Press release: Competence, innovation and visibility

Business creates prosperity

“It is through business-to-business transactions that we create prosperity in Sweden,” said Håkan Ekengren, and outlined some of the initiatives that the government plans to implement with the aim of creating a more innovative and favorable business climate. This includes, among other things, a national innovation strategy, as well as a research/innovation policy bill, both of which will be presented in the autumn.

At the EU level, one of the things being investigated is how credit periods can be shortened, an important issue for companies. Another initiative at the EU level is the so-called Horizon 2020 project, which aims to strengthen European competitiveness in research and innovation. This will be done, among other things, by bridging the gap between academia and industry, a welcome initiative since, according to Jonas Wallberg, it has become significantly more complicated to commercialize products today than it was 15 years ago.

Proximity, speed and expertise
Thord Eriksson turned to the manufacturers on the panel and asked them how they justify managing production in Sweden despite the temptation for many to relocate it to low-cost countries such as China and Taiwan. Mikael Joki emphasized proximity to customers and was supported by Gerd Levin Nygren, who said that it is primarily during the development phase that proximity between designers and manufacturers is important. However, she had examples of companies that, after the development phase, chose to relocate some high-volume production to China but that after a while realized that the distance was still a problem and therefore chose to return to Sweden.

Anders Felling added competence and speed as important factors for maintaining manufacturing in Sweden.
“It is more important to do the right thing than to do it cheaply,” said Anders Felling.
Personnel costs are a relatively small part of the total production cost and, according to Bo Wass, can be compensated for by the efficiency that can be achieved with the help of high competence, which brought the debate to one of the key issues: Competence supply. Even though engineering education is once again attracting young people, several chairs are empty in practical technical education. And the dropout rate is predicted to be significantly higher than the growth rate in a few years.
– The production-oriented jobs do not appear exciting enough for young people to take them, said Gerd Levin Nygren.

Increase industry visibility
Håkan Ekengren said that education is one of the biggest and most prioritized challenges and that the government is therefore investing heavily in promoting the natural science subjects and mathematics, but that it will take a long time to turn the tide.
Mikael Joki welcomes educational initiatives, especially like the previous upper secondary school reform when electronics programs were abolished, which contributed to making the industry invisible.
– Now we have to become more visible, said Mikael Joki and was supported by Anders Felling:
– We should become a little more American arrogant. We are the best in the world at this!

Internationally renowned speakers
SEE continues until Thursday. On Wednesday, Peter Öhman, Ericsson, will be among the speakers, who will describe the challenges Ericsson sees ahead regarding the strong growth in traffic in data networks. On the same day, Mikael Östling, professor and dean at KTH, will hold a seminar on the exciting future field of Nanotechnology and its opportunities, including in sustainability.

– Nanoelectronics is important for building a sustainable society because it can help reduce energy consumption, which results in both higher profitability and a better environment, says Mikael Östling.

During the last day of the fair, Adam Dunkels, a researcher at SICS and named one of the world's top 35 young innovators in 2009, will give a lecture. At SEE, Adam Dunkels will give his view on the "Internet of Things" and the opportunities that will be created by the fact that it will soon be possible to connect basically anything.

For more information:
Magnus Eriksson, project manager SEE, Stockholmsmässan, telephone: 08-749 43 30, 070-789 43 30, e-mail: magnus.eriksson@stockholmsmassan.se
Alexandra Kärnlund, press officer SEE, telephone: 0709-69 97 67, alexandra.karnlund@informedia.se

About SEE.

Scandinavian Electronics Event, SEE, is the leading meeting place for the industrial electronics industry in the Nordic region. The event, which takes place at Kistamässan on 17-19 April 2012, is organized by Stockholmsmässan and the Swedish Electronics Industry Association.