International projects, collaborations, and innovations are crucial for Sweden's future competitiveness, not only for Sweden as a leading knowledge nation, but also for sustainable development globally.
Anders Dalén, Future Mobility.
To take a closer look at an example of this, we met one of our tech experts at A Society – Anders Dalén, who has been working on Future Mobility for 11 months. The initiative has already led to the development and improvement of concrete innovation collaborations between Sweden and the US. He is currently leading the initiative in the US to accelerate innovation in mobility. Future Mobility is led by Lindholmen Science Park and funded by Sweden's innovation agency Vinnova.
We took this opportunity and asked Anders some questions to get a deeper insight into the important work he does. Anders – tell us what you've been working on in the US?
– I lead the Future Mobility initiative in the US and you could say that my ultimate task is to act as a "matchmaker" and be a door opener for innovation collaboration between the US and Sweden as well as a strategic advisor to the ideas and initiatives that emerge. I connect people who have an idea and make sure they meet someone in my network or others' networks to be an enabler of innovation moving forward. I meet and talk to everyone from US scientists and potential investors to various companies or startups working to transform the mobility industry.
– I simply create a "runway" for initiatives to get off the ground, a bit like a jigsaw puzzle where it is important to have a sense of the different roles and to have good colleagues by your side. Among other things, I work closely with Hans Pohl, who is the program manager in Sweden.
Future mobility, which Anders works on, has already led to the development and improvement of concrete innovation collaborations between Sweden and the US.
What has Future Mobility resulted in so far?
– What I can talk about right now are the projects that received funding last September where Swedes have already started working with Americans to achieve success: AW Aware, Transit summit and Shared standards for future mobility.
Why is this important for other countries?
– In this Future Mobility case, we are working strategically to create continuous collaboration with Sweden and other international actors to better accommodate innovation that supports development in the right direction.
– The greater value is of course sustainability and the need for this type of project comes from the fact that the biggest bottleneck everywhere is resources. We live in an era of automation but the biggest value in this kind of issue is of course human capital and the right skills.
What is your biggest hope with Future Mobility?
– My hope is that investors in Sweden will see the opportunity with Future Mobility and get in touch to understand what concrete opportunities they can build into their programs. The value is a tailwind for Swedish research where we get help with competence/perspective, evaluation, and scaling up.
We also asked Filip Rosander, CEO A Society US, what he thinks about working with Anders and Future Mobility. This is how he responded:
– It has been great to follow the work with Future Mobility and that A Society got to be part of Anders’ employment & relocation process. We are passionate about creating opportunities for all our Techsperts, and we hope that initiatives like this will inspire more people to explore the opportunity to work in the US.