CEO of the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce in New York, shared her experiences of how Americans view Swedes and what opportunities exist on the other side of the Atlantic. We reflected together on international trade policy and how the relationship between our countries affects the business opportunities of Swedish companies.

How do we put Blekinge on the map?

Stage designer Lo and architect Per did a grand tour of Blekinge in order to give us an outside perspective on the region’s development opportunities, challenges and potential based on the connection nature, culture and the meeting between people and companies.

As responsible from Business Region Gothenburg for the establishment of Novo Energy, a joint-venture between Northvolt and Volvo Cars, Björn took us on the journey that made them successful in landing the investment.

Catharina Rosenquist, Region Blekinge, Liselott Wentzel, Almi Blekinge and Jeton Jasharaj, Invest in Skåne, presented the project Southern Sweden International. The project was run for four years with the aim of increasing the degree of internationalization in Blekinge and Skåne.

WSP has evaluated activities in the project Southern Sweden International. During 2023, Kristina has interviewed key people in Blekinge for the continued work with export and investment promotion. During the conference, the following questions where answered: What do participating companies think? Is it possible to measure a shift in terms of export and investment maturity in the region? How do the people interviewed view continued work to increase Blekinge’s attractiveness?

We heard Magnus talk about how NKT contributes to green transition in the region and around the globe as well as what potential NKT sees with offshore wind power and how Blekinge can take advantage of the opportunities that the green transition brings.

Peter Bronsman, CEO Kopparbergs Bryggeri and Anders Johansson, former Almi Blekinge, spoke about why Blekinge is a good place to start the protein production of the future. With experience from building up the Kopparberg group, Peter talked about what it takes to start up and run a big company.

As national coordinator for the investment promotion at Business Sweden, Anna gave us an up-to-date picture of the work in Sweden, how the collaboration works with the local and regional levels and focus areas for 2023.

During an intensive session, we tackled Blekinge’s value propositions, Marine Technology, Digital Technology and Forming and Stamping. We listened to; Daniel Wiklund, RISE, David Appelberg, Lennart Johansson and Jörgen Adolfsson from Blue Science Park. Together with analyst Simon Ljunqvist, Region Blekinge, Henric Johnson, Business Sweden/BTH and moderator Ulrika Wilke, we gained insights about innovation and business opportunities within the areas.

Live from China, we met Tina, who works to increase innovation and research collaboration between Sweden and China. With extensive experience from international relations, she talked about how the changing patterns in world trade affect Swedish companies’ opportunities on the Chinese market and investments in Sweden.

Christina Mattisson, Mathias Wijk, Fredrik Jenfjord and Catharina Rosenquist summarized the conference.