Sweden’s ‘blackbelt’ in modernization

Move aside, Germany. Sweden thinks it should be Europe’s digital industry leader.

Sweden’s minister of innovation and enterprise, Mikael Damberg, is counting on a growing army of Stockholm startup geeks to turn the nation’s historically strong industrial sector into a global industry leader.

POLITICO spoke with Damberg about his ambitions for Sweden’s industrial economy.

What is Sweden’s digital industry plan?

We have Produktion 2030, which is a much broader industrial strategy, not just a digital one. There are four key steps: digitization, sustainability, skills, knowledge, and using Sweden as a testing ground. These are all about progress and moving forward.

Today, there is a window for Swedish industrialization. Scholars tell us we’ll soon swing from out-sourcing to re-sourcing — the return of manpower and jobs to Sweden — thanks to our broad industrial strategy.

Sweden will be a world leader in modern industrial production of services and products — that is our plan. As a relatively small country, when we have common goals and ambitions we can be faster than others.

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How does it compare to the rest of Europe?

We haven’t really worked with a targeted digital strategy like the Germans or the Dutch, the Brits or the French — we might lag behind on that end. But we are already at the forefront when it comes to development. We want to keep pace and be a frontrunner.

We have an exploding startup scene in Stockholm. One in 10 people around the world have played a Swedish computer game. Traditional industries can now gain from these sectors. Services now have a fuller perspective on what attracts creativity and innovation.

For example, we have Boliden, a traditional mining company, testing 5G connectivity. They’re using it on the ground to tackle security issues and also to develop faster and more effective production models. Another example: Volvo plans to test a fleet of 100 connected cars in Gothenburg next year. We’ve launched eight digital pilot innovation projects like these together with different industries.

We can work with these sectors of society. The trick behind Swedish success is our model of cooperation between the public and private sectors and academia, employers and employees.We have a blackbelt in structured change.

What advice would you give to other European countries?

The national strategies are a good first step.

Everyone can educate people, retrain people faster, give people the tools to understand where to get connected. Countries can set up education programs in their workplaces and schools to help people get the right experience.

That being said, it’s hard to actually politically invent industries or clusters that are not there. Countries need to play to their strengths.

What is the European Union’s role in this?

The EU can’t really do much. We have looked at the European Commission’s initiatives in this area and all I can say is that each country has to do its homework. You have to work with the clusters you really know, know what their needs are. It has to be a bottom-up perspective. The EU has an important role when it comes to the wider digital single market and legal harmonization, but not on this specific initiative.