Norrbotten - the place where the future is shaped
Northern Sweden is at a crucial stage. The region's importance for the future of Sweden and Europe is growing rapidly, both strategically, economically and in terms of security policy.
Norra Scen is a seminar series that puts developments in Norrbotten in a larger perspective. After a long series of seminars in Luleå, and four years of participation in Almedalsveckan in Visby, we are now bringing Norra Scen to Stockholm for the first time.
We have gathered a knowledgeable panel from industry, academia and society. Under the leadership of moderator Karin Hübinette, they will discuss some of the challenges and opportunities affecting northern Sweden.
Cast
Karin Hübinette has a long background as a journalist and presenter at SVT. She is deeply committed to social issues and the events that affect and change our time. Karin has led the conversations at Norra Scen in Almedalen since 2022.
Sweden's Minister of Defense from 2014 to 2022. During his time as Minister of Defense, Sweden's application for NATO membership was initiated. Peter Hultqvist was a municipal councilor in Borlänge before being elected to the Riksdag in 2006. He now has many years of experience in both national and international politics.
The government established the Acceleration Office in 2024. Its mission is to increase the pace of industrial transformation, including by bringing stakeholders together and finding solutions when bureaucracy has thrown gravel into the machinery. Kristina Alvendal is one of two industry coordinators leading the work. She has previously been a moderate mayor in the city of Stockholm and is active in the real estate industry.
The state-owned group LKAB has decided to make huge investments for a sustainable transition. Since 1890, the company has developed through unique innovations and technical solutions. Now it is about, among other things, the production of fossil-free sponge iron and the extraction of phosphorus and rare earth metals from mining waste. Niklas Johansson, responsible for external relations, participates in the discussions on climate, energy and transition.
IVA brings together expertise and experience from approximately 1,300 academic members and 250 companies. IVA works together with academia, business and politics and promotes the ability of humans to contribute positively to society through technical and economic science. Sylvia Schwaag Serger holds a doctorate in economic history from the London School of Economics.
Birgitta Bergvall-Kåreborn leads what is Sweden's space university – Luleå University of Technology. There you can study space science, space technology and spacecraft design. Education and research take place in close collaboration with the space industry. Birgitta Bergvall-Kåreborn is a professor of informatics and rector for 1,900 employees and 18,700 students.
Johan Dasht is responsible for Vattenfall's nuclear and hydropower operations. The company has made a commitment to reach net zero by 2040. Net zero means that the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere should not lead to an increase in their concentrations. By reducing carbon dioxide emissions and expanding fossil-free electricity, Vattenfall wants to contribute to the energy transition.
Ella Carlsson is a colonel and holds a Master of Science in Space Engineering from Luleå University of Technology. She also holds a Doctor of Technology in Physics. In 2021, Ella Carlsson was appointed the Swedish Armed Forces' first Chief of Space. She is now Director General of the Swedish Space Agency, which is responsible for state-funded research and development in space activities in Sweden.
Emma Stenholm has many years of experience in leading roles within security from large companies and organizations, such as Vattenfall. Since last year, she has been working at the state-owned company Swedish Space Corporation, which helps
Earth to benefit from space. Within the SSC network is the Esrange space base in northern Sweden.
Mikael Janson has been active in the EU quarters in Brussels for fifteen years. He is the Director of Operations at the North Sweden European Office, which is responsible for Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Jämtland Härjedalen and Västernorrland.
joint offices in Brussels. In recent years he has seen interest in northern Sweden grow rapidly.
Olle Norberg heads the Institute of Space Physics, which was founded in 1957 and has its headquarters at the Space Campus in Kiruna. IRF works with various types of space observatory activities in the upper atmosphere and space through in-situ measurements. Norberg has previously been head of the Esrange Space Center and director general of the Swedish Space Agency.
Dag Avango's research lies at the interface between archaeology and history. His focus has been on explaining historical processes of change in the Arctic and Antarctic, and their consequences for environments and societies, especially natural resource extraction. His historical research often touches on contemporary societal challenges.
Anders Öberg has extensive experience in regional politics in Norrbotten, since his election in 2022 as chairman of the regional board. In countless panel discussions, meetings and debate articles, he has highlighted Norrbotten's importance as a strategic key region for the entire EU's climate, competition and emergency preparedness policy, as well as for NATO's ability to defend the Arctic.
Johnny Sjöström has been CEO of SSAB, a global steel company that is a world leader in high-strength steels, since 2024. Last autumn, together with Minister of Industry and Trade Ebba Busch, he took the symbolic first sod for a new
fossil-free steel mill in Luleå. The planned conversion is expected to reduce Sweden's total carbon dioxide emissions by seven percent.
The market liberal think tank Timbro has a Europe program to develop reform proposals for a strengthened EU. Carl Vincent Reimers is the program manager and author of the Draghi report in Swedish. The title refers to Mario Draghi's much-talked-about report on how the EU should be able to face competition from the US and China.
Niklas Granholm is a research director at the Swedish National Defence Research Institute. He has served at the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence, where he has worked on European security issues. This includes geostrategic developments in the Arctic as well as transatlantic and European security and defence policy issues.
With over 30 years of experience in Swedish and international politics, Tobias Billström has contributed to many of Sweden's foreign and security policy choices. During his time as Minister of Foreign Affairs, he led the work on Sweden's NATO application. He has been an important player in Sweden's support for Ukraine and worked to develop cooperation between the Nordic and Baltic countries.