Mobilisation to increase regional attractiveness

Mobilisation to increase regional attractivenessA background report from IVA’s project Attractiveness for Sustainable Growth

© Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, 2015P.O. Box 5073, SE-102 42 StockholmTel: +46 (0)8 791 29 00Fax: +46 (0)8 611 56 23E-mail: [email protected]: www.iva.se

IVA-M 457ISSN: 1102-8254 ISBN: 978-91-7082-900-0

Editors: Lisa Renander, Monika Wassén & Jan Westberg, IVAPhotos: Erik Cronberg, Ewa Ahlin, Johan Gunséus, Sara Winsnes, Mikael Sjöberg, Photo by Maria & Stina Olsson/Region HallandIllustration: Mattias ForsbergLayout: Anna Lindberg & Pelle Isaksson, IVA

This report is also available for download at IVA’s websitewww.iva.se

Contents

Foreword ............................................................................................................................ 5

Summary ............................................................................................................................ 6

Leading position challenged ................................................................................................ 8New conditions ............................................................................................................. 8Attractiveness for Sustainable Growth ........................................................................ 10Interviews ................................................................................................................... 10

Sweden’s attractiveness and competitiveness ..................................................................... 11Sweden’s attractiveness and competitiveness in international indexes ......................... 12Innovation and competitiveness .................................................................................. 12Quality of life and social progress ................................................................................13Sweden’s image ............................................................................................................13

Regional attractiveness: SWOT analysis ............................................................................15 Areas of strength and excellence ................................................................................. 16 Natural resources and climate..................................................................................... 18 Living environment ..................................................................................................... 20 Complacency and weak self-esteem ............................................................................ 22 Supply of talent ........................................................................................................... 24 Infrastructure ............................................................................................................. 26 Excellence ................................................................................................................... 28 National and international cooperation ...................................................................... 30 More effective support systems ................................................................................... 32 Lack of awareness of the external environment ........................................................... 34 Unclear roles and decision authority ........................................................................... 36 Lack of coordination in national initiatives ................................................................. 38

Four key focus areas for Regional Attractiveness .............................................................. 411. Areas of excellence .................................................................................................. 422. Support systems ...................................................................................................... 423. Strategic analysis of the external environment ........................................................ 424. Cooperation and leadership .................................................................................... 42Top guns – the next stage ............................................................................................ 43

Appendix .......................................................................................................................... 44Heads of planning and development interviewed ........................................................ 44References ....................................................................................................................45Steering Committee .................................................................................................... 46Project management .................................................................................................... 46

Foreword

Over the past five years IVA has been running projects on the themes of innovation and competitiveness. The main focus of the Innovation for Growth (2009–2011) project was a Swedish national innovation strategy. Dialogue at the regional level would soon have an important role to play in this project. In the project Innovation Powerhouse Sweden (2012–2013) the emphasis was on regional innovation strategies. At meetings in thirteen regions in Sweden IVA acted as a catalyst in efforts to develop and implement these strategies.

The purpose of the Attractiveness for Sustainable Growth project (2014–2016) is to propose measures to increase Swedish competitiveness and attractiveness. This project has a clear regional focus as well. The key question is how to make Swedish regions more attractive by, for example, implementing regional innovation strategies.

During the autumn of 2014 we conducted interviews with the people responsible for development and innovation in all of Sweden’s regions. In this background report we present their input on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats with respect to improving regional attractiveness. Their responses indicate that there is strong potential in the Swedish regions, at the same time as increasing international competition requires more emphasis on specialisation.

IVA’s role as an independent actor is to develop proposals, drive the debate and be a platform where other actors can meet and test new models for cooperation. In the report conclusion we present four areas where IVA can contribute: areas of excellence, support systems, analysis of the external environment, and cooperation and regional leadership. I hope that this report will provide inspiration and background for a constructive debate on issues vital to Sweden’s future in a globalised world. I would also like to thank everyone who contributed their knowledge and insights in the interviews.

Carl Bennet Chairman of the Steering Committee for Attractiveness for Sustainable Growth

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How those responsible for development and innovation see regional competitiveness and attractiveness

Summary

The purpose of the project “Attractiveness for Sustainable Growth” is to promote the develop-ment of the already successful Swedish model to make Sweden more competitive and attractive.

The focus of this report is development at the regional level, i.e. regional and national ini-tiatives and investments in various policy areas. One important aspect is making regions more attractive by identifying and developing their strengths.

The attractiveness of a country, a region or a

city determines its ability to attract investors, businesses and individuals. Attractiveness is determined by a combination of hard factors – such as infrastructure and housing, and soft ones – such as culture and values. Consequently, a broad perspective is needed that includes all aspects of significance in encouraging compa-nies and individuals to act and work together in various geographical locations.

Today Sweden is one of the most innovative countries in the world. We are among the rich-

Strengths• Areas of strength and excellence• Natural resources and climate

• Living environment

Weaknesses• Complacency and weak self-esteem

• Talent supply• Infrastructure

Opportunities• Areas of excellence

• National and international cooperation• More effective support systems

Threats• Lack of insight into the external environment

• Unclear roles and decision authority• Lack of coordination in national initiatives

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est nations and at the top of various quality of life rankings. But several countries are unleash-ing their innovative power at a faster pace than Sweden.

Our future prosperity depends on maintain-ing strong exports, on a strong ability to make changes within the Swedish economy and on highly productive companies providing plenty of jobs. This in turn requires Sweden to be an attractive country in which people and compa-nies can work and grow.

Sweden is meeting the challenges of the future in the context of new forces at play, such as glo-balisation, digitisation and demand for sustain-able production and solutions for society. The starting point for this report is a fourth force: the changing conditions and circumstances in Sweden’s regions.

The report examines and documents the work being done in the regions to increase competitiveness and attractiveness. It is based on interviews with those actors in all of the re-gions who are responsible for development and innovation. There are also in-depth interviews

with 40 growth companies from all of Sweden’s regions.

Our analysis of the interviews is presented in the form of a SWOT analysis. This illustrates how those working on development and innovation see the strengths and weaknesses in Sweden’s regions from an attraction and competitiveness perspective. We also present their opinions on the opportunities and threats that exist.

Attractiveness for Sustainable Growth aspi-res to challenge, give insights and increase knowledge. The project also aims to provide impetus for initiatives that will bring various actors and stakeholders together to tackle im-portant issues for the future.

Based on a SWOT analysis, we have identified four key focus areas for continued efforts to in-crease regional competitiveness and attractive-ness:

1. Areas of excellence2. Support systems3. Strategic analysis of the external environment4. Cooperation and leadership

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Leading position challenged

Sweden is now one of the richest nations in the world. One important explanation for this is that since the beginning of industrialisation, Sweden has enjoyed significant export revenues from raw materials and innovative products.

Today Sweden is still one of the most innova-tive countries in the world and at the top of qual-ity of life rankings. But we are being challenged. Several countries are unleashing their innovative power at a faster pace than Sweden. Many are in-creasing their investment in research. The educa-tion system in several competing countries is de-livering better results than education in Sweden.

We cannot, in other words, take Sweden’s fu-ture prosperity for granted. Action is required:

• In Sweden we need to produce world-class products and services that are in demand around the world.

• Sweden’s transformational ability must remain strong so that enough people in the working population work for companies with sufficient productivity to be able to pay good salaries.

• Enough people need to be working and paying taxes to maintain the capacity and quality of the social welfare system and services.

NEW CONDITIONS

As we face future challenges we will need to meet them under new conditions:

• Globalisation is increasing international competition, making it more important to be able to adjust and adapt quickly.

• Digitisation is bringing about a technology shift

that is driving fast structural transformation which will soon affect all parts of the economy.

• The threat to the environment and climate combined with rapid urbanisation and a growing population throughout the world are increasing the demand for sustainability in production and social solutions.

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The starting point for this report is a fourth force: the changing conditions and circumstances in Sweden’s regions.

The development capacity of different regions changes over time. The industrial society and urbanisation have changed the balance between cities and rural areas. Digitisation, globalisation and increased demand for sustainable growth are now creating a new development climate.

Throughout the industrialisation era, strong local self-governance by county and municipal authorities was a key aspect of regional devel-opment and a vital factor in making Sweden a dynamic nation. A fundamental aspect of Swed-ish social services is that they should be provided

equally to all citizens, regardless of where they live in the country.

The report focuses on development work at the regional level, i.e. initiatives and investments in vari-ous policy areas at the national and regional levels.

One important aspect of this is making Swe-den more attractive by identifying and developing the regions’ strengths. Companies and individu-als need to discover the development opportuni-ties in their region. Cooperation across regional boundaries to create critical mass will make regions even more attractive. Active efforts by regions to identify their development capacity will attract more interest from the outside and increase the regions’ self-awareness.

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Interviews with those responsible for regional development and innovation

During the period 18 August–15 October 2014 interviews were conducted with regional directors or county governors as well as those responsible for the regional innovation strategy work in Sweden’s regions. A total of 44 people were included in the survey.

The telephone interviews lasted for between 45 and 60 minutes. The questions were open-ended and the responses resonated. The interviews were fully documented to form a basis for the analysis in this report.

In Sweden there are three types of actors responsible for regional development. They are the development co-ordination agencies (Samverkansorgan), the county administrative board and the county councils/municipal authorities.

Company survey

During the period 1 September–10 October 2014 a total of 40 interviews were conducted with business leaders in Swedish growth companies from all of the country’s counties. The companies’ net sales range from SEK 10 million to 980 million and they represent various sectors.

