Now let's put innovation into practice

In a short period of time, our region is becoming one of Europe’s most important hubs for the infrastructure that powers AI and the new digital economy. 

This creates significant opportunities, but at the same time, these projects require electricity, grid capacity, land, expertise, and public investment. We must therefore also ensure that they generate value here in the form of new businesses, more skilled jobs, enhanced expertise, research, innovation, and solutions that advance both the business sector and social welfare. 

Data centers can provide us with the infrastructure. But the infrastructure itself will not build the Dalarna of the future. It is our ability to use it that will do so, and that is why innovation is crucial to Dalarna’s future.  

For the sixth consecutive year, Dalarna Science Park, in collaboration with Novus, has taken the pulse of Dalarna’s development through the Innovation Panel. The results show that only 21 percent believe there is sufficient investment in innovation in businesses and the public sector. Nearly one-third see businesses relocating as the greatest risk if Dalarna does not strengthen its innovative capacity, and almost as many point to job losses. 

This is an important signal in an election year. Jobs, welfare, energy, skills, AI, and competitiveness are all high on the political agenda. Innovation may not be a major election issue in and of itself, but it cuts across all the others. After all, how can we create more jobs, address the skills shortage, improve healthcare, and strengthen business competitiveness if we don’t simultaneously get better at thinking innovatively, collaborating, and turning ideas into action? 

Innovation isn’t just about new products, new technology, or the next successful startup. It’s about our collective ability to solve problems, create value, and build a region where people want to live, work, and grow. Innovative power doesn’t arise from good intentions or well-formulated strategies. It grows when people with different experiences come together, when knowledge is shared, and when ideas are put to the test in the real world. 

That's exactly what Dalarna Innovation Days is all about. 

We’re now releasing this year’s program, filled with opportunities to connect, gain new perspectives, and explore possibilities for everyone who wants to help develop Dalarna. This year, we’re also taking two important steps to turn words into action. 

Together with our partners, we are opening the doors to the AI Hub in Dalarna, a shared space where businesses, the public sector, academia, and other stakeholders can explore how AI evolves from a technical possibility into tangible benefits, and how we can make this future-oriented initiative sustainable. We’re also inaugurating our Material Arena, where companies will have the opportunity to develop their expertise and to explore, test, and develop the materials of the future. 

These are two initiatives in areas that will influence Dalarna’s competitiveness for a long time to come.

But above all, there are two places where innovation is put into practice. 

The program for Dalarna Innovation Days has now been released. I hope you’ll find a perspective that challenges you, or someone you need to meet—perhaps with an idea you’d like to help bring to life. 

See you at the Dalarna Innovation Days.