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03 Feb TNA Newsletter – Summit Special Edition

Dear Advocates, Partners and Friends

This pre-Christmas newsletter………..

xmas

..is dedicated to the actions from our November Summit at our Stockholm home @SUP46, which will drive our 2017 agenda:

Pre- Summit Advisory Board Meeting
As you know, in the morning of the Summit, we held our first Advisory Board meeting.

Advisory Board members
The TNA advisory board is made up of representatives from the Nordic/Baltic tech ecosystem and links to London, including:

  • Jeanette Carlsson, Founder and Chair, Tech Nordic Advocates
  • Russ Shaw, Founder, Tech London Advocates
  • Mikael von Dorrien, Senior Innovation Advisor, Nordic Innovation
  • Michael Ferm, Global Head of Lighting, Zumtobel Group and Chair of Smart City/IOT Working Group
  • Jens Andersen, Nordic and Baltic Sales Director, Ascom and Chair of eHealth/Welfare tech working group)
  • Kim Balle, CEO & Co-Founder, Nordic Startup Awards
  • Niels Carsten Bluhme, Area Director, Albertslund City Council
  • Human Shojaee (CEO, Venture Cup and Chair, Tech Talent Working Group
  • Investor (tbc)

The Advisory Board agreed the following:

Advisory Board Objectives

  • Overall: help shape the future direction of TNA
  • Define TNA’s longer term vision, mission, objectives, strategy, business model and differentiation
  • Draw out key issues, challenges and common themes from TNA’s day to day work with startups/investors/established tech co’s/national organisations and Working Groups and lift these to a pan-Nordic/Baltic level, to inform:
  • Propose initiatives and policy motions to foster pan-Nordic/Baltic collaboration across national communities (e.g. startup communities) and in collaboration with Nordic Innovation, to stimulate opportunities and remove road blocks to Nordic and Baltic startup and tech growth
  • Secure funding to support TNA’s ongoing work
  • Meet min 2x a year to review progress against Advisory Board vision, objectives and strategy

Advisory Board actions

  • Appoint investor representative to Advisory Board
  • Define long-term vision & goals for TNA in a global context
  • Define optimal collaboration with our Global Tech Advocate (GTA) ‘sisters and brothers’ around the world: Tech London Advocates, Tech North Advocates, Tech Bay Advocates, TLA Ireland, TLA Singapore, TLA Australia and New Zealand etc.
  • Secure ongoing funding to support TNA activities and next phase of growth
  • Engage with Nordic Innovation and the #NordicMade initiative
  • Launch more Working Groups (next up is Startup/Investor Working Group) and KPIs for each group and develop optimal approach to securing member engagement (some will be window shoppers, others more active)
  • Human Shojaee (Tech Talent Working Group Chair): proposal to launch pan-Nordic mentor programme in collaboration with Nordic Innovation
  • Create Advisory Board Workspace on Podio
  • Send proposal to Nordic Innovation for e-health under digital transformation programme
  • TNA role in/as #NordicMade secretariat?

The Summit Proper: Actions

TNA 1 Year 1:

Working Groups

  • eHealth: Want to join & shape the agenda? Pls answer the short survey on Podio to set priority areas for the ehealth Working Group

Tech Talent:

  • Develop pan-Nordic/Baltic mentoring programme
  • Attract and develop talent through collaboration between educational institutions and business
  • Working Group Summit in Copenhagen

Smart City/IOT

  • Launched at Summit. Focus on Startups in a pan-Nordic/Baltic contexts.
  • Chair is Michael Ferm, Global Head of Public policy, Zumtobel Group
  • Working Group Members: check out Podio for invitation to help shape agenda

FinTech

  • Topics covered so far: Investment, Policy & Regulation, Collaboration
  • Focus on using the group for knowledge sharing & collaboration opportunities