During the telephone interviews, which lasted between 30 and 60 minutes, the business leaders answered questions about the growth opportunities and obstacles in their regions. The interviews were documented in full.

ATTRACTIVENESS FOR SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

The premise for the Attractiveness for Sustain-able Growth project is the innovation strategy work at the national and regional levels over the past few years and the results from IVA’s pro-jects “Innovation for Growth” and “Innovation Powerhouse Sweden.” The purpose of this pro-ject is to support the development of measures to stimulate innovation and competitiveness and the implementation of these. Another aim is to help grow innovative environments and make Sweden highly attractive.

Attractiveness for Sustainable Growth, which was launched in 2014 and will conclude at the end of June 2016, aspires to promote the devel-opment of the already successful Swedish model to make Sweden more competitive and attrac-tive. The project will provide proposals for nec-essary changes in key areas for growth, competi-tiveness and attractiveness. The aim is also to inform the public discourse on how fundamen-tal changes around the world are affecting the future of the Swedish welfare society.

INTERVIEWS

Sweden’s capacity as a dynamic nation starts in the regions. For this report we have inter-viewed people responsible for development and innovation in all of the regions in order to document their initiatives to improve com-petitiveness and attractiveness.

The interview questions focused on regional development work and implementation of inno-vation strategies in five areas:

• New business • Supply of talent• Smart specialisation• Investments• Relationships with the external environment

The interviews with those responsible for region-al development and innovation were supplement-ed by in-depth interviews with business leaders.

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Key factors for bringing businesses and people to the region

More and more businesses are operating in an international market. The location they choose for their business is determined by factors such as:

• Access to talent• Infrastructure• Proximity to the market • Links to the location• Regulations and taxes• Political stability in the country

People have other criteria when choosing a place to live and work. They include high quality in and access to:

• Housing • A pleasant and safe living environment • Job opportunities• Childcare• Schools and higher education• Infrastructure • Cultural offering

Sweden’s attractiveness and competitiveness

The attractiveness of a country, a region or a city determines its ability to attract investors, businesses and individuals.

Attractiveness is determined by a combina-tion of hard factors – such as infrastructure and housing, and soft ones – such as culture and val-ues. Consequently, a broad perspective is needed that includes all aspects of significance in en-couraging companies and individuals to act and work together in various geographical locations.

Digitisation and globalisation are expanding the opportunities of a geographical location for individuals and businesses who can increasingly exploit opportunities for cooperation through-out the world.

Globalisation is increasing competition for talent and new business. What is special and at-tractive about a certain location will determine which groups it can attract. Well-prepared, tar-get-group-adapted marketing initiatives high-lighting a city’s or a region’s unique offering are therefore becoming increasingly important.

Attractiveness is about soft values. What do you feel when you read or hear something? I believe it is absolutely crucial to get to the heart of the message to be communicated and communicate it honestly. Bodil Rosvall Jönsson, Business Development Director, Region Skåne and CEO Business Region Skåne.

Talent is coming here to Malmö because this is the place to be. It’s cool to be here. It’s fun and exciting. The multicultural aspect and people sitting at pavement cafés gives the city a Mediterranean feel. Jonas Rastad, Regional Director, Region Skåne.

Everyone is talking about attractiveness and new business right now.

Christina Frimodig, CEO of STUNS, Uppsala.

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Key factors for Sweden’s success model

In Attractiveness for Sustainable Growth the project’s Steering Committee was interviewed (see page 14) and asked about which combination of soft and hard factors form the basis for the social model that has made Sweden successful and attractive internationally. A number of factors were highlighted, including the following:

• Sweden has a strong education system which has created a highly talented and skilled workforce at the same time as people are able to impact their career path through freedom to choose their education.

• Advanced research is a foundation for development in industry and the public sector.• Relative to the size of its economy, Sweden has many international corporations. These are important

drivers of development in their sectors in Sweden.• The Swedish economy has a strong capacity for transformation. This is helped by a basic acceptance

among parties in the labour market of the consequences of structural transformation for companies and entire sectors. Individuals who are affected by closures receive financial and other support to find a new job.

• Most of Sweden has well-developed infrastructure.• Leadership in Sweden is inclusive, which is an important factor in the strong cluture of cooperation

that characterises Swedish workplaces.• Strong institutions have given Sweden fundamental stability. This applies to formal institutions such as

the legal system and public authorities exercising power, and informal ones such as a willingness to pay taxes, participation in elections and company loyalty.

• Our welfare system provides security for all citizens through, for example, free healthcare, tuition-free education and an extensive social insurance system.

• The living milieu – i.e. housing standards and environment – are good.• Sweden has a rich cultural offering in large parts of the country.• Low corruption and high personal safety characterise Swedish society.

SWEDEN’S ATTRACTIVENESS AND COMPETITIVENESS IN INTERNATIONAL INDEXES

The World Bank, the OECD, the European Com-missions and other organisations regularly com-pare countries from numerous perspectives. The purpose is to identify their strengths in areas such as innovation, creativity and democracy. Sweden is ranked high up in many of these indexes.

INNOVATION AND COMPETITIVENESS

Today Sweden is ranked as one of the world’s best countries in terms of its climate for creativity and innovation. According to the European Commis-sion’s Innovation Union Scoreboard, Sweden is among the top countries in most of the indica-tors, particularly in research, private sector R&D

investment and patents. But Sweden does not do as well in the indicators that measure exports of knowledge-intensive services and the component of company sales that can be related to new in-novations.

Several indexes do, however, show that Swe-den is losing its lead in areas such as innova-tion, competitiveness and digitisation. Countries around us are developing faster, often as a result of substantial investment to strengthen their in-ternational position. This trend is most evident in the World Economic Forum’s Global Com-petitiveness Report which summarises the com-petitiveness of 144 nations. Since 2010 Sweden has fallen from second to tenth place.

In the OECD’s most recent FDI in Figures,

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Global Competitiveness Report

2014–15 2010–11 ChangeSwitzerland 1 1 0Singapore 2 3 +1USA 3 4 +1Finland 4 7 +3Germany 5 5 0Japan 6 6 0Hong Kong 7 11 +4The Netherlands 8 8 0UK 9 12 +3Sweden 10 2 -8

Source: World Economic Forum, The Global Competitiveness Report 2010–2011, 2014–2015

Sweden’s ranking in the 11 areas of the OECD Better Life Index

Housing 15Income 11Jobs 13Community 18Education 6Environment 1Civic Engagement 2Health 7Life Satisfaction 8Safety 27Work-Life Balance 6

Source: OECD Better Life Index, OECD, 2014

Sweden is down in 25th place in ability to attract foreign investment. We are behind countries such as Estonia, Brazil, Hungary and Turkey.

QUALITY OF LIFE AND SOCIAL PROGRESS

The Social Progress Index and OECD ’s Better Life Index measure multiple dimensions of wellbe-ing and opportunities for personal development. Sweden is among the best in these indexes as well.

The OECD Better Life Index compares the ability of the OECD countries to offer their citi-zens a good quality of life. Eleven areas are meas-ured: housing, income, jobs, community (fam-ily and friends), education, environment, civic engage ment, health, life satisfaction, safety and work-life balance.

In the most recent index Sweden ranks high up

in environment (water and air quality) and civic engagement. But Sweden’s ranking for housing, community and above all safety (measured as the number of murders and reported assaults) is sig-nificantly lower.

SWEDEN’S IMAGE

The Nation Brand Index measures the strength of different countries' brands. In 2014 Sweden was ranked tenth out of the 50 countries compared. Sweden has had the same ranking since 2008.

Sweden’s brand is strong in the Western World. We are regarded as a democratic role model with a strong social responsibility struc-ture. Knowledge about and interest in Sweden is, however, significantly lower among the citizens of growth countries and among young people throughout the world.

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1. London 16,0 %2. New York 12,2 %3. Paris 8,9 %4. Sydney 5,2 %5. Madrid 5,0 %6. Berlin 4,6 %7. Barcelona 4,4 %8. Toronto 4,2 %9. Singapore 3,9 %10. Rome 3,5 %11. Dubai 3,4 %12. Los Angeles 3,2 %13. Tokyo 2,8 %14. Munich 2,8 %15. Miami 2,6 %

16. Amsterdam 2,5 %17. Vienna 2,5 %18. San Francisco 2,4 %19. Stockholm 2,4 %20. Zürich 2,2 %21. Montréal 2,1 %22. Oslo 2,1 %23. Vancouver 2,1 %24. Dublin 1,9 %25. Brussels 1,7 %26. Santiago 1,7 %27. Melbourne 1,7 %28. Copenhagen 1,6 %29. Lisbon 1,5 %30. Genève 1,5 %

This is the most attractive place to work

Globalisation has increased the mobility of a global workforce and the desire to work abroad is high, according to a study by Boston Consulting Group (2014) which included 200,000 people in the working population in 189 countries. 64 percent of those asked want to work abroad and 20 percent already have some international work experience. The desire to work outside their own country is greater among young people in developing countries, compared to Americans, Brits and Germans. The most attractive countries to work in are the three English speaking countries, USA, UK and Canada, and Germany. 23 percent of those asked could consider working in Sweden, which puts us in tenth place in the ranking.

The most attractive cities in which to work according to the study are London, New York, Paris and Sydney. Stockholm is in 19th place (2.4 percent could consider working in Stockholm). This is the highest ranking among the Nordic capitals. Boston Consulting Group (2014), Decoding Global Talent.

