ScandAsia June 2018

JUN 2018 BUSINESS

Volvo Buses new B8R chassi

TECHNOLOGY Antler innovation start-up generator

LIFESTYLE

Chokladbollens dag

COMMUNITY Viking Fest Ho Chi Minh City

Augmented reality and machine learning next for games producer

Jakob Lykkegaard

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June 2018

ScandAsia Community

26

Mr Andrew Kvalseth

30 Viking Fest Ho Chi Minh City 31 DABS Ball 2018 33 Danish Design Fair Singapore 34 Thordur Adalsteinsson new Chairman SSS

dtac’s AI, machine learning seminar

10 Augmented reality and machine learning – Jakob Lykkegaard

ScandAsia Business

16 Volvo Buses new chassi B8R launched in Thailand

30

Mr Martin Bech

28

Danish Innovation Centre Shanghai

31

20 AndersenB2B and Norcham Philippines New cooperation launched

20 Singapore-Swedish business delegation

33

Visited Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City

22 Antler start-up generator

Magnus Grimeland at Norway-Asia Business Summit

Ms Alaine Handa

36

Chokladbolle enthusiast from Singapore

34

Editorial

The GDPR fuss

S

ocial media giants like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ sent a few weeks ago emails to their users and posted messages on their profiles about GDPR - a term most people had never heard about before. General Data Protection Regulation - or in short GDPR - regulates how companies in EU or doing business with EU can collect and use personal data Many regular website publishers also sent out emails to their members or users to explain how they were now GDPR compliant.

ScandAsia did not send you anything. We believe this whole fuss is about the bad guys and not about websites like ScandAsia.com and other regular member websites who always have complied with best practices of data collection and usage and intend to continue doing so.

Of course, we store personal information about you. We know for instance your email - how could we send you the ScandAsia Weekly and the ScandAsia eMagazine without it? We know in many cases also your nationality and in some cases the country, you live in. Some of you have also informed us about the company you work with and how to reach you there.

Subscribers provide their postal address in their profile and keep it updated, if they should move.

Ever ybody have for years been able in an easily understandable way to control this information about themselves. In particular which part of it that should be visible to the world, which part should be visible only to other logged in ScandAsia users or what you decide should be kept private, only viewable to you and the concerned ScandAsia admin staff.

ScandAsia is a printed magazine and online media covering the people and businesses of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland living and working in China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

Who should subscribe:

ScandAsia subscribers are typically Nordic expats and companies from the Nordic countries living in and active in Asia.

Another group of subscribers are Nordic people living in the Nordic countries who subscribe to ScandAsia for personal or business reasons. We also have many Asian subscribers, who for a wide range of rea-

6 ScandAsia • June 2018

Should anybody wish to leave, it is also easy to find the “Delete my account” button under “Settings” in your profile and in one click remove yourself completely from our server.

The companies who think they will no longer be able to remain in business after the GDPR are probably the companies, we are all better off without!

Why not look at this in another way? Many of you spend a considerable amount of time maintaining your profile on LinkedIn and social media pages like Twitter and Facebook.

Instead of trying to hide information about yourself on ScandAsia.com, why not look at ways to enhance your profile on ScandAsia.com An example for inspiration is - not surprisingly - the profile of Managing Editor Joakim Persson. You can view it here: https://scandasia.com/members/joakim/profile/ My own is here: https://scandasia.com/members/gregers/ profile/ Have fun!

sons are following the activities of the Nordic expats and companies via a subscription to ScandAsia.

The ScandAsia magazine is produced every month and distributed to all print version subscribers via postal services and to all eMagazine subscribers via email. Subscribing to the eMagazine is FREE - simply sign up on the ScandAsia.com website.

Become a ScandAsia user/ get free digital ScandAsia magazine or paid subscription via

www.scandasia.com!

Gregers Moller Editor in Chief

Publisher : ScandAsia Publishing Co., Ltd. 211 Soi Prasert Manukitch 29 Prasert Manukitch Road Bangkok 10230, Thailand Tel. +66 2 943 7166-8 Fax: +66 2 943 7169 E-mail: news@scandasia.com Editor-in-Chief : Gregers A.W. Møller gregers@scandmedia.com Managing Editor: Joakim Persson Joakim@scandmedia.com

Advertising : Finn Balslev finn@scandmedia.com Frank Leong frank@scandasia.com Graphic Designer : Peerapol Meesuwan Peerapol@scandmedia.com Production Manager: Sopida Yatprom Printing : Siam Print Co., Ltd.

BANGKOK PATANA SCHOOL CLASS OF 2018

192

176 47

USA

CANADA

Celebrates Global University Offers

USA

UK 5

21

THE NETHERLANDS

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IRELAND FRANCE

1

1

CHINA ITALY

3

1

HONG KONG

THAILAND

2

GRADUATING STUDENTS HAVE RECEIVED

SINGAPORE

453 OFFERS

3 AUSTRALIA

NUMBER OF OFFERS

BY COUNTRY

From 184 Selective universities and colleges (Data correct as of 22/05/18. Southern hemisphere applications are still in process)

Over 100 offers were made by the following institutions listed

in the Top 50 of The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2017-2018 UK Universities Imperial College London King’s College London London School of Economics and Political Science University College London University of Edinburgh

USA Universities Carnegie Mellon University Columbia University Cornell University Georgia Institute of Technology New York University Northwestern University Princeton University

Rest of the World Peking University University of British Columbia

University of California, Berkeley University of California, Los Angeles University of California, San Diego University of Chicago

University of Melbourne

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of Toronto

University of Pennsylvania University of Washington University of Wisconsin-Madison Yale University

A proud tradition of learning excellence Bangkok Patana School is a not-for-profit, IB World School, accredited by CIS and NEASC

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June 2018 • ScandAsia 7

Opinion

E-commerce in Southeast Asia is taking off - expected to grow 15-fold from 6bn$ in 2015 to 88bn$ in 2025

T

o lever age the vast e-commerce opportunities in Southeast Asia, Swedish companies need to do their homework and have a regional strategy in place The growth rate of e-commerce in Southeast Asia is the highest in the world. The digital consumer base grew by 50% between 2016 and 2017 and now totals 200 million, out of more than 600 million people in the ASEAN region. By 2020, the it is expected to increase to 480 million people. A couple of key factors contribute to the regions accelerated growth the coming years: Increase in internet penetration and speed: 80% of the individuals in the region is expected to have internet access by 2025, as compared to 46% in 2015 Strong economic growth: GDP is forecasted to grow, on average, by 5,5% until 2022, leading the way for a bigger

8 ScandAsia • June 2018

middle-class with higher purchasing power High degree of urbanization and a young, digitally savvy population: 70% of the Southeast Asian population is under 40 years old and tend to cluster in the bigger cities, which simplifies the logistics par t of e-commerce. In addition, the digital adoption rate is among the highest in the world, paving the way for e-commerce The ASEAN markets now show a similar development to China’s rise over the last decade, with e-commerce concentrated to retail platforms.

Alibaba-owned Lazada is emerging as a regional champion and is the preferred platform in most countries with a few exceptions, such as in Indonesia and Singapore. Still, there are other platforms available such as Shopee and Tokopedia (only present in Indonesia) to the digital consumer that need to be considered to optimize the local strategy.There are also specific challenges in the region that needs to be taken into account such as logistics and imports of certain goods, and the different payment methods used for e-commerce: in Singapore, credit cards are used; Internet banking is most common in Malaysia, while ATM payment and bank transfer is dominant in Indonesia. In The Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, 60-70% of the population are still unbanked, resulting in a large por tion of the population not able to access e-commerce other than via innovative payment gateways such as Go-Pay, Grab-pay, T-Cash etc.

Southeast Asia’s e-commerce sector is a fast moving and diverse target. Success for Swedish companies requires local knowledge of the unique

online landscape and agile capabilities for innovation, not only in how you develop products or services, but also in how to interact with consumers on new platforms and in the digital channels. It is critical to recognize and embrace the cultural, technological and regulator y differences between the Southeast Asian and Western online landscapes. Companies that learn to master the emerging digital channels in Southeast Asia can leapfrog the competition and experience radical growth of online sales in the region.

Sources: Business Sweden Analysis, OECD, Temasek & Google Asia, Southeast Asia Digital Consumer Survey (Bain & Company) Martin Glaumann, Market Area Director South East Asia, Business Sweden

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of ScandAsia Publishing. Examples of analysis performed within this article are only examples. Neither ScandAsia Publishing nor any person acting on its behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein.

If you would like to share your thoughts and insights on this page contact Managing editor, joakim@scandmedia.com

June 2018 • ScandAsia 9

Business

Augmented reality and machine learning next for games producer Jakob Lykkegaard

Jakob Lykkegaard Pedersen, known from the gaming company Playlab, is clearly one of those uniquely talented entrepreneurs - and who is making it in Asia while having the whole world as his market.

By Joakim Persson 10 ScandAsia • June 2018

A

t the age of just thirty Jakob has already done two star t-up exits. With his new venture Lykke Studios he has intentionally reduced the business to the very minimum. No more investors, no more big companies – that is the formula for Jakob going forward – as he is confidently entering the world of Augmented Reality, or AR. The star t could not have been better. When Apple launched their by the tech world much anticipated Augmented Reality (AR) software and hardware solution, Jakob was quick off the starting blocks to realise an AR game based on this – put together within the very short lead time of two months, but based on AR dreams he had been contemplating for years.

“The reason I sold Playlab was that I wanted to move into something new. Apple launched their AR kit, with which they were first in enabling AR to get into the smartphone devices. For many years you had all these augmented reality experiences but you had to have certain conditions to make it work,” explains Jakob.

Then, with one single update – and simply a huge step forward – Apple enabled the technology on fourth generation iPhones, and just gave AR away as a free plugin, with 400+ million devices that supporting it. “That was the call to me: now is the time to actually go into it and build something, because the tech is ready,” Jakob recalls.

If you start with: ‘How do we make money?’ your product will be so much different than what you came up with

H

e founded Lykke studios, with the main purpose to take new tech and actually making it consumerready. “If you look at augmented reality and machine learning a few years back, I would not in my wildest dreams, even if had had unlimited budget and a thousand years, been able to build an app on an AR or machine learning platform - because the tech was not ready yet. I’ve been looking at AR for a long time and it has taken Apple and Google etc. thousands of engineers over many years to build the technologies that I can basically now just plug in to.

I can with three guys build something on top of what they have done and open up to consumer’s eyes – and who can actually figure out how it works.”

June 2018 • ScandAsia 11

3D-scanned sculptures floating around in front of you on the smart phone screen, in the ‘Amon’ Augumented reality game And that is what Jakob succeeded in doing, right in time for the Apple launch – seeing his AR puzzle experience called Amon being introduced.

“We started developing as soon as Apple announced it and had two months before they actually released it.”

“When the iPhone 10 was launched and they gave the device to the press, Amon was one of three games. So just because we have created great content means that Apple likes it so much that they give it out when they launch a new product. This is the great thing about being in new technologies. Based on their new technology Apple took their entire PR and marketing team and promoted the hell out of it. That meant tons of free marketing that we would otherwise never have been able to get.”

“Having a little higher edge you are the one that is being picked out, which gives so much attention that you get much better building blocks for the future off the technology.”

This launch also put Lykke Studios two months ahead of the rest, giving them good partnerships, and which leads on also to other partnerships, the Dane explains.

“You can throw the traditional business model out the window!” continues Jakob. “Charging 3 USD for it we would never have been able to afford TV commercials or user acquisition online or anything else and make it into a profitable business plan. But we’ve been able to create something cool and show it to the world’s most valued company. And they like it so much that they are pushing it because they also want to showcase to their users what their phones and technology can do.”

“They give us so much free traffic that I will be able to profit from it. And As long as you do something cool people will share and talk about it!” he adds.

12 ScandAsia • June 2018

T

he coolness – showcased live by Jakob – is this: The AR app in the smart phone uses its camera to scan a floor surface, which is then replaced with a graphic environment – all happening live on the camera screen. In Amon the floor cracks open forming an abyss.

“To make this seem as real as possible you can actually see down through the floor.”

Above it, 3D scanned sculptures from museums in Europe “float around”, divided into several parts.

“With Amon we wanted to create something that you can’t just play on a screen but need AR to do. I can make experiences for users by placing content on the ground in front of them that the users feel is real and right there; kind of tricking the mind of the users.”

“And with the 3D model statues we worked heavily on that you should be able to actually touch them with the phone and get feedback so it feels like actually touching it - as if being real.”

This, combined with using real statues adds to the authenticity.

“Interesting with this game is that it took us quite some time to teach people that they actually have to stand up and physically move around to play the game. That is something that users are not used to at all.”

J

akob, who is fond of experiences, says this game also increases people’s understanding of AR in general. “I just like to create products and I feel that the best products to create to tell people about new technologies are games.

Everybody can adapt to that; it’s about taking some of the technologies that have been created over the last few years

I feel that the best products to create to tell people about new technologies are games

and build small products that I can actually give to my mom, who will understand.

If his parents can play it that means the consumer market will be tremendous: “They will become aware of machine learning and AR that will heavily impact them, and which they are now able to interact with. It’s not some futuristic thing; it’s happening now!”

“It will change how everything works in a few years and I’m impressed by how few actually are seeing it coming and how fast I’m expecting it to happen. In the community people have a tendency to heavily over-estimate the short term but underestimate the long-term effect of things,” he elaborates.

The excitement often dies out fast, as things take time to develop. But then it suddenly kicks in and transforms industries.

“All sectors will be affected, and I can barely predict next year. I don’t know how the market is going to look like then for any digital, media, or game company because it’s easier to follow trends and look into the future.”

“What I know for sure is that all companies are going to be fully transformed. All these companies are going to rely fully on AR for many of the decisions that are being made.

So for me it is very easy to take the aspect of AR and going heavily into studying it and actually having an edge once it comes out.

“The technology is there, and so is the server power to develop the tools. So the impact that will have on the world is tremendous, and that’s what I feel is super exciting and where I feel I want to be on the right side of the table when things really kick off.”

June 2018 • ScandAsia 13

J

akob, who has no programming background, likes to go into areas he doesn’t fully understand but can see an opening in. He subscribes to the saying ‘passionately curious’.

“Whatever I’m interested in I follow heavily on every single aspect. Then I figure out that there are these big holes that nobody is really doing and that are opening up.

One market is usually dying and another one is opening. For Lykke Studios AR and machine learning are opening while the Premium side is dying. It’s much easier to follow a wave when it starts and when it becomes big and leave before it breaks.”

So did the sales of Playlab mean getting rid of a sinking ship, since its business model focused on the premium? Not necessarily, it is just becoming much more competitive.

“Why we started Playlab, six years ago was based on the revolutionar y thing that games on mobiles star ted becoming free to download, designed on a system where people got to spend money later on in the game. As one of the first studios within that we developed very successful games.”

Thailand’s second largest e-commerce company, Danishowned Chilindo, is the buyer.

“They have changed the direction of the games a bit.

They wanted to take a lot of users from our mobile games and turn them into e-commerce customers, because, when you win something in the game, like a virtual trophy, you might as well win something in real life. And instead of having ads inside the games for other games, you might as well have ads for online purchases, to convert a lot of that traffic into online sales. Instead of spending money on the game they want people to come in and buy products.”

14 ScandAsia • June 2018

Playlab also had a lot of technical skills that Chilindo needed.

With his new company Jakob however wants to have maximum freedom: “I have turned down many investors already; I choose to personally fund everything because as soon as you get co-partners, co-founders, etc. involved you need to have a plan of how to make money.”

“Not necessarily having a business plan we are already making money at Lykke Studios. But if you start with: ‘How do we make money?’ your product will be so much different than what you came up with and that’s what I want to eliminate.”

However, validation is his guiding principle: “I always liked the market validation. Since I can’t develop anything myself I need to prove the idea before I go out and hire other people to get it done. And I need to put the money into it. In my circle of close friends it’s always about killing each other’s ideas, which is actually amazing because you bring an idea to them and if they can’t kill it you know it’s really good.

And that’s what I love about the community.”

“I like the entertainment side, because it is easy to grasp and will always be there; people will always play games, they will always want to be entertained – it’s not something that is as niche that will just go away.”

As with other enter tainment there will always be a market as long as the quality is there, Jakob believes: “No matter if the games are played on glasses, are free or paid or AR, if you make great content people will buy that, and as long as you are open to adapting to new platforms you’ll be able to change.”

Lifestyle Asia Swedes in new, pivotal Burda Digital role

Business

Fr. left: Richard Nilsson; CEO Sven Friedrichs Hubert Burda Media Asia; and Christopher Lindvall

B

urda International Asia, a subsidiary of Hubert Burda Media, has announced new, far-reaching changes that “will place the company at the forefront of the region’s publishing industry.” The international technology and media company are making these changes in response to the changing needs of readers and adver tisers, therefore introducing a new structure that reorganises the business into three distinct units: Digital, Print and Services.

The Digital business unit will be responsible for Burda’s digital publications, including luxury content platforms Lifestyle Asia, PrestigeOnline, Pin Prestige, August Man and Hello!

Thailand. Lifestyle Asia’s co-founders, Christopher Lindvall and Richard Nilsson have been appointed as key members for Digital and will act as Digital Managing Directors for Hong Kong and Thailand, and Singapore and Malaysia.

The Print business will continue to oversee the group’s luxur y print publications. In addition, the Services unit will be renamed to Augment and endeavour to increase the product offerings within content marketing, custom publishing, event planning and an array of digital marketing services.

Burda International will be making a significant investment to expand its business units across the region, bolstering its wor kforce to offer innovative luxury content solutions. The Digital business unit is the first of the three units to be aggressively launched in the coming months, with 38 new hires planned across the region.

In their new roles, Lindvall and Nilsson will draw upon more than a decade of experience in online publishing to steer the Digital business towards growth.

Formerly Lifestyle Asia’s Editor in Chief, Michael Alan Connelly and Managing Editor Luann Alphonso, will be appointed Heads of Digital Content for the region.Tony Cheong is appointed the new Head of Digital Sales for Hong Kong and Thailand, and Chris Ng is announced as Head of Digital Sales for Singapore and Malaysia.

“Our mission is to be the first in luxury. We connect affluent consumers with luxury brands and services, through targeted content solutions. We believe to suppor t this mission, we must redefine ourselves, from a traditional publisher, to a content company,” CEO Sven Friedrichs announced recently to key executives at the BurdaTomorrow conference held in Bangkok.

“We’re thrilled about Burda making such a significant investment into the Digital unit and sharing our vision for the future of the business,” said Christopher Lindvall, Digital Managing Director for Hong Kong and Thailand. “We can’t wait to launch new brands and products, while offering our clients strong social media offerings.

The new structure of the Digital business will enable growth strategies and improve product development. To ensure a cutting-edge digital portfolio, Burdahas recently signed a contract with American agency Wondersauce, which specialises in creating best-in-class content experiences for the modern consumer.

“We’re excited to wor k with renowned developer and agency Wondersauce, not only as our platform builder but as our product advisor moving forward. Our ambition is not only to enhance the existing portfolio of digital brands, but also to launch new brands, expand into new markets and launch products in the social media and transactional space. Still, our core focus will remain on working in the luxury and lifestyle space,” said Richard Nilsson, Digital Managing Director for Singapore and Malaysia.

June 2018 • ScandAsia 15

Business

Volvo Buses’ new B8R model arrives to Thailand

T

Text and photos: Joakim Persson

H.E. Ambassador Staffan Herrström in the middle, flanked by the Volvo Buses Asia Pacific and Thailand management team

16 ScandAsia • June 2018

he new Volvo B8R chassis from Volvo Buses has arrived to Southeast Asia – ‘Made to just keep running’. The Swedish premium buses brand’s latest model, which replaces the top-selling B7R, was in Thailand launched with a Bangkok in late March. Volvo Buses assembles the B8R in its plant there, using kits from Volvo Buses’ factory in Borås, Sweden.

The new chassis, powered by the 8-litre Volvo engine, is already being sold throughout the Asia- Pacific region and will be available in Euro 5 emission standard when so required by Thai regulations.

To celebrate the arrival H.E. Ambassador Staffan Herrström honoured the occasion, praising one the Nordic country’s most well known brands.

Volvo Buses is replacing a top-selling product with something even more modern, and doing it in a region that is one of the growth engines of the world – SEA. “Congrats to Thailand, Volvo’s customers and prospects.

Volvo Buses is taking a major step forward with its new chassis.

Increased safety, fuel efficiency and life cycle cost efficiency will mean impor tant improvements and oppor tunities for buyers of buses in this country and the region,” said Sweden’s ambassador to Thailand in his welcome address.

“Volvo is a trademark closely related to Sweden as a country. It stands for many things; safety, quality, environmental concern… as does Sweden as a country. Volvo buses is one of the world’s leading brands of buses and coaches, operating in more than 140 countries all over the world, in Thailand running since 1999,” he continued and went on to point out the two countries have a significantly longer history together.

“Our first relations were established, this year, 150 years ago! King Chulalongkorn visited Sweden in 1897. King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit followed in 1960 and our royal families have very close relations with each other. And the Thai Supreme Court hosted Queen Silvia in Thailand last month. In parallel we have seen remarkable relations been developing between Thais and Swedes,” said ambassador Herrström, pointing to the large number of Swedes, residing in and visiting Thailand every year, as well as the many Thais living in Sweden.

David Mead,Vice President,Volvo Buses Asia Pacific then continued and highlighted and impressive number: “In 2017 Volvo Buses delivered almost 1500 new Volvo Buses in the Asia Pacific. We supply operators in various segments, including city buses, tourist coaches, express coach services, as well as corporate and school transpor t. We’re ver y proud to provide the world’s safest, most reliable and most

environmentally-friendly buses and coaches across the region and the world.”

“Thailand has always been a special market for us and for the last ten years we put almost 200 new buses on the road every year. In 2017 we are really proud to be the market leader amongst European coaches, and the outlook for 2018, with the new product entry of the new Volvo B8R, looks even brighter,” Mr Mead continued.

“Those that want differentiation in the market and the value of after sales; customers looking to quality and safety in choosing buses – that’s our market.”

He said that with their vision for the future they have made investments locally to serve their customers in the best way possible, and you’ll meet the Volvo bus team based right here in Bangkok.

Volvo Buses spend over 100 million USD annually on R&D, Mr Suresh Chettiar, Business Head of Volvo Buses South Asia and Vice President Volvo Bus Corporation, informed, where the new chassis represents the Swedish company’s commitment to invest in future technologies.

“Describing Thailand as one of their most impor tant markets, he said: “It’s not ever y day we launch a new product; in this case a product that has been designed to

June 2018 • ScandAsia 17

keep our customers in Thailand and markets around the world on the road. It is designed to just keep on running.

The new Volvo B8R represents Volvo’s commitment to the intercity tourism and coach segment across Asia Pacific and the rest of the world.”

He described the B8R as well suited to Thailand on long distance and th tourism couches market.

The latest result of the R&D is a “new driveline that takes fuel efficiency to an even better level with the B8R. You will see new features, great flexibility and most impor tantly the Volvo quality and safety built into this product. But it represents so much more than just being a product – it represents a way that we at Volvo Buses think about public transport, the way we wish to move people and the way we wish to respond to the cities of the upcoming future,” Mr Suresh Chettiar continued.

“At Volvo Buses we understand the importance of being able to move a large number of people reliably, safely as well as with care for the environment. We see the role of B8R as a workhorse for leading bus operators around the world. We are closely working with operators, distributors 18 ScandAsia • June 2018

and with governments. With them we jointly plan for the future in public transport.”

“We are looking at sustainable technologies that will deliver mass transit outcomes with care for the environment where they work. In time we see a world where vehicles are inter-connected. We see a role also for electric vehicles.

And one day maybe even vehicles that can navigate a country like Thailand on their own, with autonomous roads.

Above all we do see a bright future or public transport, for operators, our operators, and of course for ourselves as Volvo Buses.”

Speaking to ScandAsia General Manager for Volvo Buses Thailand, Mr Dechchai Kulkarineetham said that the forecast is for its sales volume to increase, a bus well suited to Thailand.The focus is on tourism couches, a market of 1200 buses per year in total. In fact, tourists and tour operators increasingly demand more safety and quality from the bus operators.

In 2017 buses from Volvo represented 52 % per cent of sales of brands from Europe.

Business

Helsinki co-hosted Global Technology Collaboration Conference Hong Kong

Jukka Jokinen, 2nd from left, senior venture advisor of HBH. Mahmudul Hasan (1st from right) from a startup ‘MVision’

G

lobal Technology Collaboration Conference was arranged in April to explore and maximise opportunities in the Greater Bay Area (expected to be the fastest growing region in the world).

City of Helsinki and Helsinki Business Hub co-hosted the conference that was organized by Compass Innovation

Alliance. Three start-ups from Helsinki attended the pitching competition..

Representatives from Finnish companies in Hong Kong were also invited.

The purpose of the Conference was to explore the opportunities and challenges encountered by foreign investors when bringing in international projects to China and especially the

Greater Bay Area.

With the new scheme to integrate 9 cities and 2 districts (namely, Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing), the Greater Bay area is expected to be the World’s fastest growing business hub in the upcoming decade.

“Successful day for Finland - Hong Kong innovation relations,” stated Consulate General of Finland in Hong Kong and Macao. “Helsinki Business Hub was portrayed as a leading foreign partner of Greater Bay Area start+up business development. Jukka Jokinen, senior venture advisor of HBH, got the spotlight. Mahmudul Hasan from a start-up ‘MVision’ won the award of the most convincing pitcher. MVision uses AI to speed up treatment of cancer patients.

How can you make your money work while you enjoy life?

Kim Osborg Nielsen kim.nielsen@nordea.sg www.nordeaprivatebanking.com Nordea Bank S.A, Singapore Branch is part of Nordea Group, the leading financial services group in the Nordic and Baltic Sea regions. Some products and services may, due to local regulations, not be available to individuals resident in certain countries and their availability may depend, among other things, on the investment risk profile of persons in receipt of this publication or on any legislation to which they are subject. Nothing in this publication should be construed as an offer, or the solicitation of an offer, to purchase, subscribe to or sell any investment or product, or to engage in any other transaction or provide any kind of financial or banking service in any jurisdiction where Nordea Bank S.A., Singapore Branch or any of its affiliates do not have the necessary license. Published by Nordea Bank S.A., R.C.S. Luxembourg No. B 14.157 on behalf of Nordea Bank S.A., Singapore Branch, 138 Market street Capita Green #09-03 Singapore 048946. www.nordeaprivatebanking.com subject to the supervision of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (www.mas.gov.sg).

June 2018 • ScandAsia 19

Business

Singapore-Swedish business delegation in Vietnam

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n 23-24 April the Embassy of Sweden in Hanoi welcomed a Swedish business delegation from Singapore to Vietnam. The delegation was led by the Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam Mr. Pereric Högberg, the Swedish Ambassador to Singapore Mr. Håkan Jevrell and the president of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Singapore Mr. Jan Stjernstrom.

The delegation consisted of 12 Swedish companies from a broad range of industries, such as banking,

manufacturing, shipping, transportation and health among other s. Many of the companies are mar ket leaders in their respective fields and they were ver y interested to get a better understanding of the overall developments, oppor tunities and challenges in Vietnam. After two days of fruitful meetings and discussions, the delegation left with new knowledge about the conditions of doing business in Vietnam, repor ts the Embassy of Sweden in Hanoi.

In Hanoi the delegation got the

oppor tunity to meet with Hanoi People’s Committee and sever al ministries. The delegation also listened to Vietnamese top economists to under stand more about where Vietnam is coming from and where it is heading in the future. In the evening the ambassador invited the delegation to a reception at the Swedish residence where the delegation met with people from Vietnamese businesses as well as with Swedish business representatives working in Vietnam.

In Ho Chi Minh-city the delegation met with Ho Chi Minh-city People’s Committee and gained insights into what oppor tunities there are for Swedish companies in Vietnam in general as well as HCMC in particular.

The innovation, quality and sustainability that char acter ize many Swedish companies are qualities highly valued and the chairman expressed his wish for more Swedish companies to come to Vietnam.

Source: Embassy of Sweden in Hanoi

AndersenB2B and Norcham Philippines starts cooperation

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n March 22, Aalborg-based Ander senB2B.com and Makati-based Nordic Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines announced their cooperation, which brings their respective memberships and networks closer together. The purpose of the cooperation is to help establish new partnerships, and increase communication and awareness about mutual business opportunities between Danish and Philippine companies, particularly SMEs. Source: Nordic Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines 20 ScandAsia • June 2018

Norwegian Embassy Bangkok met Multiconsult

Business

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n 22 April, Chargé d’Affairs a.i. Mr. Vegard Holmelid, had a meeting at the Embassy with representatives from the Norwegian engineering consultancy company Multiconsult. In the meeting, the many possibilities for closer Thai-Norwegian cooperation within the energy sector were discussed, as well as how the Embassy can contribute in this regard, repor ts the Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok.

Multiconsult is a company with roots going back to 1908. They have been operating in South East Asia for many years. Now, Multiconsult is steadily expanding its presence in the region. Recently Multiconsult opened their first office in Thailand. In Thailand, as generally in South East Asia, their work is mostly focused on projects within the renewable energy sector, as

well as the oil and gas sector.

Mr. Vegard Holmelid underlined that the Embassy appreciates when Norwegian companies like Multiconsult are concentrating on Thailand. He made it clear that he was particularly happy that a company like Multiconsult, a centrepiece of Norway’s world class

expertise on renewable energy, is now investing in Thailand. This is of great importance for the continuation of the strong bilateral relationship that has existed between Norway and Thailand for 111 years.

Source: Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok

Team Sweden Philippines representatives visited Singapore

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n 19 Apr il the Swedish Chamber of Commerce Singapore , together with Danish Business Association Singapore and Finnish Business Council Singapore,

held a roundtable session where Mr Joona Selin, Executive Director of NordCham Philippines, shared his lessons learned and best practices from more than 50 market entry and

business development engagements with Nordic companies in the Philippine market.

To succeed in the Philippine market four things was pointed out by Mr Ulf Wennblom, countr y manager at Business Sweden, as key success factors: building trust, partnering with the right people, investing in people and to be patient.

In this breakfast we took this a step further, writes NordCham. Joona Selin, joined the roundtable discussion on how this is carried out and achieved in reality. Joona Selin presented some live cases and answered questions on how to succeed in practice in the Philippines.

Source: Nordic Chamber of Commerce Philippines June 2018 • ScandAsia 21

Business

Norway-Asia Business Summit – Digitalisation, world changing businesses 22 ScandAsia • June 2018

In Antler, we want to bring in great founders from different walks of life as we want to ensure we can both do systematic innovation and more of the random innovation

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By Sara Brun Nielsen he seventh edition of the Norway-Asia Business Summit took place in Singapore this year.

ScandAsia met Mr. Magnus Grimeland, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Antler Innovation and one of this year’s keynote speakers to talk about digitalisation and world changing businesses.

If you have one egg and I have one egg and we swap the eggs, we will both have one egg. If you have one idea and I have one idea and we swap the ideas, we will both have two. That is the wording of an old Chinese saying. It is also the basic point when talking about digitalisation in relation to building great companies.

Mr. Magnus Grimeland, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Antler.co, a star tup generator based out of Singapore, was moderator of the panel debate “Digitalising the core” at this year’s Norway-Asia Business Summit. And when it comes to businesses of today, digitalisation is a matter of survival.

“With the advent of more powerful artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms you can start to get pattern recognition out of very random data sets that will show you inventive things we cannot even imagine right now. I think that is extremely exciting,” Magnus Grimeland states.

But to digitalize a company means putting great levels of trust in other companies. Most businesses need to outsource some non-core aspects of the company to focus on the core aspects themselves and avoid slowing down the more essential parts. This means collaboration between companies in very different sectors. And according to Mr. Magnus Grimeland collaboration is also the key to a truly great business. But it all starts with finding great people to build great businesses.

“In Antler, we want to bring in great founders from different walks of life as we want to ensure we can both do systematic innovation and more of the random innovation.

We bring in the best possible expertise to tackle these things – people who are really excited about building businesses and we will help them do that,” Magnus Grimeland explains.

And Magnus Grimeland knows about building great companies. He himself has co-founded the e-based fashion shop ZALORA and is responsible for the overall coordination of the ZALORA Group. In 2016, ScandAsia talked to Magnus Grimeland about ZALORA. Back then, he said “It has not been easy. But it has not been impossible either.” To Magnus Grimeland it is very much worth to put June 2018 • ScandAsia 23

an effort into building great companies, because the world needs them. The thought is, that great businesses of today not only have an excessive financial impact on the world, but are truly world changing.

“There has been a mind-set change in the way people are using companies and services. I think it is very hard for a company that does not have a positive societal benefit to do well in the long term. Great companies have this dual impact. Nobody will be interested in buying your product or using your service if it doesn’t have a real impact on society which is positive. High efficiency, making things easier and cheaper and helping certain parts of society that need something done,” Magnus Grimeland explains.

For great companies to have that kind of impact on society they need to be up to date. And that might not even be enough. The companies need to strive to have the best digital platform both in-house and outhouse. Digitalisation is unavoidable, in spite of all its limits. As one of the speakers of the panel debate, Andreas Sohmen-Pao put it:

“We cannot eat 1’s and 0’s. We cannot move in 1’s and 0’s.”

At Antler.co, the goal is to find the best talents on different platforms and help them build their company.

The people Antler work with are people with a drive. It is impor tant that the companies they build are owned by the founders who build them. That helps the founders maintain the drive to achieve great things. But Antler also has a responsibility in terms of what kind of businesses they help build – and whether the dual effect of the company is positive to society.

“We are very conscious about that. Primarily in terms of bringing in people who possess that integrity. The type of people who want to build companies and the type of people we see applying very often have this type of characteristics as well. It is amazing. Normally it is not something you actually have to do very consciously, it is just part of the people coming in right now,” Magnus Grimeland explains.

On top of that the consciousness level in terms of the environment and secondary benefits on the world seem to be way higher than it was before. Consumers demand not only great products and services, but also make demands on how businesses are run. For companies to achieve all of that, idea-sharing is essential. Both concerning digitalisation and other business developments.

“We really believe that great businesses today are world changing. And it does not need to be globally world changing, it can also be a really good business which is very regional impactful,” Magnus Grimeland states.

Lastly, Magnus Grimeland would like to encourage people with a drive to create businesses: “If you want to be an entrepreneur and help change the world, apply on Antler.co.”

Nordic Chamber of Commerce and Philippines-Sweden Business Council to collaborate

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n April 23, Nordic Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) and its newly-established the Philippines-Sweden Business Council (PSBC).

The key objective of the MoU is to strengthen economic and trade ties between the Republic of the Philippines and the Nordic countries, and to bring the respective business communities closer together.

Source: Nordcham Philippines

24 ScandAsia • June 2018

Nordic Innovation funds Hong Kong incubator

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uilding on the success of the Nordic Innovation Houses in Silicon Valley and New Yor k gover nment agencies from four Nordic countries have joined forces to open soft landing incubators in both Singapore and Hong Kong. Nordic Innovation has now decided to grant the Nordic part of the financing.

Nordic Innovation House is a soft-landing concept for Nordic entrepreneurs and small and medium sized companies who are new to a specific market or who see the benefits of a being part of a Nordic community.

Nordic companies can get access to

a Nordic community in impor tant international hubs and the ser vices offered will be complementary to what already exists through the different national trade organizations in the Nordic countries.

Choosing to set up this incubator in Hong Kong has to do with several things. It ranks as number 5 (out of 190) on the ‘Ease of doing business’ index. Hong Kong is also situated right next to the Chinese mainland market.

The city is also very close to Shenzhen, which builds on market attractiveness.

Investor s in Hong Kong are ver y interested in Nordic companies in life

Business

science, clean tech and ed-tech.

Nordic Innovation is a Nordic organisation wor king to promote cross-border trade and innovation.

Nordic Innovation’s board members are selected by the five Nordic governments. The chair of the board is an alter nating position. Board meetings are held four times a year and representatives from Nordic Council of Ministers and Nordic Innovation are present at all meetings.

Source: Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, Nordic Innovation

Sustainable urban planning Nordic Java, Indonesia road show

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uring a few days in April the four Nordic embassies was on the road on Java Island to promote Nordic solutions on mobility, visiting Bandung, Jakarta, Surabaya and Yogyakarta.

With rapid development follows challenges, not least when it comes to mobility. Being able to transport people in an efficient and environmental friendly way is crucial if we are to ensure a sustainable future, especially

in our large growing cities. A better working transpor tation system will save both our environment and have positive socioeconomic effects. This involves facilitating movement for bicycles, buses and metro-systems.

June 2018 • ScandAsia 25

Business

Norwegians presented beneficial breakthroughs at dtac’s AI, machine learning seminar

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hen Telenor’s Thai mobile operator arranged a talk (arranged on 21 March) around the data science breakthroughs with artificial intelligence and machine learning, two prominent speakers represented Norway.

Andrew Kvalseth, dtac’s newly appointed Chief Marketing Officer, and Telenor’s Senior Research Scientist Kenth Engø-Monsen shared their insights as part of this ‘dtac loop: The Shapes of Data’ event, held to underscore how machine learning, connected devices and big data can empower society.

Four speakers in total demonstrated how connected devices, big data and machine learning can be combined to unlock new value in the fields of health, marketing and agriculture.

Andrew Kvalseth focused on advanced customer personalization, which relies heavily on big data and machine learning; areas in which dtac is the industry leader.

26 ScandAsia • June 2018

Mr Andrew Kvalseth, Chief Marketing Officer, dtac “The idea is to be able to go from knowing what you’re looking for and actively searching for it to just showing up and saying, ‘Hi, it’s me. Amaze me,’” said Mr. Kvalseth.

Mr. Kvalseth outlined how dtac uses machine learning in both its extensive in-house online marketing capabilities and through strong partnerships with social media services.

This allows dtac to provide customers, or prospects, with offers that are continually refined to best meet their needs.

“It’s working,” he said. “Eighty per cent of dtac’s data users with smartphones have downloaded our app. Our digital revenue increased more than tenfold in 2017. Our customers are increasingly realizing that our personalized offers can bring value to them.”

To generate this level of personalization, dtac must process billions of data points that are constantly being updated. Mr. Kvalseth highlighted that only advanced machine learning algorithms can make sense of this much data and turn it into segments of like-minded customers.

Founded by four MIT graduates, Ricult tackles the

Telenor’s Senior Research Scientist Kenth Engø-Monsen low yields of Thai farms and consequent poverty of Thai farmers with extremely precise satellite imager y and weather forecasts. Their motto: “Those who feed us need us.” Strategy manager Chawin Chatsirivichaikul introduced the AI-powered future of precision farming in Thailand— including a new collaboration with dtac Smart Farmer.

“The yields of Thai farms aren’t just low compared to global benchmarks; they’re low compared to our regional neighbours. Thai farmers keep spending more and more on fertilizers and pesticides but their yields hardly increase,” said Mr. Chawin. As a result, Thai farmers make up the bulk of Thailand’s population beneath the poverty line.

By providing farmers with actionable information, Ricult is able to increase yields by 40 per cent and profits by 100 per cent. While open source weather forecasts are for a 50km radius, Ricult’s have a resolution of 3km. Its machine learning algorithms applied to satellite imagery can also analyse the light reflected off of leaves to estimate the crops’ health.

“dtac’s Smart Farmer app, which was developed jointly with the Rak Baan Kerd foundation, has already been downloaded 100,000 times by tech-savvy farmers. Through this app, we hope to reach even more farmers and help break the cycle of poverty,” Mr. Chawin said of the Ricultdtac partnership.

Telenor’s Senior Research Scientist Kenth Engø-Monsen defines himself as a data explorer. In par tnership with Harvard University, his work has led him to Pakistan and Thailand, where he harnesses mobile data to predict the spread of infectious diseases. He shared why stopping the spread of dengue and malaria matters, and how big data can help win the day.

“Knowing where dengue or malaria will spread next is incredibly important. It tells national health services where to intensify their effor ts. They can distribute mosquito nets or set up mobile clinics. They can roll out information campaigns. They can monitor that area more closely,” said Mr. Engø-Monsen.

By using data from mobile usage, it is possible to paint a picture of a country’s human mobility. This data is then layered with information on the location of malaria outbreaks to predict where humans will carry the disease next. He noted that this level of data crunching is big data on a massive scale. He also stressed the need to keep that data safe and private.

“Whenever we look at client data, we take extreme precautions. The data is completely anonymized and aggregated. It can only tell you that, for example, 500 individuals went from cell tower A to tower B. It can’t tell you who those people were,” said Mr. Engø-Monsen.

Developed jointly with Harvard University and Mahidol University, the Thailand project will rely on mobility data from dtac and case data from the Ministry of Health to better predict future malaria outbreaks in the country.

The art of Customer Value Management is both highly creative and data driven. Chatsuda Santanond explained how her team balances soft and hard skills, and how the combination of big data and machine learning keeps pushing the limits of her field.

“Our goal is to reach our customers with the right offer, through the right channel at the right moment. And with the help of machine learning, our one-to-one marketing will be even more powerful,” said Ms. Chatsuda. “Across all channels, nearly one third of our topping sales are now coming from our AI-powered recommendation engine.”

Machine learning has also enhanced dtac’s Prepaid Registration Audit by utilizing image recognition techniques.

Moreover, it was used to develop social listening tool to help classify the intent (positive, negative, or neutral) of social media comments on our channels. Both projects achieved above 90 percent accuracy.

On top of the data scientists on her team, Ms. Chatsuda also joined an AI research collaboration with Thammasat University to build new AI talents for Thailand by focusing on intelligent automation, machine learning, customer experience enhancement, and analytics.

June 2018 • ScandAsia 27

Business

Photo: Asia Development Bank

A brief guide to making it big in China

By Henrik Vinther

China is one of today’s biggest and most profitable markets and a true Eldorado for anyone wishing to expand their product to a consumer group consisting of more than 1,3 billion people.

But as the old tale of the City of Gold told, it’s not easily found.

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hina is a market differing significantly from any market Scandinavians or citizens of the EU for that matter are familiar with. It takes knowledge, ingenuity and an ever so important network to just gain entrance to the Chinese market, and once you’re there, there’s no telling whether you will achieve success in the end or if it will be another failed venture.

ScandAsia contacted the Danish Innovation Centre

28 ScandAsia • June 2018

Shanghai to ask them about how to enter the market in the best way. Martin Bech, Consul (Science and Technology)/ Special Attaché agreed to give out his experiences.

Thank you for agreeing to speak with us. First of all, let’s say I don’t have a product to sell, I just want to enter the Chinese market. In your opinion, what should my company do?

I get this question from time to time. Usually I tell people that it isn’t necessarily about the area your company specializes in, but more the way you address your idea, what your business model is and your approach to the market that determines if you will be successful in the end.

There are some areas that the government has stated to be “sensitive” in the way that they wish to focus on solely Chinese technology. Energy is one of those areas, ICT is another one. Foreign companies will have a much harder time entering these markets compared to markets that aren’t a strategic priority for the government.

But if I have to recommend an area more suitable than others, I would look at some of the major issues

Sanlitun , Beijing, China. Photo: Kentaro IEMOTO

Martin Bech

A factory along the Yangtze River in China. Photo: Creative Commons 2.0 Germany

China is facing today. One of these is pollution and China is desperately seeking new technology to help solve the problem. Take water as an example. In the Nor th and especially in Denmark, we have lots of technologies to clean wastewater, improve water supply and clean polluted water.

These are all areas with considerable potential in China.

To understand the situation in China, it is helpful to compare with the pharmaceutical industry in Denmark.

Pharmaceuticals are a highly regulated area in Denmark and so companies in this sector must have close contact to the government to understand and adapt to changing regulations. In China, the situation is similar – almost no matter which sector you are in. For smaller companies, government contact and relations may not be that important but as soon as you reach a certain size government relations quickly turns into one of the most important management responsibilities. Basically, it is crucial to your success that you understand how to properly interact with authorities and how to build and use your network towards this end.

Okay, so now I’ve decided upon an area for my company. But it is no secret that China is very different from the Northern countries when it comes to doing business. Is there any way to prepare for that?

Other than making it clear to yourself that it’s a very hard market to access, I don’t think you can prepare much from back home. It requires a long and hard pull, commitment and a good network here in China. One par ticularly challenging area is legislation. It changes much more frequently compared EU and other markets. Also, there are more grey areas that you need to know how to navigate and make sure to stay on the right side of the red tape at all times. Another major challenge is the competition. Chinese industry has developed tremendously in recent years and in some sectors such as consumer electronics are playing eye to eye with their western competitors. But China is also still full of copy cats and the legislation, especially the implementation, is not always supportive towards securing foreign brands agains these copy cats. Though, in this area we are also seeing positive, slow, but positive developments.

So how does the Chinese market differ from the EU or similar markets?

And how does one go about doing that?

That’s one of the things Danish Innovation Centre Shanghai can help with. One of our tasks is to assist Danish companies meet the right people – in government, potential partners, investors or even universities that can supply specialist or provide future employees.We do this on a case by case basis but of course also have a range of more or less standardised products on offer such as our innovation camps which is a deep dive into a specific sector or specific eco-system. Late last year, we did a camp focusing on automation and this year we expect to organise camps focusing on China’s FinTech industry and its Creative Economy industry. Still, however, we always underline that one camp is not enough and that the chinese market requires a long term commitment. It’s hard work. Really hard work. But if you succeed, the reward is also potentially much higher.

June 2018 • ScandAsia 29

Community

Viking Fest in Ho Chi Minh City Text: Håkan Ottosson Photos: Nordcham, Ho Chi Minh City

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he Nordic business community’s annual Viking Fest was organised on 19 May. The theme of this year’s event was ‘Discover America’.

The almost 300 par ticipants gathered in the mid afternoon at Nha Rong Por t in central Ho Chi Minh City to get dressed in proper biking gear and prepare for the Viking ship journey to America ( Thanh Da Island), an hour’s journey up the Saigon River.

During the journey, the 300 Vikings enjoyed refreshing drinks and snack on the Viking ship. The weather was nice and the Vikings had a beautiful sunset during the trip and arrived just after dark.

Just before entering port, the skies started to darken, and just when every one had come ashore and under 30 ScandAsia • June 2018

Community

cover, the skies opened up for one of the heaviest rains in this year. Luckily, we were all under cover and started digging in on the roasted pig, roasted lamb, and other delicious items that were consumed together with soft drinks, beer, and Linie Aquavit that has been specially imported from Norway.

In addition to the schnapps songs signed by the Vikings, there was also sing and dance entertainment provided by “the Native Americans”.

At around 10 PM, the Vikings headed back to central Saigon were some of them continue to enjoy adventures in foreign lands.

One Night in Paris – an overall success

By Sara Brun Nielsen Photos: Tatyana Kildisheva @Kildi Photo (kildi.com)

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ne Night in Paris was the theme of this year’s DABS Annual Gala Dinner. As always, the event included phenomenal dresses, great dinner, champagne en masse and the distribution of the DABS Business Award.

This year’s Danish performers Big Fat Snake perfectly matched the French premise with their theme song Bonsior Madame which surely is a song that will get most people twirling on the dance

floor. 170 guests joined the par ty at the beautiful Shangri-La Hotel. Days after, when then eventual hangovers had eased out, DABS send out a thank you-note to all participants: “Thank you all – sponsors, guests and entertainers – for an absolutely amazing DABS Gala Dinner on the 19th of May.” ScandAsia has talked with two of the participants who both agree that the evening was delightful. Maria Ruby and Camilla Sejr Larsen enjoyed the

nice atmosphere , good company, extraordinary dresses and champagne ad libitum. Also, the yearly night snack was complimented – the all Danish hotdogs.

“It was lovely,” Camilla Sejr Larsen states.

Quality rather than quantity

Even though the overall impression of the night was a success, the two guests did ask for a little more attention to June 2018 • ScandAsia 31

Community

the details for next year’s Gala Dinner.

The impression was that some of the younger generations stayed home.

“We usually get these little photos taken that we can bring home with us.

Still, I will definitely attend next year if there is a great band,” Maria Ruby states.

According to DABS president Stine Martinussen the association made the priority to focus on quality rather than quantity. For instance, more finance went to the photographer in order to get higher quality pictures than previous years. And no less than 152 bottles of champagne were emptied at the end of the night.

“We want it to be as distinguished as possible,” Stine Martinussen explains.

And the DABS Business Award goes to…

Not only was the evening about the 32 ScandAsia • June 2018

music and great company. This annual and very special event is also a way of celebrating Danish business in Singapore.

To do so, DABS each year chose a winner among nominated candidates for the DABS Business Award. And the winner of the award 2018 is a company that every person who have had their childhood in Denmark value dearly.That is, of course, LEGO. “This year’s DABS Business Award went to a company which most of us will come across at some point during our lives; LEGO!” DABS states.

The award was received on behalf of LEGO by Leslie Falvey, General Manager, Singapore and Malaysia.

DABS visited the LEGO office prior to the Gala Dinner. And the award was given to LEGO for their innovative approach to “New Ways of Working”, which DABS explains: “LEGO Singapore

has created a very dynamic workspace, which focuses on activity-based working and allows each individual to structure his or her workday based on the tasks at hand. In practice, the office space has been divided into a number of different work zones that enable employees to change seating throughout a workday or week, and to meet colleagues and collaborate across teams, functions and specializations. By focusing on the ways of working LEGO has acknowledged that people have varying needs to focus and collaborate with colleagues during a day and that traditional-style offices do little to cater for these needs.”

Community

Danish Design Fair in the Danish Seamen’s Church

By Sara Brun Nielsen

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alf a thousand people showed up for the Danish Design Fair at the Danish Seamen’s Church. The event included delicate Danish Design at advantageous prices, smørrebrød and special brewed Danish beer.

The well-known tones of Malaga by Danish artist Thomas Helmig fills the room with a Danish summer nostalgic feel. The long and bright summer nights

as we know them best. The delicate sound comes from the Danish highend B&O speakers who are among the Danish designers par ticipating in the event.

More than 550 people visited the church at the event, which was about much more than just spending – but hey, spending money on great Danish Design is always great. The event brought people in the Danish expat

society together to enjoy each other’s company and the things they have in common.

And there is no real Danish event without real Danish foods. Therefore, Danish hotdogs with red sausages was a must. No less than 200 hotdogs were sold. But the big attraction was the “smørrebrød”. Within one and a half hour the 350 pieces were sold out.

June 2018 • ScandAsia 33

Community

Thordur Adalsteinsson new Chairman Scandinavian Society Siam

Thordur Adalsteinsson, 3rd from left, with Jan Eriksson, James Raymond Medlycott, Pall Steinarsson and Pertti Järvelä

Text and Photos: Gregers Moller

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hordur Adalsteinsson, elected in April 2013 as the first ever Icelandic Board Member of Scandinavian Society Siam, made histor y on Thursday 19 April 2018 when he was elected as the fir st Chairman ever from the smallest of the Nordic countries covered by SSS. Thordur Adalsteinsson was elected unanimously and with applause as successor of Lars Andersson from Sweden, who stepped down after three years as SSS Chairman.

Two new member s elected to ser ve on the Board were Nicklas Moberg, the Swedish manager at Oakwood Residence Sukhumvit 24 Bangkok, and Nick Sahl,the Swedish manager at Restaurant Cajutan. They replace outgoing Board member s James Raymond Medlycott and Isak Johansson. The rest of the board was reelected: • Thordur Adalsteinsson – Chairman (Iceland) • Claus Gunder sen – Treasurer (Denmark) • Pall Arnar Steinar sson – Event Manager (Iceland) • Knut Hauslo (Norway) 34 ScandAsia • June 2018

• Flemming Kruhøffer (Denmark) • Nick Moberg (Sweden) • Nick Sahl (Sweden) • Lars Andersson will continue in a role as advisor to the board.

T h e o p e n a n d c o n s t r u c t i ve member debate centered on the 100 Year Anniversary to be celebrated on 7 March 2020. Previous AGM’s have heard proposals from members to use the occassion to close and dissolve the Scandinavian Society Siam, but this was totally rejected by the around 20 members attending this year’s AGM.

There was a great interest in spending around half a million on a Great Grand Gala Ball in two years time, but a clear vision of the life of the SSS after the 100 year bir thday still needs to be worked out.

The AGM took place at Rembrandt Hotel Bangkok and after the meeting, the members enjoyed an exquisite dinner with wine ad libitum – free as usual. It is surprising that this offer is not more popular, considering how hundreds of members join the SSS Crayfish Party where tickets are sold at 3.000 THB per person.

Swedcham China International Women’s day seminar

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n 7 March the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China held its ‘International Women’s day – Breakfast and Inspiring Talks’ event in Shanghai.

The Chamber thanks ever yone who came to this seminar to celebrate International Women’s day. “It was an inspiring and insightful morning! Also a big thanks to our guest speakers for sharing their great stories and experiences!”

Community

Financial Solutions. Audrey has been working for Atlas Copco for more than 13 years. She shared her inspiring career path.

Caroline Xue, Managing Director, Marja Kurki China Operation. Caroline shared her fascinating story on how she became Managing Director of a Finnish company in China.

Source: Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China

Speakers were: Lisette Lindahl, Consul Gener al, Consulate General of Sweden in Shanghai, China. Lisette shared her solid experience working abroad for Swedish embassies as well as personal thoughts.

Audrey Deng, Head of Regions and Payment Solutions, Atlas Copco

Sweden in Hanoi honoured artist Avicii

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ne of Sweden’s most famous musicians suddenly passed away recently only 28 years sold: Avicii. His music was played all over the world. In Hanoi the Embassy of Sweden repor ts it has received flowers and greetings from his fans wanting to pay their respect. Avicii’s first hit ‘Levels’ was released in 2011 and made him an international superstar. In 2014 his song ‘Wake me up’ became the first song to be played more than

200 million times on Spotify.

There was no better way to honour his memory than through his music, the embassy thought, inviting all to join an event in Hanoi, at Ly Thai To-square, in the evening of Saturday 5 May. Hanoian DJ Lkaz played some of the Avicii hits followed by an evening of Swedish dance music.

Source: Embassy of Sweden, Hanoi June 2018 • ScandAsia 35

Lifestyle

Chokladbollens Dag –

a story on true passion for Swedish chocolate balls

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By Sara Brun Nielsen

ay 11 is a very special day for Swedes or really just every chocolate loving person out there. In Sweden, they have dedicated this day to chocolate balls – “Chokladbollens Dag”. For one especially chocolate craving person, Alaine Handa, the search of making the best chokladbollar has almost become an obsession during the last five years. Now, she is working on a coffee table book dedicated to chokladbollar, the Swedish concept “fika” and a balanced way of living.

The Swedish chocolate balls “chokladbollar” are buns made of left over cake, cocoa, butter and a few other ingredients. Alaine Handa is a chokladbollar enthusiast. In fact, she claims to be obsessed with the Swedish treat and she has spent years getting the recipe just right. Today, she is 36 ScandAsia • June 2018

co-hosting an event at a café called Ebbas Fik in Helsingborg.

The first time the world was introduced to Swedish chocolate balls was in 1943 during World War II. A recipe was published in “Svenska Dagbladet” and the same year a similar recipe on Danish “havregrynskugler” was published in the Danish book “Ingenuity in times of crisis”. The recipes are simple, using leftovers to create chocolate balls. But as Alaine Handa was to find out, the method can be tricky.

Alaine Handa has truly lived a nomadic live. She was born in Singapore, had her childhood in Jakarta until moving back to Singapore when she was eight years old. Then she studied in California, moved to New York for seven years, back to Singapore, then graduate school in Switzerland and an internship in Belgium. And now this multinational woman has dedicated all of her passion and energy in the Swedish

specialty “chokladbollar”. Seems a bit confusing? Well, it all started years ago, when Alaine Handa was just a child.

“I grew up with my aunt making these rum balls in Indonesia. She made them the Dutch way using biscuits appose to left over cake. But she used real rum. As a child that was one of my favourite treats. Then, when I lived in New York, a Swedish café called Fika opened near my apartment. I walked in and saw chokladbollar. And I thought that kind of looks like rum balls, maybe it tastes similar to it.

I tried it. And loved it,” Alaine Handa explains.

Before Alaine Handa moved to New York she had studied in California. At one point the students had to choose a “general education requirement” such as literature or social science. Alaine Handa did not feel like taking Shakespeare, as she puts it, instead she chose Scandinavian Studies. Having lived a truly international live, she already had plenty of Swedish friends. Therefore, she decided to take a Swedish class every Monday to Friday before going to university. Still, this may seem odd to some. But Alaine Handa is the kind of person who decides on a project and sees it all the way through. In the same way, she years later was to do with the chokladbollar. That obsession started five years ago on a plane from Copenhagen to Singapore.

“I was on a plane, sitting next to a Swedish woman.

We were prata lite svenska. I was telling her that I love chokladbollar and she told me it was super easy to make and gave me the recipe. So, this entire trip I was just going like – coffee, oats, butter, sugar, cocoa – I literally memorized it. I went home, bought the ingredients, started to make them. It was kind of try and error to get the proportions right, because all the recipes online did not come up right,” Alaine Handa explains.

Three years later, two years from today, Alaine Handa finally perfected the recipe.

