text: Great interest in Norrlandsnavets workshop
  It was a successful start for Norrlandsnavet, which attracted over 50 people to the initiative's first event - a digital workshop. Participants included representatives from small and medium-sized companies in Norrland, but also researchers, business promoters and municipal representatives.
  The day was opened by Viktoria Mattsson, Head of Collaboration, External Funding and Innovation at Luleå University of Technology, who talked about Norrlandsnavet and the great potential of the initiative.
  - The hope is to create genuine exchanges of knowledge and learning, said Viktoria Mattsson.
  Norrlandsnavet's ambition is to strengthen companies through research and education.
  - Small and medium-sized companies can interact with students and researchers, and take part in educational initiatives to develop their business, said Johanna Carlsson, coordinator of Norrlandsnavet.
  She describes the day as a successful start-up with companies and stakeholders.
  - We have started a dialogue and listened to the needs, challenges and opportunities of companies, said Johanna Carlsson.
  During the workshop, Vinit Parida, Scientific Director of Norrlandsnavet, presented the four themes that will initially form the basis of the collaboration between SMEs in Norrland and Luleå University of Technology. The themes aim to support both innovation and growth within the various ecosystems in northern Sweden.
  - Norrlandsnavet's themes are growing and innovative companies, SMEs in northern Sweden's industrial ecosystem, smart and attractive region and lifelong learning and digitization. "We need to actively and continuously capture the needs of companies in order to develop together and strengthen competitiveness," said Vinit Parida.
  Good examples of development
  Sofie Elving, CEO of the company Substorm, confirmed the importance of developing together and testified to a fantastic development journey where her company went from start-up to ten employees in the space of a year.
  - Research collaboration energizes all of us who work in the company. When we have worked with researchers, they have made me and my colleagues change our minds and dare to change our business model. It's straightforward research done over many years that is behind that decision," said Sofie Elving.
  Another participant was Nicklas Berglund from the company Berco, who described how the company reversed a negative trend.
  - "Through skills development and training, we have managed to develop our somewhat outdated family business from negative results to growth," said Nicklas Berglund.
  Thomas Lindgren, one of the founders of TNTX, shared his experiences of how the student collaboration exceeded his expectations and how much value the company got out of the collaboration.
  - Among other things, the students produced a matrix that showed how we are in the market and what we can do better. For us, this was a really successful collaboration. It was a "perfect match" between the company and the students and I really hope that we will continue our contact in the future, said Thomas Lindgren.
  The workshop created engagement and interaction with the participants over the Zoom digital meeting service. The day ended with the companies discussing current challenges and needs in the short and long term.
  - It felt very well structured and well organized. By actively interacting with both the speakers but also with each other, relationships are created, built and developed, was the summary from one of the participants.
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