1. USA 42 %2. UK 37 %3. Canada 35 %4. Germany 33 %5. Switzerland 29 %6. France 29 %7. Australia 28 %8. Spain 26 %9. Italy 25 %10. Sweden 23 %< 5 %

5–10 %10–15 %15–20 %20–25 %25–30 %30–35 %35–40 %> 40 %

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Regional attractiveness SWOT analysis

Our analysis of the interviews is presented in the form of a SWOT analysis. It provides an overview of what those responsible for development and innovation see as the strengths and weaknesses in Sweden’s regions from a competition and attractiveness perspective. We also present their opinions on the opportunities and threats that exist.

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES OPPOR TUNITIES THREATS

Areas of strength and excellence

Complacency and weak self-esteem

Excellence Lack of awareness of the external environment

Natural resources and climate

Supply of talent

National and international cooperation

Unclear roles and decision authority

Living environment

Infra- structure

More effective support systems

Lack of coordination in national initiatives

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STRENGTHS


Strength areas are industries or broad fields where a region or a country is academically and/or commercially strong. Examples of strength areas are life sciences, ICT, forest, creative industries and biotech.

Areas of excellence are narrow fields where a region or a county has critical mass from academic excellence combined with strong commercial capacity. The area can be packaged to create international attractiveness and competitiveness. Examples of areas of excellence are 3D-animated computer games, recyclable textiles, data centres for storing large amounts of data and packaging based on nanotechnology.


There is a strong awareness in the regions about Sweden’s leading international position and strong competitiveness in many areas. These ar-eas are the engineering industry and the forest, steel, automation and automotive industries, as well as the visualisation, computer games, ICT and smart materials sectors.

Excellence and critical mass are seen as very important factors in making a region an attrac-tive partner:

We are receiving attention through our effective centres of excellence and offerings. Businesses and talent want access to our networks. Peter Larsson, Business Development Coordinator, Östsam Regional Council.

Strong, highly specialised international corpo-rations have been operating in several regions

for a long time. Examples are ABB in Ludvika, a leader in high voltage direct current, Västra Götaland’s automotive industry, the forest indu stry in many regions and the glass indus-try in Småland. Many interviewees emphasise how significant these world-leading corpora-tions are in making the regions more attractive:

SSAB here in Stockholm is the world leader in high strength steel. Monika Jönsson, Business Strategist, Region Dalarna.

The forest cluster in Västernorrland is a world leader in identifying application areas for mechanical paper pulp production. Not many places can boast one of the largest forest pro-ducts companies in the world (SCA). Magnus Karlsson, Business Division Director, Väster-norrland County Administrative Board.

Värmland is a global leader in paper techno-logy. We are in this position thanks to unique expertise and world-leading products. We also have an amazingly diverse range of companies in the paper industry. Anders Olsson, Research and Innovation Strategist, Region Värmland.

Sweden, Finland and Canada are at the fore-front in the paper industry. People around the world know this, but not in Sweden. I think the reason is that the only thing we read about is the crisis in the paper industry and sawmills closures. Sawmills are being closed because a few of them have become more efficient and can handle the same volumes on their own. Bo Källstrand, County Governor, Västernorrland County Administrative Board.

Värmland is a global leader in paper technology. We are in this position thanks to unique expertise and world-leading products. We also have an amazingly diverse range of companies in the paper industry.

Anders Olsson, Research and Innovation Strategist, Region Värmland.

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Focus and long-term approach in Skövde attracts Microsoft

For ten years now a cluster of small innovative game development companies has grown at Gothia Science Park in Skövde. The cluster is the result of a long-term strategy to establish Skövde as a global hub for game development start-ups.

A strategic partnership between Microsoft and Gothia Innovation has started in which Microsoft is providing the cluster at the Gothia Science Park with hardware that is not normally available to new game development companies and students. Microsoft is also contributing software, developer kits for Xbox One, expertise and financing.

The partnership is behind the world’s first Game Camp, a sort of open innovation competition lasting for six months and involving up to 200 students. The purpose is to develop game concepts that can be launched on the console owners’ ecosystems, at the same time as the young teams gain experience in developing games on unique gaming consoles. They also have an opportunity to get their products published and launch their start-ups.

In the EU the kind of excellence we have can only be found in the glass industry in Italy and here in Kronoberg. Carin Karlsson, Director of the Community Development Division, County Administrative Board for Kronoberg County.

A few regions have developed excellence in new areas. Examples are internationally recognised ones, such as geographic information systems (GIS) developed within Future Position X in Gävle, computer game development in Stockholm and Skövde, web solutions in Umeå and nuclear power expertise in Oskarshamn.

Chinese companies have chosen to locate their European offices here because we are strong in GIS. Magnus Ernström, Development Strategist in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Region Gävleborg.

Västerbotten’s business traditions are based on the county’s natural resources and industries. But it’s also important to identify development areas based on the newer and broader skills in our county. We have abun-dant resources in the form of knowledge and infrastructure for ICT ventures. We have, for example, companies like North Kingdom with unique expertise in web solutions and

communication; expertise that is required by customers all around the world. So we are already a global leader in several areas. Anna Pettersson, Regional Director, Region Västerbotten.

Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory north of Oskars-hamn is SKB’s research facility that is preparing for the construction of a final repository of spent nuclear fuel. SKB is conducting full-scale research here 450 metres down in Sweden’s primary rock to learn about what is needed to construct a final repository. This work has also resulted in new knowledge and expertise in other areas, such as water chemistry, micro-bes, geology and welding. Work is currently under way on an application to the Swedish Research Council to establish a national geosphere laboratory here. Eight of Sweden’s leading universities are behind the application. Håkan Brynielsson, Region Director, Kalmar County Regional Council.

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STRENGTHSNatural resources and climate

There are many examples of regions that are ex-ploiting their strengths in natural resources and their climate for their development work:

The forest, nature and water are key resour-ces for Värmland. Lars Christensen, Assistant Region Director, Region Värmland.

The tourist industry often promotes the region’s natural environment and climate:

In the tourist industry we take advantage of the unique aspects here, such as the northern lights, wilderness, ice and snow. Foresighted people are crucial for big success stories like the Ice Hotel. At first a lot of people just shook their heads at the idea. Sven-Erik Österberg, County Governor, Norrbotten County Administrative Board.

Västernorrland has seen the biggest increase in the number of overnight visitors in Sweden.

We have learnt from the tourist industry in Dalarna and Jämtland whose volumes were already twice the size of ours. We gathered all of the actors (municipal authorities, regions, private sector players and universities) and worked on upgrading, developing, packaging and marketing. There is no doubt that regional funding investments made a difference. Bo Källstrand, County Governor, Västernorrland County Administrative Board.

In the tourist industry cooperation has also been established with VisitSweden and its national tourism promotion activities. National and

inter national cooperation and the packaging of joint offerings are promoting business.

We have a long tradition of international cooperation and projects in the area of tourism. Anna Pettersson, Regional Director, Region Västerbotten.

Another example that takes advantage of the cli-mate is an initiative to establish Swedish regions as attractive locations for data centres. This fast-growing area started with Facebook’s decision to establish a data centre in Luleå in 2011. The Swedish Government invested SEK 100 million in it:

The biggest challenge now is the energy tax. Word is spreading on the international market that Sweden does not have a favourable business climate and this may stop businesses setting up here in the future. Sven-Erik Öster berg, County Governor, Norrbotten County Administrative Board.

Automotive tests are another example of how Norrbotten has taken advantage of the oppor-tunities offered by the natural environment and climate. All of the large car producers are here and many of them have new ideas for additional business ventures. The County Administrative Board has a positive view of development in the area. The next step is to develop year-round oper ations.

We have a long tradition of international cooperation and projects in the area of tourism.

Anna Pettersson, Regional Director, Region Västerbotten.

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STRENGTHSLiving environment

All regions point to their natural and living en-vironments as factors that strengthen their at-tractiveness:

We have a good environment, clean air, proximity to nature, security, safety, a well-developed welfare system and it is relatively inexpensive here. Maria C. Lindqvist, Head of Development in Innovation, County Adminis-trative Board for Stockholm County.

We can offer a secure and pleasant environment in which to raise a family, proximity to the community, a range of cultural and sporting activities, lifestyle living and a good fibre optic network. Stefan Persson, Business Development Director, Region Gotland.

In Skåne people can live in the countryside and commute into the city. Bodil Rosvall Jöns-son, Business Development Director, Region Skåne and CEO Business Region Skåne.

We have beautiful countryside and an attractive cultural milieu, but then all regions in Sweden have that. Göran Norberg, Regional Council Director, Sörmland Regional Council.

Some of the regions are working actively to at-tract people from metropolitan areas. Their selling points are living closer to nature, a safe environment to raise a family and a good quality of life. Certain regions and cities are focusing on specific target groups; Nyköping is focusing on

families with children. Gotland wants to attract individuals whose work is not location-depend-ent. Jönköping is focusing on bringing people back home, i.e. people who lived in the region in the past:

Jönköping is a role model in this area with its campaign to bring back 200 people who have had a connection to the city. I liked that. Bodil Rosvall Jönsson, Business Development Director, Region Skåne and CEO Business Region Skåne.

We have a good environ ment, clean air, proximity to na-ture, security, safety, a well-developed welfare system and it is relatively inexpen-sive here.

Maria C. Lindqvist, Head of Development in Innovation, County Administrative Board for Stockholm County.

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Companies are loyal to their locations

The business leaders interviewed are loyal to their locations and have no plans to move. For business founders and owners, the choice of where to set up was determined simply by the fact that they grew up there or were living there when they started their business. CEOs that are not owners could consider moving the business, but none of them has any such plans at the moment.

They do, however, underscore the importance of schools and efficient social services in the location where their companies operate: “It’s important to have good schools, childcare and healthcare so that my employees can have a good family life.”

