Sweden-Canada Innovation Initiative 2020

Important results from the project

The goal of this project is to stimulate and support increased collaboration between Sweden and Canada within innovation, especially in AI, mining and forestry. The goal for 2020 was to maintain and build on the contacts created during the previous year by holding regular meetings with Executive Innovation Team and supporting Vinnova in engaging companies, participants and speakers to Sweden Innovation Days in November 2020. Due to the pandemic, no physical meetings took place, but nine digital meetings were held during the year and Canada had a strong participation in SID in November.

Expected long term effects

Executive Innovation Team (EIT) with members from Epiroc, SAAB, ABB, Ericsson, Embassy and Business Sweden held nine digital meetings in 2020. Cooperation between Canadian incubator DMZ and Ignite was created during the year and several Canadian companies (3 large and 9 start-ups) participated in SID in November. Meeting between EIT and Wallenberg Foundation resulted in a letter being sent from Jacob and Marcus Wallenberg to 20 Swedish companies to encourage increased cooperation between Sweden and Canada.

Approach and implementation

Within the framework of the budget that existed for 2020, as well as an ongoing pandemic, the plan was to primarily keep the EIT group together by holding regular digital meetings. Nine meetings were conducted during 2020 and they were well organized by Mark Henderson and Business Sweden. During the autumn, the group also supported Vinnova in promoting SID, which resulted in increased collaboration between Ignite and DMZ and many match-making meetings. The letter from FAM to Swedish companies was much appreciated by the EIT group, with hopes it will result in further collaboration.