On Wednesday (Jan 31), Business Sweden, together with the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the City of Stockholm, the French Embassy in Sweden and Business France hosted the Sweden-France Business Forum: Accelerating Europe's Competitiveness.

The business forum was part of this week’s official State Visit from France as President Emmanuel Macron travelled to Sweden by invitation of King Carl XVI Gustaf, aiming to stimulate in-depth cooperation between the nations.

Participants included His Majesty the King, Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess, and His Royal Highness Prince Daniel, President Emmanuel Macron, government representatives, and our CEO Peter Roos together with over 200 business representatives from Sweden and France. The business forum was opened by Business Sweden CEO, Jan Larsson.

The aim of the event was to further strengthen ties between the Swedish and French business communities, with a focus on innovation, the green transition, and skills supply. We are proud to say that the Forum was moderated by Linda Nyberg, CCO at Novatron Fusion Group AB.

Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf stated that in both Sweden and France, solutions are important to make us independent of fossil fuels. The king also highlighted the importance of collaboration in this rapidly changing and troubled world of today. In addition, President Macron called for more investments in critical sectors such as defence, space, artificial intelligence and green technologies.

It comes after France gave the green light to new investments in nuclear fusion, natural hydrogen, energy storage and carbon capture, during President Macron’s visit to Airbus in December. The event marked the second anniversary of France’s €54 billion investment plan for 2030. President Macron used the platform to explain how the government aims to “move faster and stronger in the beginning of the year [2024]”.

He further expressed desire to “speed up breakthrough innovations,” citing the need to “explore” nuclear fusion technology as well as the development of small nuclear reactors (SMR). “Fusion and superconducting magnets will be two vertical areas that we will strongly promote with France 2030 and on which I want us to redouble our efforts,” Macron announced.

As a company, Novatron Fusion Group AB is aiming to revolutionize the field of nuclear fusion for energy production. To make this a reality we must keep both the short and a long-term perspective in mind. Nuclear fusion could provide a much-needed solution to several of humanity's greatest challenges: the growing need for energy and the accelerating climate change. But change will not happen until you make it happen.

Panellists at the Sweden-France Business Forum included MBDA CEO Eric Beranger, Euronext CEO Stéphane Boujnah, Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm, Ingka Group | IKEA Chair Lars-Johan Jarnheimer, Ramsay Santé CEO Pascal Roché, Fagerhult Group CEO Bodil Sonesson, Neoen CEO Xavier Barbaro, Vattenfall CEO Anna Borg, Keolis CEO Marie-Ange Debon, Stockholm Exergi CEO Anders Egelrud, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury and Essity CEO Magnus Groth.