Many of those interviewed criticize the municipal authorities for their lack of interest in business ventures and their needs. So there is room for improvement. In addition to attracting new enterprise to the region they should work systematically to support and simplify things for existing businesses.

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WEAK-NESSES

Educating business leaders had driven growth in Västernorrland

“Many companies are indifferent and don’t want to grow.” For a year and a half Västernorrland ran a growth project called Tillväxtprojektet – Tillväxt i Västernorrland offering advanced leadership training focusing on growth in the region in cooperation with Umeå University. 60 companies participated. All seven municipalities co-financed the project which cost SEK 5 million.

“The companies were enthusiastic about the networks they were able to establish. 80 percent want to employ more people.”Bo Källstrand, County Governor, Västernorrland County Administrative Board

Complacency and weak self-esteem

The interviews also addressed the attitudes of people living in the regions. One region talks about having a “widespread bruksanda” (where workers expect the factory/mill where they work to provide for their needs), another about a “lack of crisis awareness,” and a third about “weak self-esteem.”

It is important not to have a positive self-image. Sometimes we don’t think we are worth much. Håkan Brynielsson, regiondirektör, Region Director, Kalmar County Regional Council.

Here people never say that they are from Västernorrland. I think this is because we don’t identify with our county in the same way as people do in other parts of the country. Magnus Karlsson, Business Division Director, Västernorrland County Administrative Board.

We need to rally our forces and promote confidence in the future. Åza Rydén, Regional Development Director, Region Blekinge.

Weak self-esteem is accompanied by complacen-cy among many of the people living in a region. One recurrent explanation for this is that “things have gone well anyway.” Far from all regions have gone through a crisis that was so bad they were forced to proactively restructure in order to attract new business and new types of skills.

Our world-leading corporations are magnets for talent, new business and capital. In the future we need to work on a broader front and be more proactive in this area. Mikael Hjorth, Development Director, County Administrative Board, Västmanland County.

A region that gets into a crisis may have some advantages; everyone sits down and holds hands. We haven’t had a knife to our throats, so we allow ourselves to think differently and go in different directions. Sven-Erik Sahlén, Head of Development, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Örebro County Regional Council.

Regions hit hard by the threat of layoffs and clo-sures have used the crisis as an incentive to work towards common goals. One example of this is when Stockholm was affected by the AztraZen-eca closures:

When AstraZeneca shut down its research operation in Södetälje it was important to soften the blow, particularly for all the people who lost their jobs. It was also important to prepare for the future to maintain our strong position in life sciences. Many of us were working on setting up

We need to gather our forces and promote confidence in the future.

Åza Rydén, Regional Development Director, Region Blekinge.

Company survey: Strong spirit of enterprise according to business leaders

The somewhat pessimistic image of attitudes and opinions among the people living in the regions that emerged in the interviews with people responsible for development and innovation was challenged by the companies themselves.

When we asked the business leaders what their region’s strongest points were, their responses were unequivocal: the spirit of enterprise, in other words a desire to develop their businesses. This assertive attitude is confirmed in a survey conducted by Tillväxtverket (Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth) in 2014 in which 60 percent of the small and medium-sized enterprises surveyed wanted to grow. Looking at the medium-sized ones alone, the desire to grow is a full 90 percent. Solo enterprises have the lowest desire to grow.

The growth desire varies from region to region, with Jönköping, Västernorrland and Jämtland counties at the top.

a centre of excellence in toxicology, environment and health in Gärtuna to take advantage of all the investment that had been made in premises and equipment. Eleven universities are behind the initiative. This investment in research and education is important for Sweden. I think the County Governor has an important role to play in this type of process. Chris Heister, County Governor, County Administrative Board for Stockholm County.

Norrbotten is one example of how target-orient-ed efforts make it is possible to change attitudes in a region:

Norrbotten has undergone a mental transformation so that everyone is pulling in the same direction and there is little competition. Good networks, some grumbling and people are ready to mobilise and drive the process forward. Sven-Erik Österberg, County Governor, Norrbotten County Administrative Board.

Attitudes also affect growth ambitions in the private sector. Companies that are doing well do not have a strong enough incentive to grow to be willing to take risks and expand.

We need to help businesses go from a getting-by to an expansion mentality. Peter Hogla, Region Director, Southern Småland County Regional Council.

We made extra investments in innovation and innovation consulting, but it didn’t have the effect we expected. We believe the reason is that the region has fairly mature companies that don’t see growth potential. Now we’re trying to do something about this by, for example, launching a new venture capital fund. Göran Norberg, Regional Council Director, Sörmland County Regional Council.

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WEAK-NESSES

Supply of talent

The future supply of talent in the regions is a key issue for all regions. The creation of “compe-tency platforms” has provided a better overview of the talent needs of the regions. Large genera-tional shifts are expected in many regions.

Talent supply is our Achilles heel. Ingemar Skogö, County Governor, County Administrative Board, Västmanland County.

We need 40,000 new employees by 2025. Sven-Erik Österberg, County Governor, Norrbotten County Administrative Board.

The need for a better integration policy in which the skills and talents of the “new Swedes” are embraced is emphasised by several regions. To meet their needs, more regions also need to attract talent from abroad. Today very few of them are working on this. But many of them want to be better:

We are not working on attracting talent from other countries. Targeted demand is perhaps wishful thinking. We have a large group of refugees and integrating them into the labour market is a big challenge in itself. Sven-Erik Sahlén, Head of Development, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Örebro County Regional Council.

A few regions have taken part in recruitment fairs in Södetälje for foreign-born engineers who have come to Sweden. One region had a major project to attract manpower from Poland. Al-though the project did not result in any Poles coming to the region, it did increase the region’s exposure in Poland.

Other regions have taken part in recruitment fairs in the Netherlands:

The municipalities in the county have par-ticipated for many years in a joint stand at an emigration fair in the Netherlands with good results. Every year there has been an inflow of people from the Netherlands to the county and this can be directly related to our participation in the fair. Värnamo Municipality has arranged competitions in recent years to attract Dutch entrepreneurs to run busi-nesses in Värnamo. Karolina Borg, Business Strategist, Jönköping Regional Council.

A number of regions are already recruiting tal-ent from all around the world for businesses and research projects in their core areas:

We will need 1,000 new researchers for the new MaxLabIV research centre which will be officially opened in 2016. It will be the single largest facility of its kind in Europe. Jonas Rastad, Regional Director, Region Skåne.

If you talk to members of our GIS cluster they will tell you in no uncertain terms that they are not finding the talent they need in Sweden but are having to look for it elsewhere. We are starting to excel in these areas and we need to fly people in from near and far. Magnus Ernström, Development Strategist in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Region Gävleborg.

Many regions call attention to the fact that an efficient immigration service requires good co-operation between the municipalities:

We need to take better care of people who move here. Anders Byström, Region Director, Jämtland County Regional Council.

Integration is im-portant. How can we make sure that everyone is invited to our Swedish labour market? We have untapped potential as a country.

Bodil Rosvall Jönsson, Business Development Director, Region Skåne and CEO Business Region Skåne on taking advantage of foreign talent in Sweden.

Region Skåne has implemented an export sales programme for immigrants. Almost all of the participants got jobs.

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Company survey: A supply of talent is the most important factor for businesses

In our survey of business leaders, access to skilled personnel was by far the most important factor to make a region more attractive. “Attractiveness is key. It is absolutely the most important thing. Here in Ludvika we have ABB but if it were to close down, the whole of Ludvika would shut down too.”

Most companies are recruiting locally, the main reason being that they feel more confident that these employees will stay on. When there is a shortage of talent, businesses try to attract qualified employees from other regions. Very few, however, regard recruiting from other countries as an option.

It is not always easy to attract the right talent: “The region is not attractive for people to move to. It’s not easy for two well-qualified people here because the labour market is limited. This mainly affects jobs in development and sales.”

In the survey of SMEs by the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth

(Tillväxtverket 2014), 23 percent say that having access to suitable employees is a big obstacle for their company’s growth and development. The situation is the most serious in Halland, Västmanland and Västernorrland, while it is relatively less problematic in Uppsala, Dalarna and Södermanland.

The ability to attract recruits varies greatly from region to region. 15 percent of all companies in the survey by Tillväxtverket stated that finding people who are willing to move to their area is a big obstacle for recruitment. In Östergötland, Jämtland and Jönköping counties, however, one in four companies states in the survey that the difficulties are significant. In Skåne, Västmanland and Uppsala, only one in ten of the companies has experienced the same problem.

Source for the graph: Företagens villkor och verklighet, Tillväxtverket (2014)

Two regions mentioned the need to improve in-ternational schools to attract people with fami-lies who will be working in Sweden for a number of years. One of these is Skåne:

We need more international schools in order to encourage international companies to set up here. Bodil Rosvall Jönsson, Business Deve-lopment Director, Region Skåne and CEO Business Region Skåne.

In Kalmar we have a programme that gives international students and new arrivals an introduction to the Swedish labour market in their native language. The Regional Council is coordinating this in 14 languages for all muni-cipalities and it is very effective.

We need to be better at welcoming new Swedes, being more open and making use of the talents of the people who have moved here. The elec-tion result is yet another indication of the need for openness.

Håkan Brynielsson, Region Director, Kalmar County Regional Council.

The number of companies who feel that few potential recruits are willing to move to their area.

26–32 %22–25 %17–21 %

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WEAK-NESSES

Infra- structure

Many regions underscore the fact that the lack of physical and digital infrastructure is having a very negative effect on their power of attraction. Roads, railways and flight services must be of a high quality and provide easy access to nearby big cities and the international market:

The number of residents in Uppsala County is increasing every year and our challenges include housing, infrastructure and communications. Catharina Blom, Region Director, Uppsala County Regional Council.

