Tech industry as an enabler for Swedish competitiveness

23. lay the foundation for entrepreneurship and the next Swedish "unicorn". Sweden needs a strong breeding ground and ecosystem for entrepreneurship and startups so that the next European tech company valued at a billion dollars is a Swedish unicorn. It must be cheaper and easier for companies to experiment. We need to create business environments and arenas that allow "learning by using" where companies are allowed to test and develop services and ideas and then update and adjust according to needs and proportionate requirements. This could include arenas that are co-funded to accelerate development and deployment, to create greater collaboration between large companies and SMEs, or to have a more diversified and innovative range of services and products.

24. enabling digital transformation in all sectors. There are still major differences between sectors and company sizes in the ability to adopt and use new technologies. Enabling digital transformation in all sectors requires access to skills, the ability to establish new ways of working and business models, sometimes regulatory changes, and a context for creating innovative capacity in companies. Good interaction and partnerships with the tech industry are also needed. Efforts are needed to strengthen innovation and ecosystems in all sectors, with science parks around the country playing an important role.

25. initiate an export boost for the tech industry.
Exports from an internationally competitive business sector are a prerequisite for Sweden's economic prosperity. Almost half of Sweden's GDP comes from exports of goods and services. The government should establish an ambitious industry and export promotion program for all forms of tech, such as healthtech, edtech, foodtech, fintech and cleantech, to further strengthen the tech industry's export opportunities. The focus of the program should be on strengthening partnerships, innovation platforms and service development.

26. strengthen the tech industry's opportunities for research and development and for participation in research environments within digitalization and new technologies. Business research and innovation are crucial to Swedish growth and competitiveness and to Sweden as a nation of knowledge. There must be good conditions within academia and research institutes to assist the business sector and appropriate funding that rewards this. Other countries are investing in and improving the conditions for their companies' research and development, and Sweden also needs to raise its ambitions.