Taking Care of Business

SACC San Francisco chairwoman Charlotte Danielsson on the role of foreign chambers in creating new opportunities.  

  • San Francisco's Financial District at night Photo: Joshua Dylan Mellars

  • On April 8, SACC - SF/SV chairwoman Charlotte Danielsson spoke to an audience of state, county and city representatives at the 34th annual conference of California’s premier economic development association: CALED. In her presentation, Danielsson made clear the seminal role played by foreign chambers in increasing foreign direct investment in California while at the same time creating new jobs, boosting wages, strengthening local manufacturing and stimulating an innovative entrepreneurial infrastructure. She outlined the ways in which the Swedish chamber sets about building networks to bridge national borders and in the process generates economic growth, promotes Transatlantic trade and facilitates knowledge sharing between the Swedish business community and Northern California.

  • Of course Sweden — long a world leader in innovation, currently ranked second on the Global Innovation Index 2013 and third in research and development expenditures in relation to GDP as of 2012 — is not exactly a hard sell as a U.S. and Bay Area business and trade partner. The history of the Nordic country's innovations is long and varied: from the celsius thermometer, the adjustable wrench, three-point car safety belts, the zipper, robot vacuum cleaner, pacemaker, electrocardiogram, dialysis machine and ultrasound to its high tech inventions such as bluetooth, the computer mouse, Skype and Spotify.

  • Add to this list Sweden's decades of experience in telecom, wireless, electronics, computer game development and web design, and you can readily see why the country is becoming the go-to locale for ICT related research and development. Apple, ARM, Electronic Arts, Google, Huawei, IBM, Intel, Mediatek, Opera, Qualcomm, RIM and many others are already in Sweden to further develop their technologies.

  • Danielsson went on to tell the engaged audience about the Swedish chamber’s longstanding commitment to serving as primary liaison and facilitator between Swedish and Bay Area companies. Established in 1948, SACC-SF/SV connects companies on both sides of the Atlantic through its trade missions, offering in-depth insight into local resources and tailored services to Swedish companies interested in locating, expanding or investing in Northern California.

  • With its unrivaled portfolio of links to Swedish connected corporations and start ups, seamless access to a nationwide network of Swedish and European business associations and a series of high-profile events and business seminars throughout the year, SACC SF/SV continues to take care of business for those interested in investing in northern California.

  • By Sofia Englund

  • SACC Event Spotlight

    Executive Insights: Johan Brenner

  • 
Join SACC-SF/SV at K&L Gates, as Johan Brenner shares his insights into building cutting edge entrepreneurial projects and pioneering tech startups. 

Brenner is a general partner in Creandum, the leading Nordic venture capital firm, which specializes in backing “the companies of tomorrow.” Creandum has helped to capitalize Spotify, Wrapp and iZettle among a host of other successful startups. Before coming to Creandum, Brenner was general partner at Balderton Capital (previously Benchmark Europe) with investments in companies like MySQL, LiveBookings, Rebtel, Zopa and Wonga.


  • When: Thursday, May 15, 6.00-8.00 pm
    
Where: K&L Gates, 4 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA 94111

  • For more information and registration visit:
    http://sacc-sf.org