We need to get our products out so infrastructure is really important to us. Per-Erik Andersson, Growth and Infrastructure Division, County Administrative Board, Norrbotten County.

Infrastructure and the flow of people affects the dynamics. Helena Nilsson, Division Director Business and Growth, County Administrative Board, Kalmar County.

We need better infrastructure in order to attract twice as many tourists. Anders Byström, Regional Director, Jämtland County Regional Council.

Blekinge is highlighting its good geographical location close to the growing markets to the east. There are, however, major shortcomings in the infrastructure in southeast Sweden, which is seriously limiting the region’s ability to take advantage of the contacts that have been made

and of fully exploiting the benefits of its geo-graphical location:

The infrastructure in southeast Sweden leaves a lot to be desired, including looking at Swe-den in a global perspective. The new markets are not in southern Europe but to the east. We should be taking advantage of our good geographical location. Anna-Lena Cederström, Region Director, Region Blekinge.

The infrastructure also has a gender equality as-pect. Today both spouses in a family are in the workplace and in need of suitable jobs.

High quality transportation and digital infra-structure make it easier to find solutions in a large geographical area. Working virtually can be part of the solution if the distance to an at-tractive workplace is longer compared to in a metropolitan area.

In South Korea the Government has made a conscious effort to improve broadband con-nections. The goal was for every square metre in the country to have access to 100 MB and this was achieved in summer 2014. The new goal is to reach 200 MB by 2017. Göran Norberg, Regional Council Director, Sörmland Regional Council.

The head of the airport and Region Värmland worked together for better transportation solutions for our businesses. Frankfurt proved to be the most important hub. Analysis showed positive numbers and the flight route was established.

Anders Olsson, Research and Innovation Strategist, Region Värmland, explains what led to the launch of a direct flight route to Frankfurt.

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OPPOR-TUNITIES

Strategic innovation Areas

VINNOVA, the Swedish Energy Agency and the Swedish Research Council Formas have a joint initiative to promote Strategic Innovation Areas. The idea is to create the necessary climate for increased international competitiveness and sustainable solutions to global social challenges.

The initiative is being implemented as a bottom-up process where the actors themselves get to define areas in which they can join forces. The aim is also to stimulate and renew cooperation between small and large enterprises, the public sector, universities, research institutes

and other organisations in the Swedish innovation system.

The initiative is working in two ways: Strategic innovation agendas aimed at stimulating a dialogue between actors for a common agenda to define areas for joint action, and identifying the needs and opportunities that exist.

Agenda examples include heating, cooling and electricity from bioenergy, robust and reliable transport systems, sports and sporting experiences of the future, sustainable future plant protection in Swedish horticulture, reduced climate impact in construction processes, DIMS

(digital information management systems) for service-based growth and work organisation in education.

Strategic innovation programmes are aimed at supporting the implementation of the innovation agendas. The programmes are intended to create the necessary conditions for increased international competitiveness and sustainable solutions to global social challenges.

Examples of programme areas are graphene, the internet of things (IoT), smarter electronics systems, production, IT and automation in the processing industry, mining and metals.

Excellence

Around the world we are seeing a trend towards specialisation to make regions more competitive and attractive as partners. This also applies to Sweden:

The benefit of specialisation is that it leads to more cooperation between enterprising pe-ople in the area. People are inspired by each other and it spreads like circles on the water. Critical mass increases attractiveness. Bo Källstrand, County Governor, Västernorrland County Administrative Board.

As a region we need to decide what we want to be known for. When everyone wants to get their own message out it leads to sub-optimis-ation. Fredrik Adolfsson, Regional Development Director, Västra Götaland Region.

Focusing on key strength areas is really important. We can’t afford to scatter our

resources like we’ve done in the past. Peter Hogla, Regional Director, Southern Småland County Regional Council.

The natural result of specialisation is a focus on areas of excellence. These may be based on strength areas such as life sciences and ICTD.

It’s important to create specialised areas where we stand out so we can get higher up the value chain. Håkan Brynielsson, Region Director, Kalmar County Regional Council.

If we want to attract pharmaceutical companies to our region it is not enough for us to be among the best at life sciences overall. We need to be one of the top three in the world at clinical trials in order to be considered. This is the level at which we need to excel.

Fredrik Adolfsson, Regional Development Director, Västra Götaland Region.

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Smart partnership in innovation and destination development in Åre

“Åre has unique characteristics that make it attractive and the mountains are a fantastic asset.” Anders Byström, Region Director, Jämtland County Regional Council.

In Åre the public sector has made significant successful investments. The Multihallen Holiday club which was built in 2003 was a major contributor to making Åre a year-round destination. 50 percent of the investment came from private capital and 50 percent from the public sector. This was possible due to the flexibility of the authorities when the Holiday Club swimming pool complex was built as a public facility. “They envisioned an invisible line through the building because there is no wall between the swimming pool facility and the hotel.” Erik Noaksson, Innovation Strategist, Region Jämtland Härjedalen. The Peak Innovation cluster is being developed with support from VINNVÄXT among others to stimulate innovation in tourism, sport and leisure. Another example is an event company focusing on attracting international events to the region. It has already secured the Alpine World Ski Championships and the Biathlon World Championships. “All eight municipalities are working together.” Anders Byström, Director, Jämtland County Regional Council.

Attract top international researchers

Västra Götaland has a research programme called MORE (Mobility for Regional Excellence) to attract top international researchers in the regions areas of excellence. This supplements a national researcher programme. Work has begun on developing strategic alliances with partners in the EU and Asia.

Smart Housing Småland innovation platform

Smart Housing Småland was launched in summer 2013 and will proceed for at least 10 years. “This initiative has attracted both national and international attention. It has many dimensions and supports industries that have strong links to Småland. It is probably our most successful initiative to make the region attractive and develop business here, and we are proud and happy about that.” Rolf Persson, Region Director, Jönköping Regional Council.

“Smart Housing Småland has received a lot of positive attention for its housing prototype which was presented during Almedal Week 2014, among other places. But it is too early to show any quantitative results.” Karolina Borg, Business Strategist, Jönköping Regional Council.

“The Smart Housing project is one way of making better use of the expertise and strengths we already have and to combine them into a whole concept. By packaging an offering we can strengthen our profile: 1 + 1 = 3.” Håkan Brynielsson, Region Director, Kalmar County Regional Council.

Skåne has put a lot of effort into identifying strength areas to develop the products and services of tomorrow. To be successful in innovation and attracting talent, it’s important for academia and the private and public sectors to work together, and be unafraid of setting priorities. It’s not always obvious where we should focus our resources, but we need to make a choice. We can then set new priorities later on. One important thing is to ensure that we have critical mass. Bodil Rosvall Jönsson, Business Development Director, Region Skåne and CEO Business Region Skåne.

The need to strengthen our international at-tractiveness and competitiveness is substantial. Smart specialisation to identify and prioritise

key strength areas may prove to be an important tool in this effort.

A high percentage of exports and a strong academic position are examples of criteria to identify regional strength areas on which to base smart specialisation. We have to be bold enough to compete internationally, but the political will to single out specific sectors is lacking. The more we specialise, the more important it is to work in cooperation with others who have competencies that supple-ment ours. VINNOVA has helped promote the idea that it’s possible to specialise and forge contacts between centres of excellence around the country. Maria C. Lindqvist, Head of Development in Innovation, County Adminis-trative Board for Stockholm County.

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OPPOR-TUNITIES

National and international cooperation

Several regions emphasise the value of coop-eration across regional boundaries. In practice this involves contacts between a region and its immediate neighbours. Cooperation between regions that are further away is up to now not very common.

But there is an awareness of the potential for improvement by taking good examples from other regions. In one interview IKEA was cited as a role model:

If we found a good solution in Bilbao, we transferred it to Boston almost immediately. We need to be better at borrowing each other’s solutions. Fredrik Adolfsson, Regional Development Director, Västra Götaland Region.

Focusing on clear strengths and areas of excel-lence facilitates international cooperation. It makes it easier to tell which regions in other countries have sufficient expertise and inter-est. The regions still have work to do in this area:

We haven’t thought about forming part-nerships with other countries, but this is something we need to look into once we’ve identified our areas of excellence. Göran Norberg, Regional Council Director, Region-förbundet Sörmland.

Having an office abroad is a common tool used by the regions to work internationally. Kalmar County has an office in Shanghai:

Linnaeus University has a representative in Shanghai who does the footwork to recruit students from Chinese universities. Helena Nilsson, Division Director Business and Growth, County Administrative Board, Kalmar County.

This has so far provided Linnaeus University with revenue of SEK 20 million. It is the third best university in Sweden at recruiting international students. Håkan Brynielsson, Region Director, Kalmar County Regional Council.

Part of Värmland’s Norwegian investment is an office in Oslo and as a result, 60 out of 100 cluster companies in IT are now doing busi-ness with Norway. Five years ago the number of companies was five.

We didn’t use the usual strategy of identifying what was missing in a sector or regional value chain and then invest in the missing links. There are far too many FDI organisations in Sweden that travel around to trade fairs trying to sell their region. I don’t believe in getting visibility in this way. We believe instead in a focused strategy based on our strengths; one that doesn’t look for missing links but instead tries to get more of what we already have and are good at. More of the same. In reality we do this by going into a sector network in the countries we have decided to focus on in the sectors we know. There, we build personal relationships and work directly with owners

It is no longer me-rely about building regional clusters, but rather coordinating with other regions and countries to be more attractive.

