Christian Johansson,
Maryland's Secretary of Business & Economic Development, said that more and more Swedish green technology companies have made their way to the U.S. and that many have found Maryland an attractive place to set up their headquarters. He said that the state has a long history of taking foreign trade seriously and has worked to make it easy for foreign companies to establish themselves there. An extra bonus for the state is that foreign companies often pay higher wages than U.S. firms, thereby contributing significantly to Maryland's economy.
According to Mr. Johansson, Maryland has a competitive advantage in biotech, renewable energy and clean technologies, and cyber security. The state also strives to become a leader in reducing carbon emissions by 2020.
In his view, Maryland is an ideal place to grow business in an international environment. There are especially many opportunities for partnership between Maryland and Sweden, as they already have a lot of ties and Maryland is looking to Sweden for expertise when it comes to sustainability. SWEBO Bioenergy and SALESGEN House of GreenTech are
de facto "poster children" for investing in the State of Maryland.
Peter Selemark, President of
SALESGEN House of GreenTech presented his company, a Swedish-American trading house for green technology and clean energy products and solutions. Mr. Selemark said that one reason for foreign companies choosing to establish themselves in the U.S. is the overwhelming support companies receive here. This is especially true for the state of Maryland, which he sees as very progressive. He said that the Department of Business & Economic Development, led by Secretary Christian Johansson, has done a lot to make it attractive for foreign companies. The state also benefits from the proximity to Washington, D.C., which is important for green technology firms.
Peter Selemark said that many opportunities are opening up for Swedish companies in the U.S. as the green technology market speeds up in America. There has been a notion in the U.S. that "going green" slows down economic growth, but the Swedish example has proven that this doesn't need to be the case. In Sweden, less energy is used, and CO
2 emissions are reduced, while at the same time, the GDP per capita has grown.
There are a lot of products and components you can add in a production chain in order to reduce the use of energy. The goal for SALESGEN House of GreenTech is to assist Swedish green tech companies, which are often technologically advanced, but understaffed and under-funded. Hence they are often not well-suited to enter the U.S. market on their own, which is why a trading house effectively can be valuable in bringing green technology to the U.S. The trading house concept is not new to Sweden, as there have been several historic examples, including the Swedish "East India Company" back in the late 1700's.
SWEBO Bioenergy, a Swedish company that produces innovative environmentally friendly and carbon-neutral bioenergy solutions by converting animal waste into energy, was represented by its President, Mattias Lindgren. It was founded in 1976 by Björn Jansson and it now has 34 years of experience in the green technology industry. The company's systems can burn almost any form of renewable energy that its customers want to burn - from wood chips and pellets to grain, slaughterhouse waste and chicken manure. SWEBO's bioenergy solutions permit the producer to have great control over the cost per kilowatt-hour and can provide energy for both small and large scale operations.
SWEBO is presently active in Northern America, Nordic countries and will expand into the main EU markets during the next three years. According to Mr. Lindgren, SWEBO is not a typical Swedish company as they have a more aggressive approach than other Swedish companies. They have high ambitions for 2010 that they are convinced they will outperform.
SWEBO chose Maryland because of the great support they received from Secretary Johansson's department, the great potential within the poultry and horse industries, the already strong ambitions for renewable energy of the state, the access to the Port of Baltimore and because of the great people.
A lively Q&A followed the panel presentations and there were several questions from the audience wanting to know more about the latest green technologies and the Swedish-American business models that Mr. Selemark and Mr. Lindgren are building.
Sweden's leading daily newspaper, Svenska Dagbladet covered the event, interviewing Mr. Johansson and highlighting Maryland as Sweden's "mirror image" in the U.S. For those of you who understand Swedish, you can read Karin Henriksson's story here:
