Alte Schwede! The Swedes are the top partner in Hannover 2019.

WHAT MAKES SWEDEN THE WORLD OF SMART INDUSTRY? WE.
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Maybe you expected a longer answer. But it holds enough power to propel the future of the Smart Industry and your part in it too.

Drawing upon decades of close cooperation between government, academia and business, we are home to a tech-savvy pool of talent and expertise. Here you find plenty of skilled manufacturing labor and more than 300 000 engineers. Half the workforce has gone through higher education and most are well versed in English.

In combination with a culture of non-hierarchical organizations promoting efficiency and collaboration we are confident enough to say that, together, we can learn and shape the future of the Smart Industry.

Historically, some of the most innovative solutions and valued products spring from the entrepreneurship and innovation that is Sweden. Today, we are home to the highest number of unicorns per capita after Silicon Valley combined with a world class industrial footprint.

Manufacturing clusters within industries as complex and diverse as automotive, aerospace and defense, life science, chemistry as well as machinery and equipment have grown and rooted themselves in Sweden’s well-tempered innovation climate.

That would not be possible, for decade after decade, were it not for an innate innovation identity. We think the rich industrial heritage is why we rank first in the European Innovation Scoreboard. They’re not alone in valuing Swedish innovation highly. Bloomberg’s Innovation Index ranks us second and the Global Innovation Index has us at third.

Doesn’t all this cost a lot, you wonder. Not necessarily. Sweden has its systems. That is: we have built a dynamic business-friendly ecosystem with competitive corporate taxes, easy access to support from government agencies and public institutions and an advanced export credit system. We encourage manufacturing, innovation and trade. Indeed, a fifth of Sweden’s GDP comes from manufacturing and 27 percent from manufacturing exports.

We also have the natural resources to power the Smart Industry. 97 percent of electricity in Sweden is fossil free and the clean energy is Europe’s cheapest, providing another reason for companies and entire industries that are data and energy intensive to place R&D centers, production, data servers, and logistics hubs in Sweden.

Since 1990 we reduced CO2 emissions by 25 percent while seeing GDP growth of 69 percent. Sweden now ranks first on the Sustainable Development Goals Index, showing how sustainable growth is possible.

Come to a home for talent and expertise, a testbed for digital, innovative and transformative solutions, a place of sustainable production. Together makes a good we. We, as in Sweden.