Now that the global economy is in the dumps, it's a good time to look for the "light at the end of the tunnel." The Swedish economy is slowing down, but not as badly as the U.S. or many other regions because it didn't get caught up in the mindless euphoria like others. Sweden learned from its downturn in the early 1990s.
Despite its small economy, Sweden offers many untapped business opportunities:
Jobs - The Swedish government just changed its immigration labor laws to allow foreigners to work in Sweden if they get a job offer in order to prevent labor shortages due to its aging population. Check my article below for links.
Cleantech - Sweden has great cleantech companies and technologies, which can be deployed worldwide by entrepreneurial marketing people.
Eco-tourism - Sweden ranks #2 in the world for its environmental quality so seeing its policies and advanced technologies in action would be very enlightening, especially for nations suffering from pollution.
Rock music - Sweden ranks #3 in rock music exports, which it could leverage by partnering with Hollywood (as it did with "Mama Mia!") and other media industries around the world.
University labs - This country has one of the highest R&D spending ratios, but its universities and smaller companies are not very good at marketing internationally, partly out of modesty but mostly due to lack of incentives since they are dependent on government funding. Venture capitalists (VCs) and entrepreneurs can find a wealth of great technologies at major research universities here. STING (www.stockholminnovation.com) is a great place to start.
Aging healthcare - Sweden has very sophisticated healthcare programs for its aging population that are worth studying carefully.
There are many more opportunities, but these are the ones off the top of my head. Contact me if you learn of more oppportunities.
Let's make 2009 a Happy New Year! We need it after 2008's collapses.
Like Greece, the city of Malmo in southern Sweden is facing serious violence among youth, especially in poorer immigrant neighborhoods. http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2008/12/28/swedens-city-of-malmo-hit-by-rioting-again/
My neighbor from Ghana says Sweden's immigrant communities are tinderboxes for more unrest unless the government eliminates discrimination in housing, jobs, and education.
His Swedish girlfriend, who teaches in the immigrant suburbs and sings with his reggae band, says many Swedish immigrant youths are confused, frustrated and angry because of identity confusion, discrimination, isolation in all-immigrant neighborhoods, and alienation. She suggests that the Swedish government expand arts and music programs to help these youth discover and validate their bi-cultural identities and channel their fears, hopes and frustrations in a creative way.
In the U.S., the arts provide a vehicle for minorities isolated from the mainstream. Blues emerged from poor southern towns, hip-hop from urban ghettoes. Sweden is the #3 exporter of rock music, but the government fails to recognize the export potential of music, film and performance that could be created by its increasingly multicultural population. Sweden could become "Hollywood North."
U.S. and Swedish producers recently met to discuss film collaboration. I would like to see more collaboration in the arts as a way to bridge cultures, create jobs, and offer hope and identity to the many immigrants coming into Sweden and the rest of Europe. As Obama is doing in politics, perhaps Hollywood can inspire and help integrate Europe's burgeoning immigrants into the global mainstream.
In Silicon Valley, we have a saying: "All business is show business. Show, not tell us."
Thomas Friedman writes a compelling article about the United States' failure to build and maintain its infrastructure and educational levels: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/24/opinion/24friedman.html?em
For consumer gadget freaks, Sweden is definitely a backwater. With high prices due to a small market (only 9.5 million people) and a 25% VAT tax, digital devices cost 30% to 50% more than in the U.S. So I've been avoiding any purchases, saving them for my return to the states.
Cellphones are pervasive, but nothing special compared to Japanese phones. And iPhones are still a rare luxury, so most competing phones still feel and look dated, with few cool interfaces and apps.
The only saving grace is that broadband is fast, if one uses Ethernet. But the wireless services are slow and free WiFi practically non-existent.
So, for you techies, stay home. I'm not the only one who feels this way:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/155958/gadgets_that_wont_be_in_my_stocking.html
A new study of European labor just ranked Sweden second to last (just ahead of France) in the number of working hours per year, not including sick days, where Sweden leads France by 10 days: http://www.thelocal.se/16356/20081215/
Sweden is going counter to Britain and other countries during this global recession by opening its labor market. It's "threading the needle" by implementing middle-of-the-road policies that please neither the left-wing labor unions or right-wing anti-immigrant nationalists.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122930305858705515.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
To download the New Rules for Immigration, see: http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/10028/a/107200
Smart politics? Sweden suffers shortages in key hiring areas and faces an aging population so this policy makes perfect sense if Sweden wants to maintain its global competitiveness.
Recently, I met a diversity recruiter for Telia, the leading telecom carrier, who said his firm needs to hire more recent immigrants, especially from Iraq, Asia and Africa, because fewer Swedes are applying for jobs. He said Telia would be in serious trouble in a few years without more diversity hiring. More kudos to Telia! It's a way to assimilate immigrants who have been stuck in welfare dependency.
A huge upside is that Swedish firms can now hire the "cream of the crop," which could lead to a stampede of foreigners during this recession. Don't be surprised if more Americans and Japanese join the migration, especially Swedes seem to love American TV programs, music and movies and Japanese sushi and pop culture.
Prime Minister Reinfeldt, a moderate whose parents are entrepreneurs, is gradually shifting Sweden to the right. While he's a boon for entrepreneurs and businesses, his dismantling of Sweden's welfare programs is incurring the wrath of social democrats who built Sweden's "workers' paradise." Moreover, according to Amy Goodman of "Democracy Now!", Reinfeldt has hired Karl Gove, Bush's neocon operative, to run his 2010 re-election campaign.
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20081212/OPINION01/812120312
Moreover, little has been written about Sweden's arms sales, which finance this welfare state. Gove's presence will surely focus more media attention on Sweden's foreign policies and defense posture. While Sweden is unlikely to repeat Bush's errors, we may see more political fireworks in this land of the eternal night.
The social democratic (i.e. socialist) Nordic countries want to stimulate more entrepreneurialism, but they're doing it the wrong way -- top-down, supply-side, rigid, nationalistic, slow policies and programs. No wonder there are few new ventures despite all the money the governments are pumping into university and military R&D.
What should they do? Here are some tips:
- Create tax incentives for entrepreneurs who go international for customers and partners
- Get the rich Norwegian sovereign fund to set up seed funds run by young VCs who have succeeded with their own firms to find the next hot ventures like Skype
- Establish online gaming venture contests, scholarships, exchanges and funds
- Fund new music schools (i.e. "schools of rock") to train composers, musicians, producers, editors and curriculum. Note: Sweden is the #3 exporter of rock music, but its export agencies only focus on tech and bio, not "soft industries" like music, art, online gaming or movies, which attract a lot of talented Nordic youth who end up leaving for the U.K. or U.S.
- Organize some crazy, innovative events like ice sculptures and LED light sculpture festivals and contests during the long, dark winters here. One of Sweden's top entrepreneurs developed ice hotels, which are rebuilt every winter.
Or kayak and boating races around the Baltic during summer. Nordics love outdoor sports, but they rarely create new events for the Olympics.
There are lots of other potential festivals, contests, organizations or industries that Nordics could create if they only got out of their textbooks and labs and starting playing around and experimenting with the public more. This region is loaded with lots of talent, but people here are so modest, burdened by bureaucracy, and content that they never "go for it" like in the U.S. That's sad since the world badly needs some fresh innovation during this brutal global downturn.
The Nordic Innovation Centre just released a report summarizing what has happened in Nordic countries in regard to entrepreneurship policy over the past five years. Their major findings:
