On 29 September, Digital Futures welcomed Business Sweden and a delegation of French industrial leaders to KTH for a seminar on “Resilience for Tomorrow’s Industry: Triple Helix Collaboration Models.” The visit focused on Sweden’s innovation ecosystem and how collaboration between research, industry and the public sector can help accelerate industrial innovation.
The seminar brought together representatives from Digital Futures, Business Sweden and several leading organisations in Sweden’s research and innovation ecosystem, including RISE, WASP and XPRES. Through presentations, a panel discussion and networking, the participants explored how emerging technologies such as AI, automation, robotics and advanced digital solutions are developed, tested and transferred into real-world industrial environments.
Annika Szabo Portela, Executive Director of Digital Futures, and Jaani Heinonen, Head of Invest at Business Sweden, opened the seminar. Jenny Kjellberg, Program Manager for Smart Industry at Business Sweden, then presented Sweden’s strengths in innovation, industry and investment.
Urban Forsell, Head of AI Strategy & Innovation at Digital Futures, gave an introduction to “From Research to Industrial Impact”, highlighting the importance of connecting research with industrial applications.
The following panel discussion, moderated by Jaani Heinonen, brought together perspectives from across the Swedish innovation ecosystem, with contributions from RISE (Boel Wadman, Research Manager Manufacturing at RISE), WASP (Amy Loutfi, Program Director at WASP) and XPRES (Magnus Wiktorsson, Professor, Head of Department at KTH Royal Institute of Technology). The discussion addressed how research–industry partnerships can support innovation in areas including advanced manufacturing, sustainable and circular production, digitalisation and robotics.
The seminar formed part of a two-day Business Sweden delegation visit to Stockholm. A key focus was Sweden’s collaborative innovation model, including testbeds, demonstration environments and public-private partnerships that help move innovations from prototyping towards large-scale industrial deployment and strengthen industrial competitiveness and resilience.
The programme concluded with networking and discussions, giving the French delegation an opportunity to exchange perspectives with researchers, innovation leaders, policymakers and industrial stakeholders working with digital transformation and the future of industry.
French business delegation:
- Maxime HUGONNET, Bouygues Construction, Head of R&DI Partnerships
- Thomas LENEVEU, Tarkett, Vice President Business Unit Commercial flooring EMEA
- David HÅKANSSON, Tarkett, Business Cluster HO Director & Ronneby Plant Director Sweden
- David AVRAM, Fives Group, International Development Director
- Julien HUIN, Fives Group, Fives Filling & Sealing Sales & Marketing Director
- Rémy FLOQUET, Five Group, Fives Machining International Development Director
- Sofia KRISTENSSON, Addup Solutions, Additive Manufacturing by Fives, Sales Manager Northen Europe
- Samaneh ALIBEIGI, ArcelorMittal, R&D Product Development Portfolio Director
