12.2021 newsletter
Top stories
The HCIH has sent a delegation went to Skellefteå with a concrete mission: to discover how the Skellefteå municipality reached the international success they achieved, both on attracting Northvolt but also on creating a concrete plan that the whole city owns. The discoveries were numerous and a number of key learnings we’re collected that will help guide the international strategy work that the HCIH has initiated with partners.
You can read the delegation report and findings here.
Multi-Stakeholder International Strategy Being Formed
Recently, the HCIH board members Sam Coleman, Rory Moore and Anna Edblad have engaged the political leaders Per Nylén (S) and Anna-Britta Åkerlind (C) as well as Kommun Director Magnus Haglund to start the dialogue of creating a multi-stakeholder international strategy that includes the private, NGO and civil sectors for Övik.
The ambition will be to write an international strategy that points to the main, high-level objectives of Övik (65 residents, 2,500 jobs, 18% tourism growth) and creates a measurable way to guide all the stakeholders to shape their activities. “We’re at a very early stage with forming the board but we think that this will help Örnsköldsvik and the High Coast understand what internationalism can help it achieve by way of economic growth if we form a rational and structured strategy,” states HCIH Director Sam Coleman.
Welcome Chiara, Our First Employee
Talk about putting your money where your mouth is: HCIH has successfully secured the funding thanks to Världsklass Örnsköldsvik to hire Chiara Cordatto, an Italian national who has worked and volunteered in Övik and now returns as HCIH employee number 1. Her Swedish language skills, understanding of the HCIH mission and roots in NGO and non-profit culture made her a perfect fit for the person to become our operations manager. “We’re extremely excited to have Chiara onboard, she has the temperament and the drive to keep the whole train moving forward and iterating,” says Chairman of the Board Rory Moore.
High Coast International Works: Academic Recruit
A new and important project will be launched in 2022 that will deal with the need for high level academic recruitment to reverse the brain drain that we see of our skilled young people and replace that with a brain gain of recent, highly skilled international grads. The High Coast International Works: Academic Recruit will perform two fairs next year that will put dozens of these highly sought after grads—ones with AI, nanotech, advanced robotic engineering, biotech and other degrees—in front of Övik employers. The project is working with Tillväxtavdelingen and Öviksindustrigrupp and will be working with Mittuniversitett, Umeå and Sundsvall universities and other partners to improve our skill landscape. “It’s an important project as we need to address the employers’ needs if we want to attract those dynamic companies to invest in Övik and make it grow,” states Anna Edblad, Öviksindustrigrupp CEO and HCIH board member.
Read more about the project here.
The High Coast International Hub In The News
We really appreciate our supporters who help us communicate our story. So in the spirit of gratitude, thanks Nolaskog for the nice article they did on us, to Örnsköldsvik Kommun, ÖIG and Företagarna for the invitation to curate a panel discussion at November Frukoststudion and to the Kommun and Devocy for the upcoming Evolve Örnsköldsvik for an impending HCIH story. Lastly, keep your eyes out for HCIH chairman Rory Moore who will be featured nationwide as a remote worker in a new video project.
Watch the Frukostudion broadcast here.
New International Swede Survey
Discovery is the heart of the HCIH: we try to keep our minds open to what we don’t know, we try to listen and collaborate. And as we have that as a default, amazing things happen.
That listening helped us understand that internationalism isn’t a person, it’s a way of thinking, a mindset. In other words, internationalism isn’t only international people not born in Sweden; Swedish people themselves are internationalised and becoming more international all the time. We realised that we had to add another persona to our international dashboard. So it’s not only International workers, entrepreneurs, youth, tourists, pensioners and New Immigrants who we needed to focus on… we needed to understand that International Swedes were on that list as well. YOU are one of US J And to test just how international you are, if you’re Swedish, you can even take our new International Swede survey. Find out how international you are, you might surprise yourself.
Take the survey here.
Ready to channel your inner Peter Forsberg (Foppa)? Come join us in our December event! You’ll learn to ice skate if you’re a beginner, and we’ll set up a game if you’re already an expert. Let out your inner Foppa and have fun with us!
https://highcoasthub.com/events-calendar
New Office at Bizmaker Gives HCIH Space To Grow
Thanks to our incubating partners Bizmaker who have invited us to their Elevate entrepreneur programme, we’ve moved into our new office space in Arken. Cozy, colourful and welcoming, it helps us focus on our task as well as relax when we need to. When we’re not downstairs in the Hub, here’s where you’ll find us.
Learn more about Bizmaker here.
The Hub: Phase I launches in November
We’re gearing up for one of our most exciting projects to start its iteration. The Hub, a multistakeholder Smart City space that will be an experience and information store powered by our Hubbub technology platform, a performance space programmed by Musikmakarna and a pop-up structure created by ARKNAT that will be built in 2022 on the Stora Torget, will start its life as the Hubbub beta testing station in Arken, just to gauge customer responses and sentiment. With the tagline “You’ll never be bored again”, new operations manager Chiara Corbatto will help citizens find information on what to do and where to go in the High Coast. She’ll also show them some special experiences that have been created by passionate creators who want to teach and share their passions. “We hope Hubbub will be a very easy way for citizens to find information and inspiring experiences to try and make them fall in love with the High Coast. Offering climate neutral experiences, not products, is a new consumer pattern. And Hubbub will help experience creators and find those new customers,” she explains of this phase of the project, one sponsored by NYFOSA with space donation in Arken and Clavister with booth infrastructure.
Read more about the Hub and Hubbub here.
HCIH Welcomes Hägglunds/Bosch Rexroth and Afry To Our Growing Roster of Company subscribers
Part of our success is that we have great internationally engaged companies being our partners, buying our services corporate membership to the International Club, becoming International Day sponsors and other services. They understand that when you elevate internationalism, you elevate all—the whole High Coast will grow together. We’re very grateful to BAE, Processum, Clavister, Knightec who became our first supporters and we’re glad to announce that Hägglunds Rexroth Bosch and Afry have now become supporters as well. Big thanks to them and find out how you can get involved if you’re a company or a person.
Workshop Results Published
Before our High Coast International Day kicked off, we gathered 16 of the most experienced professionals in the private and public sector to discuss how we can raise internationalism. We did that in a somewhat unique and very HCIH way: we got a technology agile master, Andreas Nordin, to conduct a double diamond workshop that broke the 16 into 4 groups, and asked them four questions relating to internationalism. Result? In one hour they found the most important problems facing the High Coast and then offered four solutions to focus on, two of which are already iterating in projects. The report is a great way to show how we can do big things using private and public sector know how, without wasting time or taxpayer money.
Read the full report here.
