Team Sweden’s role in a new geopolitical reality

How can Sweden strengthen its export and investment promotion in times of rising geopolitical uncertainty and an intensifying global race in industrial policy? That was the focus when the Karl-Adam Bonnier Foundation and the Stockholm School of Economics brought together decision-makers and experts for the seminar “Team Sweden 2.0 – What should it be?”

– Team Sweden is an important tool for strengthening Sweden’s competitiveness, but the question is how the model can be developed to work in today’s reality, said Tor Bonnier, CEO of Karl-Adam Bonniers Stiftelse, as he opened the evening.

He noted that Team Sweden has been a recurring theme in the foundation’s seminars over the years. As early as 2016, participants discussed what Sweden could learn from other countries to improve cooperation; two years later, in 2018, the seminar Beyond Aid addressed the need for closer alignment between development assistance and trade – an issue that was sensitive at the time but is now widely accepted. In 2019, the discussion continued on how Team Sweden had evolved in relation to the government’s trade-promotion strategy.

This time, the seminar was organized jointly by Karl-Adam Bonniers Stiftelse and the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE). Nick Andersson, Senior Advisor at the SSE, served as moderator.

The opening presentation was delivered by Diana Janse, State Secretary to the Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, responsible for trade policy and promotion. She emphasized the value of bringing together different perspectives to strengthen Team Sweden and highlighted today’s complex environment: war in Europe, cyber threats, challenged institutions, and rapid technological change. Janse also outlined the government’s efforts to bolster Sweden’s competitiveness. Among the measures she mentioned were a new foreign trade strategy, reformed development assistance with closer ties to trade, a strengthened mandate for Swedfund, and the establishment of Trade Gate Sweden to facilitate trade between Sweden and developing countries.

In group discussions, participants explored how Team Sweden 2.0 could be designed to meet today’s geopolitical and industrial-policy realities. Several groups called for stronger coordination between government agencies, development organizations, and companies, as well as better solutions for financing and risk-sharing.

A clear theme was the need for stronger support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Many argued that Team Sweden currently serves large corporations better, and that both the support and the way of working must become more flexible, regionally anchored, and easy to access to suit smaller firms.

Participants also stressed the need for clearer priorities in Sweden’s promotion efforts, Sweden cannot be the best at everything everywhere. The discussions underscore that the Team Sweden agenda remains highly relevant and the need for greater coordination and shared objectives is essential for Sweden’s competitiveness.