“I’ve encountered many foreign companies and policy makers during 15 years who had asked how such a small country could showcase such innovativeness – where does this come from?” said Annika Rembe, the Director-General of the Swedish Institute. “In order to respond to this interest, the Swedish Institute came together with embassies around the world to showcase at least some of the innovations we see today, so that this could be a platform for further discussion and dialogue.”
Innovative Sweden in Korea is an extensive program empowered by the Swedish Institute in collaboration with the Embassy of Sweden, Business Sweden, Swedish Agency for Growth Policy Analysis, Vinnova (Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems) and Ewha Womans University.
“Holding this event at Ewha makes it possible for us to combine the three main messages that we want to send,” said ambassador Lars Danielsson from the Embassy of Sweden. “First of all, we want to have this in a setting which is modern and advanced, and the ECC is, of course, an excellent example. Secondly universities play a very important role when looking for innovation for us – we think that there is a need for certain changes in Sweden and Korea to foster a more creative economy. Thirdly, we believe that future innovation will have to take into account both men and women’s capacity to innovate as we know that out of university graduates today, more than 60 percent are women. This is why Ewha is such a good location.”
Innovative ideas are presented in the form of seminars, exhibitions and film festivals. Seminars are arranged on innovation and growth in Information & Communication Technology, Lifestyle, Gender and Smart Cities; the exhibition presents innovations developed by 20 medium-sized companies along with photos looking into Swedish innovations from a Korean perspective; and the Swedish Film Festival promotes Sweden’s creative industry.
“It was inspiring to see Ewha move with the creative economy trend,” said Jung Ji-soo (Media Studies, 1), who attended the “Creative Economy and University Seminar” on Nov. 12. “I am happy to see Ewha hosting such seminars.”
Ewha students are welcome to visit the exhibition, which will be open until Nov. 30, and attend the film festival which will be held between Nov. 21 and 27.
“We hope students would make use of and be inspired by the various seminars and exhibited photos as this is a rare opportunity,” said Eunice Kim, the vice president of the Office of International Affairs.
Ko Min-seok & Lee Ha-kyung
minseok_ko@ewhain.net, voteforkate@ewhain.net