ScandAsia January 2019

JAN 2019 BUSINESS

Nordic Innovation House Hong Kong

COMMUNITY

Swedish Association Hua Hin 10 years

INTERNATIONAL

Tracing explosives

START-UPS

in the Vietnamese soil

Denmark’s new ambassador to Vietnam Helsinki promotes via Singapore

January 2019

ScandAsia Community

HE Kim Højlund Christensen

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Denmark’s new Ambassador to Vietnam

28 Scandinavians at International Thai Silk Fashion Week 29 Sweden Vietnam Nobel Gala 36 Swedish Lucia in Bangkok, 150 years anniversary 40 Swedish Association Hua Hin 10 years

30 Norwegian People’s Aid

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ScandAsia Business

16 Finnish healthtech in Singapore Activities during SWITCH

23 Singapore FinTech Festival

Mr Christian Bergenstråhle

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Community Director, Nordic Innovation House – Hong Kon

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Big Nordic participation, delegations

24 Helsinki City in Singapore Promotes start-ups, businesses

26 SweCham China

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Held Gala, turned 20 in 2018

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Ms Ghekhuoy Lim Nordcham Cambodia

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January 2019 • ScandAsia 5

Editorial

New Year’s resolution

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New Year’s resolution is a tradition, most common in the Western Hemisphere but also found in the Eastern Hemisphere, in which a person resolves to change an undesired trait or behavior, to accomplish a personal goal or otherwise improve their life.

A new year’s resolution can be a powerful way to make a change in your life – as long as you stick to it. To start, you’ll reflect on your hopes for the year and pick one to three goals to pursue.You’ll then develop a plan to prepare, make progress, and eventually achieve your goals by year’s end (or earlier).

My first New Yer’s resolution for ScandAsia is not so much about changing something undesirable, but to work harder to maintain the big jump in online readers of the magazine that started in January 2018. Since then we have not had a single issue that did not have over a thousand readers on our platform issuu.com/scandasia - and as I write this resolution, we just exceeded a total of 3 million impressions. 3.006.913 to be precise!

My second resolution is, that I want to learn how to show videos directly on the pages instead of only still photograph. It would be an awesome experience that would give the online magazine an added value and a distinct advantage over the printed magazine. Next, I will offer this to our advertisers. Many of them produce already great video material for sharing on their video channels and social media channels. And now on ScandAsia!

My third resolution is throughout 2019 to bring you more content in the category “lifestyle”. Content about living in Asia and all the opportunities it gives you to live your life to the fullest. We are talking shopping, dining, fitness, travel, hospitality. Next, I will combine this with my second resolution, the one about telling it more with videos.

Imagine..

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 • January 2019

My last and most important resolution is to work hard to find and inspire creative people among our readers across East Asia to help find, write, present, and tell more stories from wherever they live. I refuse to believe it when people tell me, that nobody wants to contribute anymore - that we all want only to consume. I know there are so many people among us, who today spend their time and energy helping each their communities in so many ways, sitting on boards, being members of committees, making plans for events and activities. We all appreciate the work you do for the benefit of the rest of us. Why not take it a step further? Go wide.

Start sharing your ideas and adventures with other Nordic expats across the region. It can be from your business life - that story about your first cultural barrier and how you got over it. Or it can be about your family life - that day you suddenly realized how enriching it can be to live in a relationship as an expat in a different culture.

I am hoping that at least one of you will think about this and make it your own New Year’s resolution. Please send me an email. Let’s together make it a Happy New Year!

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.

News brief

Denmark-Vietnam bilateral celebration

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n 22 November the 47th anniversar y of the bilateral relationship between Denmark and Vietnam was celebrated with a mini concert hosted by H.E. Mr. Kim Højlund Christensen - Ambassador of Denmark to Vietnam.

On this occasion, the Vietnamese/ Danish talented pianist Tri Minh, the

multi awards Danish singer/songwriter Michael Moller and singer Disa Jakobs took the stage, offering guests a beautiful journey of cultural exploration with their “Red Helix” Project. The popular Sol Art Children Choir also attended this special event.

Denmar k was one of the fir st We s t e r n c o u n t r i e s e s t a bl i s h i n g

diplomatic relations with Vietnam. Since 1971, the two countries have enjoyed a strong cooperation, which has grown into a broad set of solid ties with a very promising future.

Source: Embassy of Denmark in Vietnam

Pär Kågeby, Swedish Finland’s new embassy visited ambassador schools to Indonesia accredited D uring November, Vice Consul Pär Kågeby visited two Swedish schools situated on Koh Lanta island to learn more about their work.

