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Swedish investors descend upon North East on business opportunity mission

Swedish investment specialists are visiting the North East this week, looking for new business opportunities within the region’s digital and tech sector.

Hailing from the Vastra Gotaland region of Sweden, investment, regeneration and startup experts are meeting with business leaders and organisations spearheading the North East’s bid to be one of Europe’s innovation hot spots.

NELEP Innovation Director Hans Moller is playing an integral role in meeting the Scandinavian visitors.

A former director of one of Sweden’s leading innovation parks before joining the LEP, Mr Moller will help to showcase business and partnership opportunities to the delegation.

The party will also learn about opportunities in the North East’s key automotive sector, as well as hear how it’s growing economy and investor strategy offer the perfect platform for UK investment from Scandinavia.

North East business leaders Jen Hartley, Dynamo North East’s Head of Tech Sector Strategy, Herb Kim, CEO of Thinking Digital and Lyndsey Britton, CEO of the Ignite 100 growth accelerator, head the list of tech business leaders showcasing the region’s strengths to the Swedish delegation.

Hans Moller explained: “This visit from Sweden’s top industrial region is a great opportunity for the North East to showcase its strengths and lay the foundations for new business.

“Sweden and the North East share a strong focus on innovation in the marketplace and I’m sure the delegation of regeneration and investment leaders will see the potential for future collaboration.”

Region Vastra Gotaland is in western Sweden. With 1.5m inhabitants, its largest city is Gothenburg. It has the largest port in Scandinavia and is recognised as the country’s leading region for industry and transportation.

The Swedish delegation comprises representatives from Region Vastra Gotaland, Tillvaxtverket (the Swedish agency for economic regeneration), Vastsvenska Handelskammaren (Swedish Chamber of Commerce), Europe Enterprise Network Swerea, Business Sweden (inward investment organisation), Almi (investor in high growth start-up businesses) and Exportkreditnamnden, the export credit advisory service.

Olle Jonang, of Tillvaxtverket, added: “We are delighted to come to Newcastle and be welcomed with such an ambitious programme.

“We are convinced we will have an interesting exchange of information and economic opportunities which we hope will be the start of future business partnering, co-operation and collaboration.”

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