View from London

  • Nordics is 6th most important UK trading bloc at par with India and China
  • Strong political support for Nordic collaboration and ambitions to grow tech sector
  • Important to provide finance for tech initiatives and network organisations
  • London offers scale to complement Nordics/Baltics
  • Citizen engagement important to foster public trust in innovation
  • Startup support, knowledge sharing and platforms like TNA critical to grow in other regions than “home” region

Highlights from the Interactive Debate on “How to grow tech & remove road blocs”

  • Can TNA/Nordic Innovation help tackle legislative/regulatory obstacles to pan-Nordic/Baltic growth – break down country borders/create a pan-Nordic ‘home market’?
  • How can we build on Nordic entrepreneurial spirit, talent and capability?
  • Create support for disruptive initiatives in a traditionally conservative environment
  • Build a pan-Nordic/baltic ecosystem of Startups
  • Develop local community partnerships and engagement
  • Support startup/scaling process by facilitating back office administration – one-stop-shop for young entrepreneurs
  • Pan-Nordic collaboration on policy and tax issues, including tax credits for R&D/investment/ risk capital
  • Develop digital/tech skills programmes in collaboration with industry
  • Develop pan-Nordic/Baltic mentoring and accelerator programmes for students and startups/entrepreneurs
  • Develop a pan-Nordic/Baltic startup talent Region
  • Promote the Nordics as a global tech/startup hub internationally (Collaborate with #NordicMade on marketing opportunities)

Other actions 

  • Launch local tech hub programme (a home for TNA in every Nordic/Baltic country)
  • Identify and appoint local TNA Champions – a TNA representative in every Nordic and Baltic country
  • Progress TNA Event Programme
  • Continue to grow Advocate network
  • Continue to ensure spread of activities across Nordic and Baltic Countries – e.g. working groups and local events
  • Launch initiatives to enable cross border investment promotion
  • Consider Nordic startup promotions
  • Maintain strong links with but reduce ‘reliance’ on London – now when TNA is 1 year old!

What have we achieved since the Summit?

Building a TNA home in every Nordic and Baltic country
We are very excited to have signed collaboration agreements with 5 leading Nordic/Baltic tech/startup hubs Our homes are:

We are under way with dialogues in Oslo (Norway), Reykjavik (Iceland) and Riga (Latvia). More to follow in next newsletter.When you are in either of the above cities, go camp in the TNA home!

2017 TNA Event Programme

We are also super excited to present the start of our 2017 event programme, which offers special TNA rates for non-TNA/partner events:

Look out for further comms on all of the above

Other developments:

Launch of #StartupGuide London
Looking for the ultimate Christmas present ? Or trying to navigate the #London #Startup Scene?
Why not buy the newly launched Startup Guide London 

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Partner news
Goodwille is on a mission to identify Nordic start-up stars ready to take over the world
TNA partner and professional services provider Goodwille, with vast experience in helping companies start up, have introduced Instagram hashtag #startupthursdays to identify the most promising Nordic start-up stars at an early stage of growth, exposing them to the UK, one of Europe’s most attractive markets.
Check out: http://goodwille.com/our-latest/goodwille-mission-identify-nordic-start-stars-ready-take-world/

Computer Weekly review of TNA 1 year on
Check out Computer Weekly’s article on TNA 1 year on:
http://www.computerweekly.com/news/450404792/Tech-Nordic-Advocates-network-a-year-on

Other actions under way
Stay tuned for more exciting news and developments, including work in progress to enable direct links with our Global Tech Advocates ‘brothers and sisters’ around the world.

Help us grow Tech Nordic Advocates and the Nordic and Baltic Tech Sector by recommending your senior tech network to: info@technordicadvocates.org

Reach out to other Advocates and join the conversation on Podio about Working Groups, Events and Tech Nordic Advocates activities in the Nordics, Baltics and UK. You can access Podio directly from the Tech Nordic Advocates website, using the Advocate sign-in lin in the top right hand corner. Make sure you set up your profile.

If you would like to join Podio, but are not yet a Tech Nordic Advocate, please email: info@technordicadvocates.org to become an Advocate.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!