Attracting Korean mobile producers to the Øresund ICT Region

Vice-chancellor of the Lund University Per Eriksson are focusing on attracting more mobile development and production to the Øresund Region. He would specifically like to see Korean Samsung and LG establish their companies here. Public authorities must now make a joint effort to keep enforcing our region's strength within the telecom industry, Per Eriksson says.

Per Eriksson is former general secretary of the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA), and as present vice-chancellor of Lund University he is continuously involved with and interested in cluster strengths in the Øresund Region. ST-Ericsson is warning about lay-offs of employees at their facility in Lund which has made Per Eriksson focus on ensuring the strong mobile industry that is distinctive of the region.

- The situation is very serious and heavy on us, but it is not a complete disaster or crisis. From the regional, the civic and the university institutions we have to work on recruiting international businesses in order to create additional jobs, he says and looks east for inspiration.

- I have been to Korea myself way back when they decided to become world leaders in flat screens. Two companies that developed very well are Samsung and LG, Per Eriksson responds to a question about his dream establishments in the region.
As vice-chancellor of Blekinge Institute of Technology, also in southern Sweden, in the 1990'ies, Per Eriksson played his part in attracting France Telekom and Hewlett-Packard to the region. This was also where the mobile operator Europolitan was founded.

Earlier this week the Mayor of Lund, Mats Helmfried said to the newspaper Sydsvenskan that the municipality of Lund primarily focuses on supporting entrepreneurs. He thinks that the municipality cannot do much to attract foreign companies, but Per Eriksson the contrary that all public actors now has to stand together in this matter. He says that extra resources should be spent on this, and that requires a strong commitment from all actors that represent the public sector.

As an example he draws on Mobile Heights; a collaboration between business, academia and the public sector. The purpose is to enforce the telecom cluster in southern Sweden through closer contact between the various actors. Amongst the founders of this initiative are Sony Ericsson and ST-Ericsson.

Per Eriksson thinks that the region and the university now has to increase their commitment to the case which is what he will focus on from his part.

Source: Sydsvenskan