Dear Subscriber,
With a turbulent geopolitical and economic situation globally, securing sufficient energy supply is one of the major challenges that countries around the world are currently facing. Add the sustainability angle on this crisis, and we are in for the perfect storm. Sweden is today investing heavily in developing renewable energy sources with the goal to have 100 per cent of electricity production coming from renewables by 2040.
Wind power is one of the technologies which has received strong tailwinds in Sweden over the past years. In 2021, it accounted for 16 per cent of electricity production in the country, and the number of turbines is growing constantly. Recent years' technology development has enabled efficient production in cold climate and forests, which has meant several major parks in northern Sweden.
With over half of energy production coming from renewable sources, Sweden has by far the highest share among the EU Member States. But is the development going fast enough? According to a new study from the Swedish Energy Agency, the answer is no. Although Sweden today exports more electricity than ever, the industry demand for renewable energy sources grows much faster than the current investment budgets for e.g. wind power. We still have a long way to go.
Check out below what SwedCham Partner ABB and Singapore scale-up Durapower are working on within the scope of SwedCham's new initiative "The Green Innovation Centre" in order to showcase how renewable energy sources can be built within the community - also in small scale.
Please find below the latest news from our business community.
Your dedicated SwedCham team,
Lisa & Anna
Photo: Niclas Albinsson/Image Bank Sweden |
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We are delighted to welcome Electrolux Professional as new SwedCham Partner Member. The Electrolux Professional Group is one of the leading global providers of food service, beverage, and laundry for professional users. Head-quartered in Stockholm, their solutions and products are manufactured in 12 plants in seven countries and sold in over 110 countries world-wide.
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SwedCham welcomes the following new members to its business community:
Einride: Einride is one of Sweden’s fastest growing unicorns with the mission to reduce emissions from road freight in particular through the development of electric and autonomous trucks. Key contact: Rickard Mårtensson, Head of APAC Development.
Storskogen: Founded in 2012 in Stockholm, Storskogen is an investment holding company focused on unlisted small- and medium sized companies across Trade, Industry, and Services. Key contact: Shuo-yen Choo, Managing Director Singapore. |
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| First-ever meet & pitch event for SMEs |
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On Tuesday 28 February, SwedCham invites its SME members to come and showcase their business value propositions.
This is part of a larger initiative, where we would like to put the spotlight on our SME members to support growth. Together with a group of SME representatives, we are currently developing a specific agenda for 2023, with the aim to bring our SME members closer together to find business- and collaboration opportunities both between each other but also vis-à-vis our larger MNC members. The event on 28 February is an opportunity to get a better view on the range of fantastic value propositions which exist within SwedCham's dynamic business community.
SwedCham's member companies provide a plethora of products and services. For those companies currently looking for business partners, SwedCham is more than willing to help to first assess the Swedish business community in Singapore, before expanding the search. |
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| Jacqueline Poh to SwedCham's AGM |
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SwedCham's 2023 AGM will be held on Wednesday 8 March at 6:30 pm at Social Member Club 1880. We are delighted to announce that the keynote will be given by Jacqueline Poh, Managing Director of Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). Before taking the helm of EDB in 2021, Ms Poh was Deputy Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office Strategy Group. She was also the founding CEO of the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech).
SwedCham corporate members can register for the AGM here. |
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| Sustainability simulation workshop |
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Supporting your workforce to drive sustainability requires organisations to transform every division of their business. This can be a huge challenge.
Join us next week as Celemi holds a simulation workshop where you can safely explore what it takes to transform your organisation into making sustainable practices a strategic priority. The hands-on learning method imitates the real world, and allows you to practice and improve your business acumen around sustainability in a safe, risk-free environment.
Register for the simulation workshop here. |
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| Market Outlooks coming up |
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THE PHILIPPINES!
In our next Market Outlook on 21 February, we will deep dive into one of the world's fastest growing economies: The Philippines. Sweden's Trade Commissioner to the Philippines Kristina Elinder Liljas will visit Singapore and give us her perspective on what opportunities are emerging for Swedish businesses.
Register for this event here. |
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INDIA!
Are you looking to de-risk your existing supply chains? Then here is an event for you. Sweden's Trade Commissioner to India Cecilia Oskarsson and Business Sweden's Head of Business Development India Rahul Misra will be in Singapore on 3 March to explain why India is the place to be to explore sourcing alternatives.
