26 April, 2022 Webmaster

Gothenburg – an Innovation Powerhouse

Lars Bern

Lars Bern

What is the current status of the Swedish Automotive industry? We had a chat with Lars Bern, Group Manager Automotive & Transports at Business Region Göteborg, BRG. The Swedish automotive industry has its heart in the Gothenburg region with 40,000 employees, 98 percent of the country’s passenger car industry and 50 percent of the country’s truck industry. This makes the region one of the world’s most densely populated regions per capita in terms of the development of future mobility for passenger and freight transport. Lars shared his thoughts on innovation that drives the industry forward, the importance of collaboration and the impact of digitalization.

 

What are your thoughts about the current status of the Swedish Automotive industry and the Gothenburg automotive cluster?

The automotive sector in Sweden is doing very well and especially Gothenburg which recently was rewarded the Northvolt-Volvo Cars joint venture on both an R&D facility and a 50GWh battery manufacturing plant. That completes the unique complete value chain that Gothenburg represents. In the shadow of the ongoing war in Ukraine and other global effects there are of course challenges with supply chains.

What is required from the Swedish OEMs and suppliers to stay on top when it comes to innovation and development? 

Obviously almost all types of vehicles are transitioning to electric but also digitization, which is a foundation for customer experience and key offerings such as shared services and autonomous solutions, has the full attention from the industry.

What specific trends or opportunities in the industry have you seen the last 2 years?

The global trends electrification, digitization and automation are still very valid. Electrification has had a growing traction and what also strikes me is the increasing circular approach all the way from raw materials to usage and behavior.

What role to you believe that Business Region Göteborg can play regarding supporting and drive the industry forward?

We are appointed by the politicians to form and coordinate the Electrification Mission in a plan targeting the transition to 2030. Together with industry players like Volvo Cars, national research institute RISE and others, we accelerate development and upscaling with the initiative Gothenburg Green City Zone creating emission free zones.

What are the key issues and obstacles that needs to be handled at the moment?

Of course the war is a very sad and detrimental event that affects many of us. Like the pandemic it drastically teaches us to deal with resilience, alternative communication canals, supply chains and even accelerated transformation,

If you look a few years ahead, how do you think the industry will develop in terms of collaboration and innovation?

I think we already now can identify some of the early steps where industry players are addressing and even involving start-ups and fast-moving suppliers in their ever faster development processes. CampX is one example of how an OEM such as Volvo Group opens up collaboration with external players. MobilityXlab is another showcasing how several automotive companies can frame mutual challenges and address it to start-ups globally.