Wade Caldwell

The day dawned a bit foggy from the late hour of the previous night and the libations consumed. The colonel, being good at sensing the status of his unit, started the trip off with a sidetrip to the ruins of a castle on the shores of a lake just outside Vaxjo. The castle was built in the 1500s and was really a complete town inside the walls.

   
As we began the roughly 6 hour drive to Stockholm, the business wheels once again began to turn and the trip became an extended brainstorm session with revelations and new ideas forming and being put into action. Savannah will be hearing more about the Swedish-American Academy for Entrepreneurship in the coming months.
Keeping his troops marching, we didn’t even have time for lunch prior to stopping for an example of Swedish technology in action. We were hosted at Saab Training Systems in Husqvarna for a tour of their military training systems. With in-house catering, they had their chef prepare a traditional Swedish, open-face sandwich for lunch. Included was a grilled meat, cheeses, lettuce, red peppers with a buttery spread underneath.

At the end of the weapons and warfare simulation demonstration, we got some hands on experience with the simulators.

In what was arguably the highlight of the trip for me from a cultural standpoint, most of the Savannah delegation were invited to Mikael Kraft’s home for dinner. He lives outside of Vaxjo on a point of land that juts out into one of the many lakes in the area, making it feel as if you are on an island.
I knew the evening was going to be special when we were greeted by Mikael’s eldest son Oliver in the drive. He was holding a tray of glasses filled with champagne with floating lingonberries.
While we explored the docks on both sides of his beautiful home, his other son William (who is all of 5 or 6 years old) came out to introduce himself to our group of 8. He approached each person in turn and, in perfect English, declared “Hello. My name is William.” and extended his hand.
Next we were introduced to his lovely wife Pia who must have been working all day to prepare the beautiful meal that we were about to enjoy. The table was covered with plates bearing a traditional Swedish delicacy that I would never have expected - crayfish. Found in the cold lake waters, they are larger and darker than those I’ve had in New Orleans and boiled in brine - absent the intense heat usually associated with their cajun-prepared cousins.

 
The crayfish and quiche with caviar would have been plenty as a starter until a large tray of small bottles of another Swedish tradition - schnapps - appeared from the freezer. The colonel proceeded to regale us with a tale of traditions that revolved around the crayfish. The story goes that with each crayfish, a traditional Swedish song is sung and a rather large shot of the chilled array is drunk. (The schnapps ranged from clear to a medium honey color, with the most famous, or infamous, member of the class being Aquavit. The colonel did not disappoint with his rousing renditions of the Swedish favorites, even sidetracking to throw in a Russian march.

The evening progressed with breaks between courses and explorations around the edge of the lakes. The food was amazing, the company even better. It was a time to get to know people from both ends of the conduit.
By the end of the evening, as the dessert and after dinner drinks were being shared, every member of the group knew something about each other as to what made them tick. The personal friendships formed that night will be the foundations of the business that will be done in the coming months and years between Sweden and Savannah.
There are two other things that are certain: I won’t soon forget that night and it will be a long time before the colonel or Claude Galipeault sample absinthe.

I met with the Managing Director of a company called Global Responsibility that has a web-based, management tool for companies to use to evaluate their sustainability practices. Bruno Carlson is also a partner in the Railroad Factory incubator. GlobalSavannah will have more on this company in September as they get closer to entering the U.S. market via the Chris Miller/Johan Gufstafson conduit between Vaxjo and Savannah.
While at the incubator, I met with Hans Frannsen. He is currently heading two companies that also have any eye toward the U.S. market through Savannah. The first company makes a product for the heavy truck market that extends the tire life by up to 25%. His other company makes a very tasty recovery drink that should do well in the States. I think many of the entrepreneurs at the Railroad Factory survived on this drink.

With the imminent expansion of GlobalAtlanta into Savannah. My original reason for this trip was to cover cover the eDays conference and the participation of large Savannah delegation. Not knowing what I was headed into, I figured it would be 4 days of sitting through business presentations and seeking out companies that were possibly heading to Savannah while keeping track of the first company coming out of the conduit in Sweden, Digitus Biometrics. I was wrong.
The first day roughly followed that, but Chris Miller of the Creative Coast Initiative in Savannah and Johan Gufstafson of InfoSphere, had other plans.What ensued was three days of non-stop meetings, presentations, dinners and late night strategy sessions.
In what truly turned out to be an all-out entrepreneurial assault on Sweden by the Georgia delegation, I was the only reporter embedded with the troops as they criss-crossed Vaxjo and Stockholm in search of introductions, connections and companies. Johan, who became known as “The Colonel” during the trip, is more boot camp drill sergeant than the lieutenant colonel he was in the Swedish Army.
Johan has been involved in business in Sweden as a consultant and instructor and has connections throughout the country. What he lead us on was an odyssey of truly epic business proportions.

