On the last day of Sweden’s Innovation Congress, held in Borås in April 2018, Ulf Olsson (Social Democratic Party), President of the Local Authority Executive Committee, and Francisca Herodes, Head of Investment Services and Cooperation at Business Sweden, met to sign a Cooperation Agreement which will strengthen the region.

“It’s perhaps not something you think about every day, but lots of applied research goes on here. A little over 25% of all the applied research in Sweden happens in our region. That means that we are to applied research what Lund and Uppsala are to basic research. So we hope that in collaboration with Business Sweden we can attract more investment to our region,” says Ulf Olsson.

“If we can get more international operators to invest here it’ll lead to more capital and more jobs.”

Business Sweden is a partly state owned organisation and works on behalf of the government to promote investment in the whole of Sweden. And Region Borås will be the 17th region in Sweden to join the agreement.

“Our job now is to investigate what the region’s strengths are, package that internationally and help promote the area in global markets,” says Francisca Herodes.

What can support at this level mean for the region?

“If we can get more international operators to invest regionally it’ll lead to more capital and more jobs,” says Francisca Herodes.

“It’s an agreement that means that we in Region Borås will have more influence as we work to attract more international investors here,” says Ulf Olsson.