At the heart of Nordic cooperation
On 13-14 May 2018, the Nordic ministers for digitalization met in Stockholm to discuss the potential of digitalization and the need for regional collaboration. The events are part of the Swedish Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers. During both days, IT&Telekomföretagen was entrusted by the government to both organize and contribute to the events that took place.
The ministerial meeting kicked off in KTH's reactor hall where we invited guests to 5 visionary reflections: on information management with Jeff Bullwinkle, General Counsel at Microsoft; on robotics & AI with Professor Danica Kragic; on the future of energy supply with Northvolt founder Peter Carlsson; on the balance between ambition and security with Lena Nyberg from Digital Route; on the smart cities of the future with Ann Hellenius. All five visionaries have a deep knowledge and understanding of how digitalization affects us, but also know what opportunities it brings. The input provided the delegations with inspiration for the subsequent roundtable discussion on how we maintain our democratic values in a digitalized society. A big question that generated interesting and fruitful discussions around the tables.
While Sunday was more visionary in nature, Monday's event provided more concrete examples of how the new technologies are already being used today, in companies' everyday lives. Four companies - Cambio and Koala Care focusing on e-health, Nobina in transport and Lundqvist trävaru producing houses - described how they are working on transformative digital solutions, but also what problems they are facing and how policy can help them move forward. Finally, participants had the opportunity to talk to around twenty companies exhibiting at a technology marketplace, organized by us in the margins of the meeting. All the exhibiting companies operate in the borderland between AI and 5G, and the technology marketplace enabled politicians, businesses and opinion leaders to better understand each other's prerequisites and needs in the societal transformation that is currently underway.
The two days contributed to relaxed and constructive conversations and gave everyone involved a better picture of what digitalization can contribute. To be able to contribute in such a central role in an intergovernmental cooperation is a recognition I think we can all be very proud of. As a trade association, we are also able to play a role in this context that individual companies would find more difficult. Being close to the center of Nordic cooperation is definitely of value to the industry, and is something we should cherish going forward.
