GOTHENBURG \u2013 Beyond the formal agreements to collaborate in high-tech fields like quantum and 6G, Singapore and Sweden will continue to learn from each other in more systemic areas.<\/p>\n
This includes each country\u2019s approach to keeping their society together and to stay competitive in a more difficult world, said President Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Oct 21.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters on the final day of his state visit to Sweden, the President noted that both countries seek to bring everyone along in economic progress, and can exchange ideas in this area.<\/p>\n
He noted that the Swedes are very proud of their egalitarian \u201chorizontal culture\u201d, and their country\u2019s deep commitment to the idea of making sure that everyone moves up together.<\/p>\n
On Oct 20, he visited Fryshuset, an organisation in Stockholm that empowers youth from all backgrounds, including those with difficulties, to gain confidence, develop themselves, and feel that they play a role in society.<\/p>\n President Tharman Shanmugaratnam trying his hand at shooting a basketball at Fryshuset, an organisation in Stockholm that empowers youth from all backgrounds, on Oct 20.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n At the same time, Sweden has been able to produce individuals and entrepreneurs who set very ambitious goals for themselves, he noted. The country has one of the highest proportions of business unicorns in the world relative to population size, a term that refers to companies with a valuation of over US$1 billion (S$1.28 billion).<\/p>\n \u201cNot everyone is like that of course, but they\u2019ve been able to keep that balance,\u201d said President Tharman.<\/p>\n Swedish corporate culture has also evolved from one that used to involve quite transactional relationships towards something more collaborative.<\/p>\n Employees from successful start-ups have gone on to found their own companies, while successful founders have gone on to invest in other companies, noted the President.<\/p>\n \u201cThat dense community of entrepreneurs they have created is quite impressive,\u201d he said. \u201cIt involves collaboration, it involves mentorship, and it involves investing in each other.\u201d<\/p>\n Singapore and Sweden are also similar in that both governments take the view that they have to enable companies to grow and compete internationally. But they do so not by intruding in corporate strategy, but by having a predictable regulatory environment and through overseas business promotion, he added.<\/p>\n President Tharman said Sweden, more than most other countries in Europe, has a strong system of funding for emerging enterprises. This includes a thriving community of angel investors who succeed in their investments and recycle their gains into the next set of start-ups.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are things which are not new to us,\u201d said President Tharman. \u201cWe have our own aspirations in start-up funding, and there\u2019s something to learn from Sweden.\u201d<\/p>\n During President Tharman\u2019s state visit, which commemorates the 60th anniversary of bilateral relations, the two countries agreed to\u00a0a joint declaration on strategic cooperation on trusted and innovative technologies.<\/p>\n Among other things, both governments will explore cooperation in areas including semiconductors, Internet of Things technologies, AI models and applications, quantum technologies and 5G and 6G applications.<\/p>\n The President also made visits to the premises of Swedish firms Spotify, Ericsson and Volvo during his five-day trip.<\/p>\n In his wrap-up interview, the President also spoke about the Swedes\u2019 longstanding culture of business-trade union collaboration, that beyond wage bargaining is increasingly about how much companies should invest in their workers.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are working out strategies so that even if not every job remains the same, people are taken care of,\u201d he said. \u201cThe large corporates are able to redeploy people within their own companies; smaller ones often help people move on somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and his spouse, Jane Ittogi Shanmugaratnam, along with King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia in Sweden on Oct 21.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n This is also what Singapore seeks to do, and where the two countries can learn from each other, he said.<\/p>\n Besides their similarities, President Tharman said Singapore and Sweden can work together because they have developed a relationship of trust over the last 60 years.<\/p>\n From defence technology in the early days, the two sides expanded their cooperation to different areas of research and development, including education and now energy, he noted.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s been a productive visit, not just because of the agreements we are moving along on \u2013 in energy, in AI, in quantum, in 6G, in material science and other areas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut also because of the way in which we are continuing to learn from each other in our approach to keeping society together, in being competitive, and expanding possibilities for ourselves in a world that\u2019s more difficult than before.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n GOTHENBURG \u2013 Beyond the formal agreements to collaborate in high-tech fields like quantum and 6G, Singapore and Sweden will continue to learn from each other…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/94955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/picture><\/div>
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