Register for this event here. |
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| IWD 2023: SHE SAID movie screening |
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On 1 March, SwedCham's Women4Women Forum, together with the Embassy of Sweden, will host a cross-chamber screening of the movie SHE SAID, to mark this year's International Women's Day. The movie follows the two journalists who uncovered the shocking story around Harvey Weinstein which served as a launching pad for the #MeToo movement, shattering decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault and harassment. After the screening, we will have an open mic discussion, led by policy expert Neha Thakkar, on what actual change the #MeToo movement has brought to society, and where we are today. The movie trailer can be found here.
Buy your ticket for the IWD event here. |
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As our beloved founder of the Women4Women Forum Jessica Fayers sadly left Singapore last year, our women's network now has a new Chair: Helena Gilmour. Helena has been on the W4W committee since start, and we have no doubt that this dynamic network will continue to grow under her leadership. Helena is the founder of boutique jewellery brand Studs+Stones. Before entrepreneurship, Helena worked in banking and consulting for 15 years, advising a range of clients on risk and control matters and running day-to-day team operations. She is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from LSE and an MBA from HKU/LBS. |
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| ABB and Durapower in GIC collaboration |
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Is it possible to create a closed energy loop in our partner garden to showcase what sustainable energy is all about? This is what SwedCham Partner ABB and local scale-up Durapower have started to explore, within the scope of SwedCham's new local outreach initiative, The Green Innovation Centre (GIC).
This will most likely be the smallest project these companies will ever work on - but perhaps still one of the most exciting ones. Within the scope of the GIC, ABB and Durapower have embarked on a journey to create a closed energy loop in the Bukit Batok community garden. Last week, representatives from both companies met for the first time for a recce and to start the discussion on how to build a solar-powered closed-loop energy storage solution with the aim to create a showcase for the local community how sustainable energy can be developed. We will follow the developments closely and cheer our engineers on. Watch this space. |
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THE GREEN INNOVATION CENTRE IN BRIEF
Through this unique collaborative initiative, sponsored by 12 SwedCham companies, we have linked arms with a garden community in Bukit Batok as well as with South West CDC and the People's Association in Bukit Batok. Based on a collaborative bottom-up process, the project is aiming to support the community in exploring a sustainable urban lifestyle with knowledge, solutions and services around the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse & Recycle) and green living (gardening and connecting with nature). SwedCham's team is partnering with schools, sustainability-focused local SMEs and resident volunteers to create an agora at this garden, which has been lovingly built by local volunteers over the past decade, where people of all ages can meet and learn about sustainable urban living. The project includes, for example, to build a therapeutic corner in the garden for elderly and physically impaired and to create an activity area for knowledge development workshops for people of all ages. For SwedCham’s Sponsors, there are opportunities to get involved in 3R activity workshops (Reduce, Reuse & Recycle), staff volunteering, improving the garden concept with smart tech solutions, mentoring/engaging with local SMEs - or just sponsor a good cause.
We hope that this program will replicate and initiate more people and companies to engage in this important work in Singapore. Through partnership and collaboration between businesses and communities, we have no doubt that the SG Green Plan can be successful. The GIC will be launched in the beginning of June.
If you are a SwedCham Member interested in finding out more about this initiative, please do not hesitate to reach out to us on info@swedcham.sg. |
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OUR EMERGING GIC PARTNER NETWORK: |
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SwedCham member Camfil, a leading manufacturer of clean air technologies, has launched an initiative called The Chief Airgonomics Officer (CAO), which calls on organisations across the globe to take 100% accountability over the indoor air people breathe. The brand-new initiative prompts organisations to act by appointing Chief Airgonomics Officers (CAOs) who will be The Voice of Clean Air at their workspace. Inspired by the study of ergonomics, the newly coined term Airgonomics refers to the burgeoning discipline that seeks to maximise the benefits of healthy air for the protection of people, processes and the planet.
In light of last year's adoption by the UN General Assembly of a resolution declaring “access to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment a universal human right” on 28 July 2022, the CAO initiative seeks to put into practice those actions that need to be taken to ensure that workplaces everywhere ensure access to clean, healthy and sustainable environments through the improvement of indoor air quality (IAQ).
