SINGAPORE – Local start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will have more opportunities to enter Sweden under a new program.

Enterprise Singapore (ESG) announced on Thursday (April 21) its new acceleration program Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) to Sweden, which will give Singapore start-ups and technical small and medium-sized companies ways to collaborate with Swedish partners and scale abroad.

The GIA pilot program in Stockholm is an eight-week hybrid program that offers sessions on Sweden’s company rules and culture as well as strategies for market entry.

Participating companies can also participate in business matching sessions to explore partnership opportunities.

This will allow them to test bed and scale their solutions to other Nordic countries through Sweden, says ESG in a press release.

This is the first GIA program launched in the Nordic region. The program currently includes major technology and innovation hubs such as Berlin, London, San Francisco and Shenzhen.

ESG collaborates with the Swedish digital accelerator Epicenter to run the program, with support from Swedish government agencies Business Sweden and Vinnova, which administer government funds for research and development.

Peter Ong, President of the ESG, said it was time for Singapore companies to resume growth activities and strengthen innovation cooperation when borders reopen and global economies recover.

“Sweden, which has produced some of the leading technological unicorns including Spotify and Klarna, offers technology and innovation opportunities for Singapore companies in areas such as sustainability, health technology, gaming and smart cities,” he added.

Sweden is the leading innovator in the Nordic region, in second place in the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization Global Innovation Index 2021.

Business Sweden’s CEO Jan Larsson said: “Singapore has for some time been a natural springboard for Swedish entrepreneurs to enter Southeast Asia.

“It is now fantastic to see how we can turn the collaboration around by nurturing our ecosystem with effective ideas from Singapore and using Stockholm and the Epicenter team as a scaling factory with our global unicorns and multinational companies.”

Singapore and Swedish companies can also collaborate in joint innovation and R&D activities by participating in co-innovation initiatives within the Eureka network, with which both countries are associated.

Start-ups in Singapore and small and medium-sized enterprises interested in the GIA Stockholm pilot program can find out more at https://www.epicenter-accelerator-program-register.confetti.events