Swedish expo aims to boost innovation in Vietnam

Innovative Sweden was first held at Stanford University in 2011 and has since toured ten cities in the US, Canada, Brazil, China, Germany and Indonesia before coming to Vietnam. It is being held this month over three weeks.

This flagship event is part of the 45^th anniversary of Sweden-Vietnam diplomatic relations events that are being held throughout 2014.

Sweden’s Ambassador to Vietnam Camilla Mellander stressed that the two nations have enjoyed a unique and special bilateral relationship over the last 45 years.

“Innovation and economic growth are attached to one another. Vietnam aims to increase its innovative capacity and climb the global value chain, while Sweden is currently recognised as one of the world’s most innovative countries,” Mellander noted.

Explaining the key to Sweden’s success, Annika Rembe, director-general of the Swedish Institute, said that it was investment into R&D and innovations that have created jobs, saved lives and improved well-being for millions of people around the world.

“Through Innovative Sweden, we want to share these experiences with Vietnam to cultivate a culture of creativity here and to facilitate a mutual exchange of solutions and innovations for the future.”

Swedish enterprises are eager to join Vietnam’s journey and contribute to increasing its innovative capacity, while domestic counterparts are seeking new business opportunities with European countries, particularly as the Vietnam-European Union free trade agreement comes into its final phase next year,” Mellander said.

“The EU is currently Vietnam’s biggest export market and European enterprises in general consider Vietnam a leading ASEAN nation in terms of investment attractiveness,” she continued.

She added, however, that there are certain difficulties facing Vietnam’s business climate, such as corruption, lack of transparency and a weak legal framework, which have stymied foreign investment.

Despite these challenges Peter Cederholm, commercial counselor at the Embassy of Sweden, noted the huge opportunity for textile, furniture and technology enterprises to attract Swedish counterparts.

“Vietnam is improving its business climate with even more advanced industrial equipment and a supporting industry for light manufacturing. Regarding ICT, the Vietnamese workforce is strong in computing and program and application development,” Cederholm said.

The Swedish exhibition will hold seminars on sustainable transport, cleantech, innovative media, disaster relief, education, and will also include a photo exhibition of Swedish innovations from Vietnamese photographers.

The event will also feature cultural activities including a Swedish film festival, a disco lunch, a gaming competition with Battle Field and Candy Crush Saga, and the 2014 European Music Festival.

Sweden was the first Western country to establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam in 1969. Ever since, it has contributed to the national construction and socio-economic development of Vietnam. So far Sweden has committed $3 billion in ODA to the country ranging in focus from humanitarian assistance and infrastructure to supporting the Doi Moi (reform) process.