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In Bahasa Indonesia, an adjustable wrench is called kunci inggris. I just learned that it was invented by a Swede named Johan Peter Johansson in 1888. I wonder why we do not call it kunci swedia instead.
Johansson is just one of the inventors in Sweden. As H.E. Owa Polano, the ambassador of Sweden for Indonesia, mentioned in her welcoming address to a high level seminar of ICT players in Jakarta recently, we use a product or an invention from Sweden every day although we are may not be aware of it.
We get dressed for the day and pull the zipper, for example. The zipper was developed by Gideon Sundback.
We get into a car and buckle up, and the retractable seatbelt was invented by Hans Karlsson.
If we feel a bit feverish and want to know how high our body temperature really is, we insert a thermo
meter under our tongue or into our armpit. It was developed by Anders Celcius, another Swede.
The list goes on and on. At the event, one of the gifts I received was a CD-ROM titled Swedish
Innovations, and I would like to thank the organizer for it. I will certainly keep it in a safe place.
While we know the global brands that Denmark has, we are also familiar with many of the big names from Sweden, including Ericsson, Volvo, Saab, Ikea, Skype, AstraZeneca, H&M and, of course, ABBA.
“We also have a large number of small and medium size companies, many of them are in the ICT business,” explained Ulf Berg in our press interview. Last week, he brought 12 of such companies, paid a visit to the three major telecom operators in Indonesia and met with local entrepreneurs.
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Ulf Berg, who is also an Ericsson employee, was here to lead the Swedish Trade Council, of which he is the president.
According to him, his organization has 66 offices in 56 countries. It is easy to guess the mission of the commission.
The small and medium companies in Sweden need to go global to grow, because the country only has a population of 9.26 million, and the level of ICT adoption is already one of the highest in the world.
The business matching between Swedish companies and their Indonesian counterpart last week was not the first.
In fact, in May 2007 several content creators from the two countries got together at Shangri-La, Jakarta, to exchange ideas and seek business alliances.
There are a few similarities between the two countries, and the size of the population is certainly not one of them. Still, like Indonesia, Sweden is an archipelago. The northern part is sparsely populated and 80 percent of the people live in the south.
More importantly, Indonesia is a potential market for Swedish innovations. Indonesia currently has around 160 million mobile phone users, and, according to Sarwoto Atmosutarno, CEO of Telkomsel, we still have around 35 million connectable citizens.
Our broadband penetration is still very low, but increasing. Above all, we are avid consumers of mobile content.
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The 12 companies specialize in different areas. Celemi is a specialist in business simulation. Cyberom Singapore Pte Ltd. is a telecom consulting firm based in Singapore. Dub Tools is the creator of a mobile publishing platform. Flexenclosure AB develops, manufactures and provides turnkey site solutions for the telecom industry.
PopCatcher is another innovative company from Sweden. In the goody bag I got, there was a product called the Ripper. It is an interesting product based on an interesting technology, and we will look at it more closely in one of my upcoming articles.
Next, Semcom helps its clients in project management, ensuring that project objectives are reached. Sjoland & Thylesius provides expert services in radio technology, network design and a wide range of other technical areas.
StreamServe is a specialist in document presentment solution for the enterprise.
Swedish Mobile Association focuses on bringing Swedish mobile and wireless industry to the global market. Synopse helps companies manage their mobile devices. Vocab offers elearning solution. The entourage also includes SEB, a financial group from Northern Europe, which provides financial assistance in many countries.
In total, Sweden has around 1,200 ICT companies, 500 of them specializing in the wireless industry.
At the same time, foreign companies can also come to do their R&D and test market reception for their products and services in Sweden.
We can certainly learn a lot from Sweden, how they have nurtured startups, how they manage the spectrum resources, how they promote fair competition between incumbent and alternative operators, etc. Getting information on Swedish companies will not be difficult. As Ulf Berg mentioned in the interview, the Swedish Trade Council, which works closely with their embassies around the world, is planning to open its office here in Jakarta. At the moment, it is operating from an office in Kuala Lumpur.
Incidentally, if you feel you need fresher air in the outer space, or want to experience the conditions astronauts are exposed to, make Sweden your next destination. As reported in the Dec. 12 edition of The Local, a Swedish online newsletter, a place in northern Sweden called Kiruna will be the second site for space tourism.
The man behind it? Who else but Richard Branson. His company has developed the Virgin Galactic spaceship and has been working on several spaceports around the world.
Incidentally, tourist space trips are expected to start at Kiruna in 2012!
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