1. Sweden and Its Innovation System:
A Brief Introduction
Anne Lidgard
Director, Silicon Valley Office
European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders (ME421)
Stanford Engineering
January 28 2013 Slide 1

2. From violent to peaceful
Ola Ericson/imagebank.sweden.se Henrik Trygg/imagebank,sweden.se

3. Largest number of global companies
per capita

4. Innovated in Sweden…
Tetra Pak Zipper Pacemaker Bluetooth Color screen
Vacuum cleaner
3-point Graphics for computers
Dynamite Safety
Losec
safety belt
match Dialysis
Mobile telephony
Screw Celsius thermometer machine
Ultrasound
propeller Welding AGA Lighthouse
AXE switch
Skype
Ball helmet Hasselblad camera
Blowtorch
Metro bearing Spotify Plastic plug
Xylocain Tooth implants Adjustable Modern
Rear-facing child safety seat wrench refrigerator

5. All this while less than
0.15% of the world’s
population is actually
Swedish.
0.14%

6. But Sweden was a poor, impoverished,
agrarian country just over 100 years ago
 From 1880-ies to 1930, about 1,5 million (25% of the
population) emigrated, most to North America.
Slide 6

7. Strong and Stable Economy
GDP growth in selected countries Inflation rate
1998–2012, average annual change, percent 1998-2012 annual average, percent
Source: Eurostat, June 2012 Source: OECD, June 2012
7
www.investswe
den.se

8. 10,5% 9,7% 1,7% 4,4%
2010
…the competition increases (Annual growth of GDP)
Bild 8

9. Political focus
Education
Infrastructure
Research and innovation

10. Open borders

11. A culture nurturing innovation
Cooperation Open and international climate
Critical thinking Non-hierarchical organizations
Diversity Delegated responsibilty
Equality Encourage children’s play

12. Total R&D expenditure in relation to GDP, 2010
Israel
Finland
Korea
Sweden (2011)
Japan
Denmark
Switzerland (2008)
Taiwan
United States (2009)
Germany
Austria
France Business enterprise
Singapore
Higher education
Belgium
Netherlands Government sector
Canada Other organisations
China
Ireland
United Kingdom
Norway
Spain
Italy
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0
Percent of GDP
Source: OECD, MSTI 2012

13. Sweden ranks high in innovation and competitiveness
Innovation Union Scoreboard Global Competitiveness Index
2011 2012/2013
Switzerland Switzerland
Sweden Singapore
Denmark Finland
Germany Sweden
Finland Netherlands
Belgium Germany
United Kingdom United States
Iceland United Kingdom
Netherlands Hong Kong
Austria Japan
Source: European Innovation Scoreboard 2011 and World Economic Forum, Global Competitiveness Report 2012/13.

14. Swedish rank per dimension in Innovation Union
Scoreboard 2011
Dimension Main type Rank
Human Resources Enabler 1
Open, excellent & attractive research Enabler 3
systems
Finance and support Enabler 1
Firm investments Firm activities 1
Linkages & entrepreneurship Firm activities 4
Intellectual assets Firm activities 2
Innovators Output 10
Economic effects Output 8
Source: Innovation Union Scoreboard 2011

15. Mission: To develop Sweden’s innovation capacity for
sustainable growth and for the benefit of society
 Sweden´s Innovation Agency
 Reports to the Ministry of Enterprise,
Energy and Communications
 Annual budget: 350 Mn USD
 Number of staff: 200
 Offices in Stockholm, Brussels and
Silicon Valley

16. Investing in R&I Innovation
How? What? Research & capacity in
Grow
ICT Health
SMEs
Eg. Challenge Innovation
Services Management
driven innovation
Manufacturing Transport
Innovation
Infrastructure
capacity
for innovation
Global links
Eg Test Site Sweden,
Living Labs
Innovation procurement
University Tech transfer
capacity
Policy development
Slide 16

17. Universities
 31 Higher Education
Institutions
 21 have the right to award
post-graduate degrees
 Pioneered on-line education
 Uppsala University oldest,
founded in 1477.
 Many courses now taught in
English
Slide 17

18. Swedish Incubators & Science Parks
Triple helix-based nodes in regional
innovation systems
43 Business Incubators (accelerators),
33 Science Parks,
12 Regional Seed Capital Funds
Focus on processes,
commercialization and renewal of
businesses
5000 growth companies with 72,000
employees

19. Acquisitions: Online Video Mobile Development
Conferences, VoIP tech, Center
online statistics viewer
Nordic R&D Center
Mobile R&D Centers in
Stockholm,Gothenburg
Equity Low power & cost rural base
and Lund
investment: stations development
Videoplaza
Acquisitions in STB
Development
Center
Acquisitions: UI and Acquisition:
Online Video Editing Scalado
Acquisition: Saab
Ericsson Space Acquisition:
Acquisitions: Face Logipard
Recognition and
3D map
technologies
Acquisition: System Simulation
Acquisition: Swiftfoot
Android Center of Excellence Graphics
Equity invest: Tobii Acquisition: CoreSonic
Acquisition: NanoRadio
Northern European S&M HQ
Datacenter
19

20. Keep an eye out for these!
Anticipated 1Bn USD-exits + Many interesting prospects
 Tripbirds, Rebtel, Wrapp,
Tictail,CLX Networks, Cint,
Desmo, Graphensic,
Heliospektra, Neo
Technology, Organoclick,
Peepoople, Protaurius,
Voddler, Atlas Antibodies,
Algoryx, and of course:
Senion Labs!
Slide 20

21. To summarize:
Sweden
 Technologically advanced
 Skilled and well educated
population
 Societal values striving towards
openness and peaceful,
sustainable living
China Silicon Valley  Strategically located:
• Stockholm-SF 5142 miles
• Stockholm-Beijing 4420 miles
• SF-Beijing 5918 miles
Slide 21

22. Thank you!
anne.lidgard@vinnova.se
Slide 22