Magnus Ernström, Development Strategist Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Region Gävleborg.

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and management teams. We have tested this method in the Oslo region where we have business consultants who know what Värmland has to offer and who work where the decisions are taken. They roll their sleeves up and work under the radar. So far this has worked. Lars Christensen, Assistant Region Director, Region Värmland.

There is great consensus among the regions on the need to strengthen international coopera-tion:

It is no longer merely about building regional clusters, but rather coordinating with other

regions and countries to be more attractive. Magnus Ernström, Development Strategist Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Region Gävleborg.

Businesses are also interested in reaching an international market. But the existing support system presents challenges in meeting their de-mand for services in the area:

The SMEs don’t want to use Business Sweden (Swedish Trade & Invest Council). They want something simpler and cheaper. Håkan Brynielsson, Region Director, Kalmar County Regional Council.

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OPPOR-TUNITIES

Open innovation

Open innovation can be defined as “companies developing cheaper and better ideas from the best sources in the world through cooperation with people outside their own organisation, including customers, distributors and even competitors.” Shortcut (2009)

The term “open innovation” was coined in 2003 by Henry Chesbrough, a professor at the University of California. He defines it as a conscious inflow and outflow of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation

and to expand markets for the external use of internal innovation. There are also natural associations with concepts such as open content, open source code, crowdsourcing, user-driven innovation, open standards, open systems and web 2.0.

Rapid globalisation and digitisation are resulting in more opportunities for open innovation in a series of different areas using tools such as cooperation platforms, online meetings and web-based innovation competitions.


In past projects (2011, 2013) IVA has shown the shortcomings in the innovation support system at the national and regional levels. A change of course towards fewer actors, more clearly de-fined roles, better cooperation and the use of public funding were identified as urgent steps to take.

The innovation support system is now facing the challenge of how to play a constructive role as new forms of cooperation, such as open inno-vation processes, become increasingly important.

The need for more effective support systems is also greater as more emphasis is placed on areas of strength and excellence:

Our role is like that of a gardener raking leaves for the local authorities and the private sector. We have to coordinate our efforts and offer a toolbox. Håkan Brynielsson, Region Director, Kalmar County Regional Council.

The model is cooperation; we are moving from give and take to give and get. All actors involved have something to gain. It is important for everyone to move in the same direction. We’ll start by being more proactive and calling for projects we want to see implemented based on this strategy. Chris Heister, County Governor, County Administrative Board for Stockholm County.

The innovation support system has an impor-tant role to play in supporting the development of areas of excellence. Many regions feel that they need to further strengthen their own key competencies.

What is the best way to package the region’s or the country’s strengths into an attractive offering? Peter Larsson, Business Development Coordinator, Östsam Regional Council.

The innovation loop is a method for promoting new ideas in a cross-fertilisation between people with different skills and backgrounds. In a development work-shop in which the county council, the university and private sector representatives participated, the idea generation process in the very first year led to a concept for which a company is now being formed.

Anna Pettersson, Regional Director, Region Västerbotten.

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The Regional Council has an important role to play in packaging and selling the region; not for products in a traditional sense, but to package the benefits and communicate the opportunities for development, enterprise and innovation that exist in the region. Anna Pettersson, Regional Director, Region Västerbotten.

Where do our strengths lie and in which areas can the support system help? We have an important role to play in the build-up phase, but we cannot be the engine all the time. When the sector can stand on its own feet we need to step back. And it’s important for it to be clear when we are stepping in and stepping away. In our region, for example, the support needs of data centres are entirely different to those of vehicle testing. Vehicle testing has been an established sector since the 1970s so we don’t need to be a driving force there. Per-Erik Andersson, Growth and Infrastructure Division, County Administrative Board, Norrbotten County.

The regions are looking for better models to measure the results of regional development ini-tiatives. It is, however, important to measure the right things such as the number of commerciali-sations and extent of growth. One tool for this is systematic ROI (return on investment) meas-urements:

I’m a big supporter of letting people know what tax revenues are being spent on. Anders Byström, regiondirektör, Region Director, Jämtland County Regional Council.

To ensure we are doing the right things, we need to assess whether our actions are doing some good. Emma Hanson, Strategist, Sörm-land Regional Council.

I would like there to be a uniform way of measuring our activities; 5–10 key ratios. Rolf Persson, Region Director, Jönköping Regional Council.

Cleveland in the USA is focusing on strengths instead of problems. The mayor has developed a process for long-term sustainability work and involving people in an open innovation process.

Anders Byström, Region Director, Jämtland County Regional Council.

OpenLab is one ex-ample where various actors come together to find solutions to challenges through an interdisciplinary pro-cess. Opportunities for innovation are found at the intersection of different sciences or disciplines.

It is also important to be able to attract international compa-nies in order to have a more open culture.

Chris Heister, County Governor, County Administrative Board for Stockholm County.

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THREATS

Business leader survey: Support for internationalisation is important for businesses

When development managers/directors identify a lack of external analysis as a weakness, their companies support them. Support for internationalisation is considered one of the most important tasks of the support system:

“Stronger support is needed for expansion outside Sweden where our knowledge is limited. Business Sweden could be a big help here. And this should be partially a free service. We need help to find new markets and identify potential difficulties in those markets; everything from employee rights in the country to identifying its strongest region.”

“A more international market could

lead to more growth. That’s what I’m working on. And it’s something we need to achieve. But there is no support – not from people in the county. We want to put sales personnel in the right countries. That’s crucial. Like in Poland and in Germany.”

“There’s a lot of focus on traditional business – producing something rather than e-commerce. It’s really difficult to get the right advice. e-commerce is growing everywhere and it would have been fantastic when we were expanding into Norway and Denmark if we had known that there were special rules there. What are the regulations on VAT for example? It’s been really difficult for us to get

information on all of the regulations. It was like detective work – we would have liked to have an agency as a first point of contact for this.”

In a business climate survey by the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth (Tillväxtverket 2014), a lack of company resources is cited by 30 percent of the companies as the biggest obstacle to internationalisation. Almost the same percentage (27 percent) responded that cost and lack of contacts and networks are big obstacles. Language and cultural differences are generally experienced as much less of an obstacle for internationalisation.

In the case of data centres we have a good grasp of what is going on internationally to ensure that we are competitive.

Sven-Erik Österberg, County Governor, Norrbotten County Administrative Board.

Lack of awareness of the external environment

In many regions there is insufficient monitoring of the external environment.

We haven’t thought about forming partner-ships with other countries, but this is some-thing we need to look at once we have identi-fied our key strengths. Göran Norberg, Regional Council Director, Sörmland Regional Council.

We have found it difficult to keep abreast of what’s going on around us because we’re un-der-staffed. We have one strategist position to work on this, but that position has been empty for more than a year. When the position is filled we will be a bit more in touch. Rolf Persson, Region Director, Jönköping Regional Council.

Some of the interviewees mentioned the need for better skills in international marketing and sales:

We need to offer opportunities for professional development to people in the public sector working on these issues. We need to change our mindset to see the whole world as our partner. Per-Erik Andersson, Growth and Infrastructure Division, County Administrative Board, Norrbotten County.

We need to be better at packaging the region. We have large attractive spaces, cheap land and housing, a pleasant environment for families with children, fresh air ... but that is probably the case in most regions. Carin Karlsson, Director of the Community Development Division, County Administrative Board, Kronoberg County.

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Regionally, we are not currently working actively on encouraging businesses to establish a presence here. A few years ago we worked with Invest in Halland, but we couldn’t achieve good cooperation between the municipal authorities. Today we have a designated person for this so that we can pass on any direct inquiries we receive.

Ann-Mari Bartholdsson, Director Business Division, Region Halland.

We had a full-time position for a person to work on attracting foreign investors. But the results did not match our expectations. I think the reason was that we had not defined a target group for attracting businesses and investments and we were not proactive. To succeed we need to carefully monitor what’s going on in the world around us. Helena Nilsson, Division Director Business and Growth, County Administrative Board, Kalmar County.

There are also examples of good quality ex-ternal environment monitoring based on an understanding that to be done effectively, it is necessary to break it down into areas.

In the case of data centres we have a good grasp of what is going on internationally to ensure that we are competitive. Sven-Erik Österberg, County Governor, Norrbotten County Administrative Board.

In vehicle testing we have a good idea of what is happening in other countries and what the customers’ new requirements are. Sven-Erik Österberg, County Governor, Norrbotten County Administrative Board.

Another method for external analysis is for re-gions to compare themselves with other regions of the same size:

We have chosen three benchmark regions: Copenhagen, Munich and Lyon. We have not yet discussed cooperation, but we chose them because they’re similar in size etc. and we think they’re doing exciting work. Maria C. Lindqvist, Head of Development in Innovation, County Administrative Board for Stockholm County.

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THREATS

Successfully getting everyone to work together, head in the same direction and create a regional offering is a challenge.

Carina Malmgren, Region Director, Östsam Regional Council.

Unclear roles and decision authority

Regional leadership is challenging if the assign-ment of roles for the regional councils and mu-nicipalities or among different actors is unclear. This is exacerbated if those responsible at the regional level lack financial control mechanisms to forcefully implement the plans and strategies decided upon.

One challenge for regional leadership is also how to bring together many different actors with their own agendas and get them to work together to contribute to the desired long-term development:

It’s challenging trying to get everyone pulling in the same direction. Emma Hanson, Strategist, Sörmland Regional Council.

Successfully getting everyone to work together, head in the same direction and create a re-gional offering is a challenge. Carina Malmgren, Region Director, Östsam Regional Council.

