Good news for our members in the southern part of Sweden. In May 2018 KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will continue to expand its medium haul network, with scheduled services to Växjö in Småland. KLM will operate a daily flight to Växjö in an Embraer 175 with 88 seats. 

Barry ter Voert, Senior Vice President Europe: ”North Europe is a strong and attractive region where KLM already operates a unique network. We are proud to be the first major international airline to launch daily flights to Växjo, the hometown of IKEA”.

Located in the south of Sweden, Växjö is the capital city of the Kronoberg region. It has an entrepreneurial climate, a renowned university and is the hometown of Ikea. Växjö gives access to nature and outdoor activities and has an excellent reputation for gastronomy.

The first flight will be on 14 May 2018.  More information can be found here (KLMs pressrelease - in Swedish).

On the 15th of February, the first Young Professionals Event was organised by the Embassy of the Netherlands, with help from the Dutch Chamber, for young professionals with an interest in the Netherlands and Sweden. 
A large audience gathered to listen to the knowledgeable panel (Vattenfall, Undutchables Recruitment, Grow Internationals). They discussed cultural differences in the workplace between the Netherlands and Sweden by sharing personal experiences and relevant tips.
This meeting was organised and moderated by the embassy's intern Lisette Sikkens and a follow-up meeting will be organised in the future by the next interns. 
/Lisette Sikkens

"It is all about using data and understanding how things connect in order to enhance the customer experience." 

This was one of the messages Amer Mohammed, head of digital innovations at Stena Line, made during the Go.Innovation Lab on Thursday 1st of February in Gothenburg.
He gave us an insight in digital leadership within Stena Line and his 'leading edge' view on digital transformation (articificial intelligence). With personal anecdotes, movies and examples he inspired our audience!

Some of his main messages:
- The impact of artificial intelligence will be revolutionary, on a scale greater than the information age.
- In future user experience will be the only thing differentiating your company from others, and this requires big data on your customers.
- We were able to increase buy-in through our reverse mentoring program - we hooked up senior leaders with young IT entrepreneurs to introduce them to the new digital age.
- Choose the right people and then get out of the way. 

​Together, in presence of our colleagues from the Norwegian-Swedish Chamber of Commerce and the Swiss Chamber of Commerce as well as one of our sponsors, Lloyd’s Register, we are looking back on a great evening and looking forward to the next Go Innovation Lab in Gothenburg on the 12th of April!

​/Annemieke van Wijk