Smaland, which is a county in south Sweden, is the center of Swedish furniture manufacturing. The most familiar brand to Americans would be Ikea, but there are many other firms with their own design asthetic and market price points that make use of the timber resources in the area. Much like the furniture center of High Point, North Carolina there are bus tours available from different cities in Sweden.
In keeping with the importance of furniture to the area, the opening reception was uniquely held in the warehouse and manufacturing area of Abstracta. The company is a subsidiary of a larger entity, Expanda Design Group, with all of the companies focused on carrying a common sense of design through all of their products. This range includes eyeglasses, home and library furnishings , in addition to office furnishings.
During the cocktail reception, each guest drew a number for a table assignment. This idea allowed everyone to meet new people during dinner.

The Georgia delegation was one of the largest in attendance. The photo below includes U.S. Ambassador to Sweden Michael Wood and Vaxjo Mayor Bo Frank.

For those keeping score at home, the menu included: Sparkling Elderbery Kir during the reception; appetizer - Smalandsk Creamy Caesar Salad with Crayfish Tails, Dill and Smalands Cheese; main course - Classic Veal with Sweet ‘n Sour Ragout & Dill Gravy; dessert - Chocolate Mousse Cocktail with Vanilla-blended Lingonberries.

After lunch, I visited the small business incubator, called th Railroad Factory, in Vaxjo that will be the Sweden side of the entrepreneurial pipeline between Sweden and Savannah. The center is housed in an old train engine roundhouse and all of the original surroundings have been preserved. The center has flexible walls and office spaces that can be rearranged to accommodate growth and changes within the housed companies.

Following the tour, I followed the Savannah delegation to the Mayor’s office for a video conference between Mayor Bo Frank of Vaxjo and Mayor Otis Johnson of Savannah. Given the amount business between the two cities, that is and will be commencing in the near future, this conference was meant as an introduction of the key players in each city in order. The full video of the conference is using the links below for QuickTime (download QuickTime) or Windows Media.

Video Conference: QuickTime streaming version or Windows Media version

Monday was a very busy day at eDays. During the opening session, it was officially announced that the 2009 eDays will be held in Savannah. Details will be coming after the upcoming SACC-Atlanta meeting at the end of August.

We met with Mayor Bo Frank of Vaxjo prior to the video conference he participated in with Mayor Otis Johnson of Savannah. I will have the complete video of the call posted here shortly.

Here are the topics that I am working on for the next post

Incubator visit with photos

Opening reception at Abstracta

U.S. Ambassador Michael Wood

Hunter MacLean wins new client during eDays meetings

silobreaker.com

I flew Delta Air Lines direct from Atlanta to Copenhagen, Denmark. Since Vaxjo and Malmo, the two primary sites of the 2007 eDays Conference, are in southern Sweden, it made the drive shorter. The weather is perfect - about 50 degrees at night and low 70s during the day. Mixed in among the beautiful scenery along the highway between between Malmo and Vaxjo there were the recurrent “Moose Crossing” signs. We never saw any moose, but maybe it was because we were still in jet lag mode from a scant few hours sleep on the flight.

Sunday night before the conference officially opens, there was an informal happy hour where many of the exhibitors met and networked. The Georgia delegation was we represented by: Chris Miller - Creative Coast Initiative, Page Siplon - Georgia Maritime Logistics Innovation Center, Cécile Edwards - State of Georgia European Office in Munich, Gunnar Lindqvist of Cash Management Inc. and several others.

I am headed to the eDays conference in the cities of Vaxjo and Malmo in South Sweden. I arrive in Copenhagen, Denmark on the morning of August 19.

I will be covering companies from Georgia that are represented there, as well as the new companies that are headed to the new small business landing pad in Savannah. The August 3rd issue of GlobalAtlanta included a story about Digitus Biometrics, a Savannah-based company whose security product will be installed at an incubator in Sweden. I will be following up on this during the trip, as they will be attending the conference.

The August 18 issue of GlobalAtlanta will feature an article detailing the involvement of Chris Miller with the Creative Coast Initiative in establishing connections between Savannah and Sweden. I will also be reporting on the selection process for bringing the first companies to the new Candler Innovation Center.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I will hopefully have the opportunity to write updates on a regular basis.