It isn’t always easy to make progress when we need to unite many different actors who want different things. Helena Nilsson, Division Direc-tor Business and Growth, County Administra-tive Board, Kalmar County.

Getting consensus in the region is difficult. When everyone is running in different directions it’s hard to win the match. Everyone should agree that to get around the track they each need to run 100 metres. We’re optimistic about a process based on smart specialisation that we’re about to launch. Sven-Erik Sahlén, Head of Development, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Örebro County Regional Council.

Inaction is one sign that regional leadership is failing. Energy is being spent on gathering actors for a dialogue and creating consensus in order to develop strategies and plans. But it may fail in the implementation phase:

There is a risk that our focus is too short-term and that we’ll launch new initiatives without having the resources to take them from start to finish. There’s a trend in what we’re doing – that an important innovation strategy is seen as a temporary project. Bodil Rosvall Jönsson, Business Development Director, Region Skåne and CEO Business Region Skåne.

We may have fine visions and do good things without getting any closer to the goal. Fredrik Adolfsson, Regional Development Director, Västra Götaland Region.

One example of the challenges facing regional leadership is having strategies for smart spe-cialisation. The process has often been difficult and time-consuming. There has been a lot of uncertainty about EU requirements. Also, smart specialisation requires making clear priorities, which is a challenge in itself:

Not everyone knows what smart specialisa-tion is. Reglab has taught us more about it. We don’t know if it is a good or bad thing in sparsely populated areas. Should we work in a broad or deep way? Helena Nilsson, Division Director Business and Growth, County Admi-nistrative Board, Kalmar County.

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Company survey: Regional actors from a business perspective

The regional interviews pointed to unclear roles and decision authority. This is an important issue in ensuring that the tools and resources for planning and development at the regional level are used efficiently.

When we ask the companies, we get yet another perspective on the regional actors. For companies, the most important force in the region is the private sector. Big companies create jobs and a market for the smaller ones. This argument is also clearly expressed by those responsible for planning who view of their companies’ core expertise as a crucial strength.

Universities are very important actors. Although extent to which companies have direct contacts with universities varies, they are still important as a means of attracting people by offering higher education opportunities.

The important support organisations mentioned often include Almi, Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth (Tillväxtverket), Business Sweden and the chambers of commerce. The municipal authorities are obviously important in their role of exercising authority locally and providing social services. However, the extent to which they are active in facilitating business activity varies significantly.

Several companies also mention the importance of regional leadership. Many county governors are appreciated for their efforts for the regions.

We’ve had an intensified discussion about what smart specialisation means for the region and the country in that our innovation strategy is focused on everyone’s ability to contribute to innovation. We want to find a model where those at the top drive the rest, in our case Peak Innovation, which focuses on business development in sports, tourism and outdoor activities. Erik Noaksson, Innovation Strategist, Region Jämtland Härjedalen.

Our region has been analysed from all perspectives. We have a good idea of what we’re good at and not so good at. Lars Christensen, Assistant Region Director, Region Värmland.

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THREATSLack of coordination in national initiatives

Several regions believe that the national authori-ties’ actions make regional development work more difficult. Decisions on support initiatives are not sufficiently based on regional conditions and current situations.

It is important for all calls for funding to be linked to the specific regional conditions. They should be timed to coincide with the regional development strategy and the prioritised areas for development that are identified there. Anna Pettersson, Regional Director, Region Västerbotten.

In the past calls came in which everyone was supposed to work according to the same model, even though each region had its own conditions and needs. The needs-driven goal and results dialogue model that is now starting to be used is much better than a client and practitioner relationship. I believe that the authorities would get a more accurate picture of Sweden if they saw the problems and opp-ortunities with their own eyes. Emma Hanson, Strategist, Sörmland Regional Council.

Many national authorities haven’t taken the time to find out what’s going on in the regions. This has resulted in calls for fun-ding proposals that are completely out of touch with our reality. We don’t want to miss out on funding and so we’re forced to put something together that is perhaps not entirely in line with what we actually need to do. Catharina Blom, Region Director, Uppsala County Regional Council.

Dialogue with the authorities has improved for a number of regions in recent years and the re-gional perspective has become more clearly de-fined in the relationship.

We have a cooperation agreement with Tillväxtverket in which we have a very good dialogue about investments. This is good because the regional context is not always included in government investments. Jonas Rådstad, Regional Director for Region Skåne.

Several regions describe how funding proposal calls come from different government depart-ments without any dialogue with the regions and without taking into account the regions’ strategic priorities. The result is that development resourc-es are allocated to projects that are outside frame-work of the region’s chosen direction. This makes it more difficult for regions to implement their own strategies and weakens regional leadership.

It doesn’t really matter how good we are at focusing on specific areas if the national actors hand out money here and there in the region without any coordination. Peter Hogla, Regional Director, Southern Småland County Regional Council.

If, at the national level, they had the courage to point to one actor, it would be much better. We have been tasked with driving growth, but unfortunately we often have to struggle not to get in each other’s way when the work is split up in this way. Carina Malmgren, Region Director, Östsam Regional Council.

In the past the calls for funding proposals involved everyone working according to the same model, even though each region had its own conditions and needs. The needs-driven goal and re-sults dialogue model that is now starting to be used is much bet-ter than a client and practitioner relations-hip. I believe that the authorities would get a more accurate pic-ture of Sweden if they saw the problems and opportunities with their own eyes.

Emma Hanson, Strategist, Sörmland Regional Council.

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Coordination and transparency is needed in all regional development funding. Today the mo-ney comes from several different agencies and departments and to different actors, without the knowledge of the regions. Peter Hogla, Region Director, Southern Småland County Regional Council.

We feel that we receive very little help and support from the authorities. We usually just get asked if we want to participate in this or that activity. There should be more sensitivity to individual situations and needs. National initiatives such as green development, life sciences and research don’t fit that well into the structure in our region. Göran Norberg, Regional Council Director, Sörmland Regional Council

We complain about too much lecturing and requirements from the authorities’ side, but we don’t always get access to resources. The digital agenda, for example, is important, but we didn’t get any money to implement it. The most important tool from the authorities is resources. Rolf Persson, Region Director, Jön-köping Regional Council.

There is fairly good consensus on the fact that it would be better to have fewer but larger initia-tives to enable regions to spend less time on secur-ing funding and more time on their objectives.

We have a tendency to rely too much on the system of calling for funding proposals in Swe-den. This results in the risk of initiatives being fragmented. Fredrik Adolfsson, Regional Deve-lopment Director, Västra Götaland Region.

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Working with regional development is not a quick fix. But they still expect many fast results and the risk is that they will go for the low hanging fruit. Anders Byström, Region Director, Jämtland County Regional Council.

We need to get away from being a project society. Short projects lasting for two or three years are not a good idea. It’s better to have more substantial initiatives that last longer so they have time to have an impact. Emma Hanson, Strategist, Sörmland Regional Council.

People love their projects. They work on them for a couple of years trying things out. And then there’s a new project. The authorities need to come to their senses and instead prioritise ten-year investments and finance ongoing activities instead of projects.Jonas Rådstad, Regional Director for Region Skåne.

The regions are demanding more coordinated regional investment from the national level and want to get away from the silo mentality:

One government department gives us money to reduce youth unemployment while another one cuts the number of places at universities. How does that make sense? Anna-Lena Ceder-ström, Region Director, Region Blekinge.

There are many government departments working on our issues but there is no coor-dination between them. They need to have common platforms for discussion and dialo-gue. Rolf Persson, Region Director, Jönköping Regional Council.

There are too many narrow communication channels and feedback going in several directions. Broadening the scope of project funcing and greater freedom would be good. Sven-Erik Sahlén, Head of Development, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Örebro County Regional Council.

I think we need more dialogue and discussion with the national authorities. Sometimes I wonder if they even work with each other at all. Anders Byström, Region Director, Jämtland County Regional Council.

There are also opinions about how funding is allocated around the country. The growing metropolitan regions with a lot of leverage for increased investment receive the least today:

The allocation of the regional 1:1 funding is a hobbyhorse; we are one of the regions with the lowest percentage of funding per capita, while other parts of the country get much more support. This is based on regional subsidy policy from the 1960s and should be updated. Göran Norberg, Regional Council Director, Sörmland Regional Council.

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Four key focus areas for Regional Attractiveness

Today Sweden is in a strong position according to international indexes. The standard of living is good and innovation capacity is high. But we cannot take our strong international position for granted. Many countries are investing more and acting faster than Sweden in developing their competitiveness and ability to attract.

To maintain – and strengthen – our position our innovators, entrepreneurs and other actors keen to see change, who are in the private sector, academ-ia, the public sector and politics, all need to work together. Attractiveness for Sustainable Growth aims to provide impetus for initiatives that will bring various actors and stakeholders together to develop proposals for ways to make Sweden more attractive and competitive internationally.

Based on interviews with the people respon-sible for development and innovation in all of Sweden’s regions, we have identified a number

of opportunities and threats relating to making regions more competitive.

Opportunities:• Areas of excellence• National and international cooperation• More effective support systems

Threats:• Lack of insight into the external environment• Unclear roles and decision authority• Lack of coordination in national initiatives

To take advantage of the opportunities and deal with the threats, we have identified four key focus areas where there is a need for com-bined efforts and concrete measures. Below is a description of these areas and the issues the project will continue to focus on.

