MeetingPoint Innovation - How Globalization and Radical Innovation are Impacting West Sweden
On 27 November the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE), School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, organized MeetingPoint Innovation together with External Relations. The event brought together 80 people, partners from companies, professors and researchers, and friends, as well as Masters and PhD students.
Globalization as well as radical innovations based upon changes in technology, products and life-styles are impacting society and the economy. They are impacting entrepreneurs and large companies, as well as universities and the role of the public sector. This MeetingPoint Innovation discussed what these changes mean to West Sweden as well as how organizations and individuals are reacting to globalization and radical innovations.
This day celebrated the Sten A Olsson Foundation for Research and Culture (Sten A Olssons stiftelse för forskning och kultur), and this Meeting Point Innovation was also a seminar within the “Radical Innovations for the Enhancement of the Swedish Economy”, a research program financed by the Sten A Olsson Foundation for Research and Culture. The audience was given insights about the challenges and opportunities for the universities, politicians, entrepreneurs and large companies, as well as given a systematic analysis of what is changing, with a particular focus on Asia.
Professor Maureen McKelvey, organizer of this MeetingPoint Innovation is leader of this research program. The book published by Edward Elgar Publishers (UK) is entitled Innovation Spaces in Asia: Entrepreneurs, Multinational Enterprises and Policy.
Stefan Bengtsson, President and CEO, Chalmers University of Technology, and Professor of Solid State Electronics, started off the day by presenting “How can a university support innovation and globalization: The case of Chalmers”.
Marcus Holgersson, assistant professor at Chalmers, visiting scholar at IIE then gave his point of views about “Globalization, harmonization, and convergence of innovation and patenting”.
The next speaker was Olle Ludvigsson, Member of the European Parliament (S), who talked about the importance of innovation for the job market in West Sweden.
After the break Jun Jin, Associate Professor in Innovation Management, Zhejiang University School of Management, visiting professor at IIE talked about “Creating leading edge technical competencies in Chinese companies”.
Erik Gatenholm & Héctor Martinéz, founders of CELLINK, MSc students in Innovation and Industrial Management and Entrepreneurship and Business Development, respectively, then shared their business “Innovating through 3D printers in life sciences: The case of CELLINK”.
Last up was Thomas Hordern, Business Innovation Leader, Volvo Group Headquarters, who gave speech on the “Renewal and radical innovation at Volvo AB”.
The panel concluded the day by discussing questions from the audience. It consisted of the speakers of the day with Professor Maureen McKelvey as moderator. The panel debated what entrepreneurs and large companies are doing today to be able to engage in globalization and radical innovations as well as the implications for public policy in our region.