SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth 1 A Journey from Curiosity to Implementation ICT National initiatives in Sweden The workshop “Good practices in ICT and eBusiness knowledge transfer for SMEs”, Bled, June 13th, 2011

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH 2 Sustainable growth for enterprises and increased regional competitiveness ● National ● Active agency (Ministry Enterprise)

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH Goals for our Agency.. Develop and expand enterprises Sustain and make competitive business communities Support, facilitate and encourage growth throughout Sweden 3

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH Some facts Advice & support offices in 9 locations (HQ Stockholm) 300 employees Budget 330 million € Population 9 Million km 80%

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH What we do Create and support networking/arenas Make things easier for enterprises Manage and run Programmes/Projects Provide grants for enterprises (Objective 1) Help SME knowledge/experience Collaborate with other public and private partners Administrate the structural fund 5

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH A Journey from Curiosity to Implementation ICT National initiatives in Sweden Lisbeth Karlsson

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH From Knowledge to implementation of e-Business solutions ICT-MICRO REG-ICT From Insight to Action Basic Intermediate Applied

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH Three main programmes ICT MICRO ( ) –For the micro-enterprises (up to 10 employees) –Using ICT in Business (12 000) –3m € REG-ICT ( ) –Regional programme (North of Sweden) –ICT-Skills & practial implementation (4 000) –5m € From Insight to action ( ) –Focus on e-business (20 000) – Implementing eBusiness –3m €

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH Methods and processes in ICT programmes Call for project proposals Sub-financing up to 50% of selected pilot projects Dialogues and sharing experiences with all project partners Training to get, understand and use ICT knowledge Use good examples (practical experiences) to show to others

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH ICT-MICRO Focus on micro-enterprises Request from The Swedish Federation of Business Owners Learning about ICT Using ICT for business

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH Our observations ICT-MICRO enterprises Companies were on a basic level (too low) Companies wanted –Special training, education, programmes & courses –Customized support with extra help, e.g. coach/mentor Small (local) rather than big (regional) projects were preferred Greater interest for the programme than we expected Lack of participants´ marketing skills Did not apply ICT knowledge, skills and insight effectively

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH 4 Lessons learned from ICT-MICRO Underestimated demand for support during and after the programme Lack of good communication with stakeholders (Ministry) – programme with limited planning Fixed deadlines for calls for proposals in combination with a lack of dialogue gave too many low quality applicants Partners semi-skilled (RDAs, municipalities, business federations)

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH REG - ICT Focus on SMEs in rural areas Northern Sweden Through contacts, better advertising and better dialogue, the quality of applicants improved The programme divided into two parts –Developement of ICT-skills for special training programmes including individual support (e.g. Basic ICT, marketing, benefits of ICT, e-business, etc.) –Projects for enterprises in exisiting networks / cooperation (min. 4 businesses). Focus pilot projects: »1 tourism »2 eBusiness »3 new technologies (e.g. CAD)

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH Companies appreciated - contents in training activities/areas - skills and engagement of project leaders and mentors - possibility to put skills into practice - to interaction More of the same in the future, focusing on marketing and practise Our observations REG-ICT

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH 4 Lessons learned REG ICT Enterprises started to use ICT comprehensively Common shared solutions - understood synergies Shared experiences, built trust and relationships Work together in a more efficient way (e.g reduce costs, reduce time, improve competitiveness)

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH From Insight to Action Implementation of e-Business solutions 16 Tony Meurke

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH Insight to Action Focus on ICT ready SMEs From insight to action ( ) – Focus on e-business (especially e-invoicing) – 3m €

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH Stimulate enterprises to use eBusiness-solutions Best practice projects More competitive enterprises by using eBusiness- solutions Stimulate local, regional and national authorities to use e-Business solutions 18 Goals

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH Solutions for eBusiness (order, invoice, delivery) –Sector specific (associated businesses) –Network of companies Electronic Invoicing (eInvoicing) –Governmental law/obligation –Recommendation for SME Information support –Guidelines, web based training 19 Three priorities in the programme

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH 33 sub-financed projects 50% Agency 30% from companies 20% local/regional authorities –eBusiness: 700 –eInvoice: –Information: companies

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH Network of companies Authorities & Municipalities Non-profit organisations 21 How we reached the SMEs

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH Achieved business benefits through implementing e-Business solutions Used resources efficiently Project helpfulness (increasing opportunities and competitiveness) depends on the size of company eBusiness projects have greater benefits than eInvoicing projects. 22 What SMEs discovered

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH 23 Positive results for SMEs Increase business opportunities and competitiveness Lower costs Speed up business processes Decrease misunderstandings and mistakes between suppliers and customers

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH 24 Learning and advice Combination courses Be more focused groups that are receptive and are involved (resources, will, possibilities, etc) Greater benefits if companies adopt the whole eBusiness chain First steps must NOT be hard and NOT be expensive – little steps make the difference Legislation and directives help drive and stimulate the process Drivers (municipalities) and stakeholders must be open for eBusiness solutions and put pressure on suppliers to implement eBusiness Ripple-effect, solutions can be widely used

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH 25 Conclusions

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH 26 Conclusions Knowledge Networking Implemetation Plan well Feel secure Cooperate Customize Step by step Develop and improve

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH Government efficiency (The Digital Agenda) Develop SMEs business skills to reach markets 27 Next steps to take eProcurement eOrder eInvoice

SWEDISH AGENCY FOR ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL GROWTH Thank You for listening! If you have questions, please contact us 28 Tony Meurke Lisbeth Karlsson