Lack of insight into the external environmentUnclear roles and decision authorityLack of coordination in national initiatives

Areas of excellenceNational and international cooperationMore effective support systems

Areas of excellence


Strategic external analysis

Cooperation and leadership

4 key focus areas for regional attractiveness

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1. AREAS OF EXCELLENCE

In many locations in Sweden there is cutting edge expertise at a high international level with the potential to be developed into areas of ex-cellence. We define an area of excellence as an area in which there is a critical mass of academic expertise and enterprise which together make it internationally competitive.

Today enterprise and key expertise are drawn to attractive and well-known knowledge envi-ronments. Areas of excellence are therefore of crucial significance for our ability to attract tal-ent, new business and investment. If areas of ex-cellence are to make Sweden more attractive, a more focused combined effort is needed.

• What is the best way to develop areas of excellence?

• Which new forms of cooperation between enterprise, academia, regional and national authorities are needed?

2. SUPPORT SYSTEMS

Our survey shows that the idea of focusing on areas of excellence has broad support across the regions. It is therefore imperative that the sup-port system – all of the public sector initiatives to stimulate innovation and enterprise – have the right tools to efficiently and effectively develop the areas of excellence.

IVA’s Innovation Powerhouse Sweden project (IVA 2013) held workshops on the innovation support system in thirteen regions. Although the workshops provided solid analysis of the weaknesses that exist, they only yielded a few proposed measures to address the weaknesses and strengthen innovative environments. It is high time we developed concrete proposals for solutions and, importantly, how they should be implemented. Sweden can no longer afford to avoid turning words into action.

• How can the support system be developed effectively to support the development of areas of excellence?

3. STRATEGIC ANALYSIS OF THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT

Globalisation is increasing the importance of hav-ing knowledge about and insight into the external environment – in terms of who the competitors, potential partners and customers are. Here the regions as well as smaller businesses are falling short. Better coordinated analysis of the external environment is needed, especially as part of the focus on developing areas of excellence.

In order to create efficient models for strate-gic analysis and to monitor the external envi-ronment, new forms of cooperation are needed between the regions themselves, between the re-gional and national level and between the public and private sectors.

• How can we create efficient models to monitor the external environment as a way of supporting the development of areas of excellence?

• What type of cooperation is needed between the regions and between the regional and national levels?

• What new partnerships are needed between the public and private sectors?

4. COOPERATION AND LEADERSHIP

Focusing on attractiveness involves identifying the relative advantages of a particular location, city, region or country. In other words, identi-fying what is attractive and to whom. We also know that attractiveness does not stop at re-gional boundaries. That is why it is important to find new methods for inter-regional coopera-tion to improve competitiveness in multiple ar-eas. IVA has in many contexts highlighted the significance of regional leadership (IVA 2011, 2013). The interviews in this survey again em-phasise the importance of this. It is individuals in different constellations who are the drivers for change:

• A regional director or county governor uses his/her formal and informal mandate.

• A business leader emphasises the importance of the regional issues outside his/her company.

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• A politician takes crucial initiatives. • Cluster leaders assemble a new constellation of

enterprises.

It is important to draw more attention to exam-ples of successful regional leadership than we are doing today. Regions and national actors

need to be inspired by good examples of inno-vative leadership. And Sweden needs to learn about the experiences of other countries.

• Which new inter-regional and international partnership models are needed to help develop areas of excellence?

TOP GUNS – THE NEXT STAGE

To find answers to the questions above IVA has taken the initiative for four “top gun” teams. The main part of this process will take place in 2015.

The main idea with enlisting top guns, i.e. leaders in their field, is to use concrete examples to answer the questions and to determine which measures are needed to best take advantage of the potential in their respective areas. To this end we are gathering key individuals from the private sector, academia and support systems in four selected areas within which there is strong potential for Swedish leadership:

• Sustainable textiles• Digital health• Smart living• Computer games

The top gun teams will work according to a clearly defined process. We will invite the key individuals to an initial workshop to identify the three most important proposals the teams want to pursue further to develop an area of excel-lence. The next stage will involve developing a strategy and concrete plans to take the three proposals from words to actions. A time limit will be applied to the process.

The areas of excellence will fill a dual function in developing Sweden’s attractiveness and com-petitiveness:

Firstly, based on the work carried out by the top guns, the project will provide concrete examp les that can help answer the question of how to best develop and support the growth of internationally competitive areas of excellence.

Secondly, the key individuals who have been invited to participate will have the opportunity to work together to develop their area by jointly implementing the proposed prioritised meas-ures. This may subsequently lead to continued cooperation and new initiatives once the top gun work within the framework of IVA’s project is completed. This is how the project will help de-velop the areas of excellence.

Our contribution is based on assessments and requirements expressed by the participants in actual actions. It is thus the actors themselves who are the starting point when the project de-scribes the development opportunities for the areas of excellence and what types of initiatives and measures the support system should take to help develop the particular area and other areas of excellence.

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Appendix

HEADS OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT INTERVIEWED

Åza Rydén, Regional Development Director, Region BlekingeAnna-Lena Cederström, Regional Director, Region BlekingeMonika Jönsson, Business Strategist, Region DalarnaGöran Carlsson, Regional Director, Region DalarnaStefan Persson, Business Development Director, Region GotlandJan Björinge, Regional Director, Region GotlandMagnus Ernström, Development Strategist, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Region GävleborgCarina Åkerberg, Strategist, Regional Development and Growth, Region GävleborgMats Törnquist, Regional Director, Region GävleborgAnn-Mari Bartholdsson, Director Business Division, Region HallandAnders Byström, Regional Director, Jämtland County Regional CouncilErik Noaksson, Innovation Strategist, Region Jämtland Härjedalen Karolina Borg, Business Strategist, Jönköping Regional CouncilRolf Persson, Regional Director, Jönköping Regional CouncilHåkan Brynielsson, Regional Director, Kalmar County Regional CouncilHelena Nilsson, Division Director Business and Growth, County Administrative Board, Kalmar CountyCarin Karlsson, Division Director Community Development, County Administrative Board, Kronoberg County.Peter Hogla, Regional Director, Southern Småland County Regional Council

Per-Erik Andersson, Growth and Infrastructure Division, County Administrative Board, Norrbotten CountySven-Erik Österberg, County Governor, Norrbotten County Administrative BoardBodil Rosvall Jönsson, Business Development Director, Region Skåne and CEO Business Region SkåneJonas Rastad, Regional Director, Region SkåneChris Heister, County Governor, County Administrative Board, Stockholm CountyMaria C. Lindqvist, Development Director, County Administrative Board, Stockholm CountyEmma Hanson, Strategist, Sörmland Regional CouncilGöran Norberg, Regional Council Director, Regionförbundet SörmlandChristina Frimodig, CEO of STUNS, Uppsala CountyCatharina Blom, Regional Director, Uppsala County Regional CouncilLars Christensen, Assistant Regional Director, Region VärmlandAnders Olsson, Strategist in research and innovation for Region VärmlandAnders Almberg, Business Strategist, Region VästerbottenAnna Pettersson, Regional Director, Region VästerbottenMagnus Karlsson, Business Division Head, Västernorrland County Administrative BoardBo Källstrand, County Governor, Västernorrland County Administrative BoardMikael Hjorth, Development Director, County Administrative Board, Västmanland CountyIngemar Skogö, County Governor, County Administrative Board, Västmanland County

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Helena L Nilsson, Division Director, Research, Development and Education, Västra Götaland RegionFredrik Adolfsson, Regional Development Director, Västra Götaland RegionSven-Erik Sahlén, Development Director, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Örebro County Regional Council

Pia Nordstedt, Division Director, Business and Excellence, Örebro Regional CouncilPeter Larson, Business Development Coordinator, Östsam Regional CouncilCarina Malmgren, Regional Director, Östsam Regional Council

REFERENCES

Anholt-GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media (2014), Nation Brand Index

Boston Consulting Group (2014), Decoding Global Talent

European Business School (2011) Innovation Capacity Index European Commission (2014), Innovation Union Scoreboard

IVA (2013), Innovation Powerhouse Sweden, Stockholm 2013

IVA (2011) Innovation Plan Sweden – for a Swed-ish Innovation Strategy, Stockholm 2011

Johnson Cornell University/INSEAD/WIPO (2013) Global Innovation Index

Martin Prosperity Institute (2011), Global Creativity Index

Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation (2014), Attractiveness for Growth and Development, Stockholm 2014

Shortcut (2009), October issue 3

The Economist (2012), Global Democracy Index The World Bank (2013), Ease of doing business index

Tillväxtverket (2014), Förutsättningar för konkurrenskraftiga företag. Företagens villkor och verklighet 2014, Stockholm 2014 World Economic Forum (2011), The Global Competitiveness Report

World Economic Forum (2014), The Global Competitiveness Report

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STEERING COMMITTEE

Carl Bennet (Chairman), Carl Bennet ABTomas Billing, NordstjernanPontus Braunerhjelm, Swedish Entrepreneur-ship Forum and Royal Institute of TechnologyCharlotte Brogren, VINNOVAUlf Ewaldsson, EricssonPam Fredman, Gothenburg UniversityCarola Lemne, Confederation of Swedish Enterprise

Martin Lorentzon, SpotifyBjörn O. Nilsson, IVAGunilla Nordlöf, Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional GrowthEva Nordmark, TCOJohan Rockström, Stockholm Resilience CentreAnders Sundström, SwedbankHåkan Sörman, SKLKarl-Petter Thorwaldsson, LO

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Johan Carlstedt, Project ManagerLisa Renander, Project Manager Regional DevelopmentMonica Sannerholm, Project AssistantMonika Wassén, Project Manager, National DialogueJan Westberg, Communication Manager

in co-operation with

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Mobilisation to increase regional attractiveness

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