“It was like an obsession basically. In Switzerland and Belgium, the weather is different than in Singapore. Singapore is ver y humid, so the balls tend to be more wet. And Switzerland was dry, so they were not forming properly,” Alaine Handa explains.

Now, she has gotten the chokladbollar making down to a science. It is all about measuring the ingredients just right and taking humidity and temperature into consideration. It took her three years to get the basic right. Then she started to experiment. Today, she masters about 30 different types of chokladbollar.

“I am totally obsessed with making things from scratch.

I started looking into organic food and using whole foods.

June 2018 • ScandAsia 37

I am totally obsessed with making things from scratch. I started looking into organic food and using whole foods. It tends to be really expensive, in Singapore especially. It is not budget at all.

It tends to be really expensive, in Singapore especially. It is not budget at all.”

Luckily, Alaine Handa ensures that the perfect Danish butter or the just right French cocoa is not a necessity. If you have got the method right it should not be too difficult to make those delicious chocolate balls. But to her, the perfect chokladbollar still have not been made.

“If I had the perfect ingredients they would come from different parts of the world. I have gotten very close recently, but the ingredients were very difficult to get. I literally had French cocoa from a specialty chocolate shop in Sweden, I had organic brown sugar from this specialty health store – I can’t even remember where I found it – and of course, the best butter that was rated in the butter award, the Danish butter Lurpak. I use real vanilla bean and Italian roast coffee.

38 ScandAsia • June 2018

And then of course local coconut shavings from Southeast Asia. They are very simple to find over there, and they are very cheap and very good,” Alaine Handa explains and continues: “This is why I think I should never open a café, because I would be like – I need to make it the best every time! And I would… lose money.”

In the book, Alaine Handa takes a social interception on chokladbollar. She explains the book is more than recipes it is also about this concept of balanced life, that Scandinavian people seem to embrace with the concept of Danish hygge, Norwegian kos and Swedish fika – which is about taking some time out for yourself every day to relax either alone or in the company of others and have a cup of coffee and a nice treat – like chokladbollar.

“I love fika – taking a coffee break in the middle of the day or even in the evening actually. Anytime you can fika.

And I love the story about chokladbollar. Almost every Swede learn to make them as a kid with their grandmother, aunt or mother, even grandfathers,” Alaine Handa states.

At the moment Alaine Handa is trying out two working titles for her book. One of them is “In search of the best chocolate balls”. And then there is the more comical title “I love Swedish chocolate balls”.

“Some of the titles for my recipes are hilarious. I have been really into fruit lately and I just perfected what I am calling monkey balls, because it is banana chocolate. Blue balls, is another one. It is blueberry stuffed chocolate balls.

So, I thought I could do a funny title like “I love balls”,” Alaine Handa explains.

Today at the chokladbollar event in Helsingborg Alaine Handa will be judging chokladollar on appearance, smell and taste. And you can see the event live streamed on Facebook from 5.30 pm to 8 pm Sweden time: www.facebook.com/ travelwithalaine.

Unfortunately, we have to wait for the book – which hopefully will be published in December – to get those amazing Alaine Handa chokladbollar recipes. However, Alaine Handa has a tip for all of us in Southeast Asia: “When you look at the liquid levels do a bit less when you follow the recipes online or even when my book comes out.”

June 2018 • ScandAsia 39

News brief

Finnish Ambassador held gender equality keynote speech

C

onnecting to Inter national Wo m e n ’s D a y F i n l a n d ’s Ambassador to Thailand, Satu Suikkari-Kleven, had the pleasure of giving a keynote speech to Thammasat University students on achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment.

As a diplomat from Finland, gender equality is not only deeply rooted in her DNA, but also in her work, as gender equality is a foreign policy priority for Finland, she noted. Professor Siriwan Suebnukarn and Vice Dean Jiraporn Phornprapha highlighted some of the thresholds preventing gender equality in Thailand and South-East Asia, such as high rates of gender-based violence and women’s low political representation.

Ambassador welcomed Thailand’s high rate of women board members and CEOs. Source: Embassy of Finland in Bangkok Photo credits: Thammasat University

Finnish Business Council Beijing AGM

T

he Finnish Business Council Beijing’s (FBCB) Annual General Meeting 2018 took place on 19 April at Beijing Grand Concordia Hotel. During the AGM the activities and achievements of the past term were reviewed and the new FBCB board was elected.

New board members are Larr y Du from Tikkurila, Ulla Nurmenniemi from Red Orchid, Seppo Selkala from Sinoreach, Tommy Tang from Honka, Juha Tuominen from Roboride, Jenny Xiong from PWC and Liu Yuan from Wetend. FBCB congratulates the new board.

Source: Finnish Business Council Beijing

40 ScandAsia • June 2018

Danish-supported new Indonesia marine plastic debris report

News brief

W

ith Danish suppor t, the World Bank and Indonesia has provided, in a new repor t launched in late Febr uar y, important recommendations on how to combat the issue of marine plastic debris in Indonesia. A government cooperation between Indonesia and Denmark will focus on national policies and regulations for reduction and treatment of solid waste.

Source: Embassy of Denmark, Indonesia

Norway,Thai foreign affairs ministries met in Thailand

O

n 21 - 22 February Norwegian State Secretar y of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Marianne Hagen, made the first visit to Thailand at a political level since the coup in 2014, reports the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Bangkok. Her programme entailed both a bilateral visit as well as participation i n t h e U N G l o b a l S u s t a i n a bl e Development Goal on Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG7) conference. ”In a ver y fr uitful and positive meeting withThailand’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Virasakdi Futrakul, many issues were touched upon.

One of them was how Norway and Thailand can cooperate on sustainable development. ”Norway and Thailand has a 111year history of positive bilateral dialogue and also close trade relations.Afterward, she therefore met representatives from the Thai Norwegian Chamber of Commerce as well as Norwegian business leaders in Thailand to discuss their activities.”

Ms. Hagen delivered a keynote

address at the UN Conference where she emphasized Norway’s strong commitment to the SDG7 on energy for all. She also underlined the importance of improving access to climate friendly energy, the tight cooperation with the private sector and the importance of a gender perspective for reaching the SDG7.

Support to Clean Energy is one of the main priorities of the Norwegian Development Policy. Norway spends above 1 percent of its GDP on development assistance.

Royal Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok

June 2018 • ScandAsia 41

News brief

Norwegian-Thai parties signed process safety science and engineering MoU

O

n Monday 11 March, the Norwegian ambassador and the Minister of Energy, H.E. Dr. Siri Jirapongphan, presided over the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on research and educational cooperation in process safety science and engineering. It is a collaboration that will commence between the Norwegian company Gexcon AS and King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT).

The Minister of Energy, H.E. Dr. Siri Jirapongphan embraced the MoU and its relevance for the continuing development of human resources and the energy sector in Thailand. This was also emphasised by the Secretar yGener al for Higher Education Commission, Dr. Suphat Champatong and the President of KMUTT, Assoc.

Prof. Sakarindr Bhumiratana, as specially 42 ScandAsia • June 2018

invited guest to this ceremony.

With the MoU signed, students at both the graduate and post graduate levels at KMUTT will be given the oppor tunity to learn how to work with Gexcon’s ‘FLACS’, a 3D software tool for modelling explosion, dispersion and fire consequences for all typical flammable and toxic release scenarios.

KMUTT and Gexcon will also cooperate in conducting scientific research and arranging international conferences, seminars, and workshops related to the field of Process Safety Science and Engineering. The signing of the MoU marks the start of a shared effort of contributing to enhance safety and risk management in Thailand, which may in the end produce knowledge that can be utilised worldwide.

CEO of Gexcon, Mr. Stur le H. Pedersen emphasized that the main mission of Gexcon is to avoid accidents

and save lives worldwide. With the MoU, KMUTT is now an impor tant partner in this effort.

“Knowledge is crucial for avoiding d i s a s t e r s . F o r t h a t r e a s o n we collaborate with multiple world leading universities. We are therefore ver y happy to cooperate with KMUTT. This MoU contributes to our shared vision of making the world a safer place.”

Increased competence on process safety science and engineering reduces the risk for accidents causing major environmental disasters. H.E. Kjetil Paulsen addressed the importance of this by stating: “We cannot succeed in the future if we do not deal with environmental issues and climate change.”

Source: Royal Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok

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Check out the students’ videos to learn more about their passion www.kis.ac.th

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June 2018 • ScandAsia 43

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