To ensure that CEOs, HR, facilities and operations managers know more about indoor air quality and measures how to improve it, information and support in different forms in this initiative will be provided. A comprehensive training programme will be provided so that CAOs are qualified to take action. This comprehensive CAO Training Programme will comprise of three levels of certification and is targeted at specifically individuals seeking to become their organisation’s certified CAO.
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| New DBS report on digital transformation |
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Latest research by SwedCham's Silver Sponsor DBS Bank on digital transformation found widespread enthusiasm among companies to digitalise customer experience and engagement but they faced significant challenges in achieving success.
The findings were based on a global survey of 1,225 executives from commercial and finance/treasury teams across 22 markets in APAC, Europe and the United States, representing one of the firsts of its kind to balance the perspectives of these two groups.
The research revealed that 64% of businesses globally carried out a structured approach to customer-facing digital transformation with a further 33% pursuing ad-hoc upgrades. Nonetheless, just 17% said their activity in this area had been very effective, and about four in 10 (39%) said their transformation efforts had either failed or were underwhelming.
The research also found that the treasury and commercial functions of transformation leaders have a joint vision of digital transformation centred around a broad purpose statement about customer experience.
Tan Su Shan, Group Head of Institutional Banking, DBS, said, “With the acceleration of digital adoption in a post-COVID-19 world, treasury and commercial functions have to collaborate and adapt to a new way of working that encompasses the use of data analytics, AI and even blockchain-enabled platforms to function more effectively and efficiently.”
The research program was carried out by FT Longitude, the specialist thought leadership division of the Financial Times Group. The full report can be downloaded here. |
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WHY SINGAPORE? A TEAM SWEDEN SEMINAR IN STOCKHOLM
Do you think your business partners in Sweden need to better understand the opportunities for growth we see in Singapore and Southeast Asia? Tomorrow Thursday, Business Sweden Asia-Pacific, the Embassy of Sweden in Singapore and Stockholm's Chamber of Commerce will host a breakfast seminar in Stockholm for representatives of Swedish businesses where the focus of the discussion will be Singapore and why the city state has recently strengthened its position as Southeast Asia's most competitive trade hub.
Although this event is targeting Swedish companies in Sweden that are looking to expand their presence in Asia, it is also a great opportunity for Swedish businesses already established in Singapore, who would benefit from having representatives from HQ in Sweden attending this event to gain a deeper understanding of the region.
NB: The seminar will be held in Swedish. Register for the event here.
JOB VACANCY AT EUROCHAM SINGAPORE
The European Chamber of Commerce (Singapore) is seeking a dynamic and motivated individual to join their team as an Advocacy & Membership Manager. More details can be found here. |
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| Singapore going ping pong crazy |
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Table tennis fans, sports fans, Sweden fans: We need your help to paint the OCBC Arena yellow and blue in March!
The world's top players will be in town to compete in this prestigious event, organised by World Table Tennis (WTT). It will be consolidated into nine action-packed main draw days between 11 and 19 March 2023, featuring 64 of the world's top male and female players. A singles qualifying competition featuring a further 64 men and 64 women will be held from 7-9 March.
For some inspiration, watch this video from last year's Singapore Smash.
Are you interested in helping us mobilise our Swedish forces in Singapore to create a serious fan base to cheer on our Swedish national team during Singapore Smash? Contact us at info@swedcham.sg and we will get the ball rolling. |
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Tuesday 28 February: SMEs: Come and Showcase Your Business! A meet & pitch event for SwedCham's SMEs with the aim to bring our SME Members closer together to find business and collaboration opportunities both between each other but also vis-à-vis our larger MNC Members.
Wednesday 31 May: DBS event on digital transformation. More information to follow. |
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 | | YP Afterwork @ BLVD | 
| Feb 9, 2023
(6:30 PM - 9:00 PM) (GMT+8) |
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| BLVD Marina Bay Financial Center
Singapore |
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| | |  | | SwedCham AGM 2023 | | Keynote by Jacqueline Poh, MD, EDB |
| Mar 8, 2023
(6:30 PM - 9:00 PM) (GMT+8) |
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| 1880 Members Club
Singapore |
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