New member of the Business Climate Change
The government has appointed Östen Ekengren, senior adviser at IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, as a new member of the collaboration group Business Climate Change. Östen Ekengren hopes to be able to contribute by strengthening collaboration with the export and innovation platform Smart City Sweden, but also with his knowledge and experience of emerging countries such as China and India.
– I want to contribute as much as I can. I am passionate about creating sustainable climate solutions that we will also export. It will be our most important contribution to the world as a whole being able to meet the climate goals at the same time as we create meaningful employment in Sweden, says Östen Ekengren.
Minister of Trade and Industry Ibrahim Baylan, Minister responsible for collaboration programs, welcomes the election of Östen Ekengren as a new member:
– He has solid experience and a profile that fits well into the composition of the collaboration group and the program's focus on exporting sustainable innovations. He also has several employees who are already involved in various working groups in the program, so there are all the prerequisites to get into the work quickly, says Ibrahim Baylan.
Business climate change will create innovative solutions to societal challenges and contribute to business competitiveness. Östen Ekengren is very much looking forward to the work in the collaboration program.
– The increased involvement of the business community in combination with the great interest in politics provides a stable basis for achieving set goals. But I think we need to speed up the transition and therefore need to remove some bottlenecks that are hampering development. Examples of this are excessively long processing times and a lack of an integrated approach when new businesses are to be established. I am pleased that the collaboration programs address these challenges and also have a proactive agenda to create the sustainable solutions that can also be exported, he says.
Increase the export of Swedish solutions
Östen Ekengren has worked at IVL since 1978, and has, among other things, built up the environmental technology unit and also the unit that works with sustainable production and consumption. He has been active in China since 1986 but also in many other countries such as India, where in addition to capacity building he has also contributed to increasing the export of Swedish solutions. In recent years, Östen Ekengren has also played the role of business developer for the export platform Smart City Sweden. This assignment provides an opportunity to turn interested visits into business opportunities.
– I have a relatively good picture of the challenges we face but also of the solutions that emerge. We can export more of these solutions and I hope to be able to contribute mainly by strengthening collaboration with the export and innovation platform Smart City Sweden but also through my knowledge of the emerging countries' situation. I see great opportunities for Swedish business to be at the forefront, says Östen Ekengren.
The members' group for Business Climate Change also includes IVL's former long-term employee Åsa Stenmarck, who now works at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. IVL's employees Sven-Olof Ryding also participate in the program in the procurement working group, as well as Peter Bjerkesjö, Mark Sanctuary and Kenneth Möllersten in the financing working group.
Read more about the collaboration program here: The collaboration program Business Climate Change - Regeringen.se External link, opens in new window.
For more information, please contact:
Östen Ekengren, osten.ekengren@ivl.se, +46 (0)10-788 65 43