Dalarna Science Park on tour was of course on site during Leksand's business week on March 6-8. Being present among Dalarna's municipalities is something we prioritize highly, and we had time to visit both companies and municipal management and lecture on how to create innovative organizations.
We started the day by listening to Sofia Thunberg from Linköping University who talked about AI and the development of robotization with its challenges and opportunities. Lectures like this trigger thoughts like - what does this mean for us? How do we need to prepare ourselves to take part in this development in the best way?
So it was extra fitting that Jörgen Bond from us immediately after Sofia lectured on how to create an innovative organization, which is one of the areas we know best at Dalarna Science Park.
During Dalarna Science Park on Tour, we always meet the municipal management where the goal is to understand what challenges the municipality is facing and how we at Dalarna Science Park can intervene and support to generate the best possible development.
Caroline Smitmanis Smids, director of the municipality, spoke about the new business program that is being developed. The process focuses on listening to the needs of businesses and creating a knowledge base for the future. She emphasized the major transition that businesses have undergone due to the pandemic and the continued challenges they face.
Here we see that our programs for existing companies can help strengthen. HIT is a nine-month development program where development takes place together with other companies, which provides new opportunities and access to new networks in addition to the knowledge gained through our business coaches.
We also have an exciting collaboration with Leksands Sparbank called Navigator Scale up, where four navigators with different skills can be connected to a company that needs guidance in its development journey towards an economically sustainable company under new conditions.
Of course, as in many other places, the challenge of attracting labor and migrants to the place and companies is highlighted here.
- "Of course, we want to be perceived as more innovative and a municipality at the forefront of the future. We are also talking about how we can attract new industries to the municipality," says Sebastian Larsson, Chairman of the Municipal Executive Board in Leksand.
Another issue is the logistics center that is being created in Leksand. Bergkvist Siljan belongs to one of Europe's largest sawmill groups and is a global supplier of wood products with a great need for efficient and sustainable logistics flows from the forest to customers around the world.
- The development we are talking about in southern Dalarna is also happening here, with major investments at Bergkvist Siljan, for example. We are becoming an important logistics center where new companies have all the potential in the world to grow up," says Tobias Mårtensson, business manager in Leksand.
We met many nice entrepreneurs and also made a company visit, at Kuggteknik where CEO Daniel Svensson received us.
Kuggteknik was founded in 1964 in Stockholm, then moved to Leksand and is now owned by Hexano Industri. They specialize in manufacturing small gear parts in large volumes with high quality. With Atlas Copco as their largest customer, they plan to double their turnover within five years.
Of course, like many others, it faces challenges in recruiting the right kind of staff
- Based on our challenges, I think it is important that the municipality plans for attractive housing, a good school, health and social care. We have a couple of exciting years ahead of us where we see industries that will grow in terms of demand for gear parts, so we are planning to both employ more people and invest for the future," says Daniel Svensson, CEO of Kuggteknik.
Exciting company that we wish good luck in the future.
We can only reflect on this issue, which is about recruiting skills to Dalarna, here we must become clearer in what opportunities Dalarna offers when it comes to attractive workplaces with exciting and innovative development. We will continue to work on this under the IN Dalarna brand, stay tuned via our channels.
We conclude our visit to Leksand by saying that this is how we thrive best, when we get to be the cog in the machine and contribute with what we do best. Exactly what that is in Leksand will be discussed again as soon as the Business Program is ready. But one thing we got out of it was that it was obvious that Dalarna Innovation Days would be held again this year in Leksand. Of course we think that if you want to be perceived as an innovative place, that's a given. We will see you again in Leksand, certainly before week 43 when Dalarna Innovation Days takes place, but at the latest then.
Pictured from left: Christina Sjöberg, Caroline Smitmanis Smids, Sebastian Larsson, Tobias Mårtensson and Angelica Ekholm