The two schools, Svenska Skolan Thailand and Lilla Svenska Skolan, Koh Lanta - Thailand (little Swedish school), provide education from pre-school up to high school. Since this year, Lilla svenska skolan is also providing secondary school education (gymnasieutbildning). Both schools have around 60 students each, divided into classes of around 12 students.

mbassador of Finland to Indonesia Jari Sinkari presented his credentials to the president of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo on 8 November in a ceremony held in the Presidential Palace.

The Embassy congratulated its ambassador for the accreditation.

Source: Embassy of Sweden in Bangkok / Photo credit: Ulf Pettersson

Source: Embassy of Finland in Jakarta

8 ScandAsia • January 2019

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Vietnamese Prime Minister visits Denmark, Royal Banquet

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ietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Spouse has been to Denmark on an official visit during 19 – 20 October.

The Vietnamese Gover nment chief was accompanied by Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, and Deputy Minister of Public Security Bui Van Nam. This was the PM’s first official visit to Denmark, also taking place on the occasion of the 5thanniversar y of establishment of Viet Nam-Denmark comprehensive par tnership. The PM attended the Viet Nam-Denmar k Business Conference among other activities.

H.M. Queen Margrethe II hosted a Royal Banquet which was also attended

by H.R.H. Crown Prince Frederik and his wife, H.R.H. Crown Princess Mary.

Aside PM Phuc Korea’s President Moon, other Heads of State and Government and a number of top business leaders were among the guests.

The Royal family has bonds to Vietnam, as H.M. Queen Margrethe II’s late husband, H.M. Prince Henrik of Denmark, spent several years of his childhood in Hanoi.

On the second day of his visit PM Phuc also participated in the first global Summit of Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G), where he delivered his remarks. The first-ever global P4G Summit wrapped up on Saturday in Copenhagen, marking an impor tant step when it comes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and delivering on the Paris Climate Agreement through P4G partnerships and networks.

Through P4G, Heads of State and Government, leaders of international organizations, top business leaders, academia and civil society representatives from 47 countries got together to develop, accelerate and scale up concrete market-driven solutions within the five P4G SDG sectors: food and agriculture, water, energy, cities and circular economy. The Summit participants will work together to share knowledge and best practices

News brief

on public-private partnerships in order to inspire actionable solutions and replication to ensure a truly global impact. In addition, new actors will be brought into the par tnership to transform the challenges into market opportunities for a sustainable economy.

The P4G will be a partner to the UN Climate Summit in 2019. The next P4G Summit will take place in 2020.

Sources: VGP News, Embassy of Denmark in Vietnam

January 2019 • ScandAsia 9

Business

Kim Højlund Christensen

Denmark’s new Ambassador to Vietnam 10 ScandAsia • January 2019

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he Embassy of Denmark in Hanoi has welcomed the new Danish Ambassador to Vietnam, His Excellency Mr. Kim Højlund Christensen. The Ambassador presented his credentials to the Acting President of Vietnam Mdm Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh on 16 October.

The new Danish Ambassador to Vietnam aims to fur ther strengthen the impor tant bilateral relationship between our two countries.

Ambassador Kim Højlund Christensen is a distinguished career diplomat in the Danish Foreign Service. Prior to his current post, he was the Danish Ambassador to Brazil as well as non-resident Ambassador to Guyana and Suriname from 2014 to 2018, and Danish Ambassador to Chile from 2006 to 2010. From 2004 to 2014 the ambassador also held various positions in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs such as Head of the Department for Corporate Counselling and Support (Inspector General), Head of the Trade Council Quality Assurance Department and Department for Trade Council Secretariat. He has been posted to Moscow and Berlin during the 90s and early 2000s.

“This is a great time for me to be in Vietnam: our two countries share a wide range of interests, including strengthening our economic ties, especially within green growth, food and agriculture, health and education. I am very much looking forward to taking up my new position here and to working hard together with Vietnamese interlocutors to enhance our already extensive partnership,” said Ambassador Kim Højlund Christensen.

One of his first tasks was to welcoming H.E. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to Copenhagen to attend the first global Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G) Summit, followed by an official visit to Denmark.

“The Vietnamese Prime Minister’s visit is a tremendous oppor tunity that will fur ther advance our bilateral

partnership, while also strengthening our ties throughout this dynamic region”, Kim Højlund Christensen said prior to the visit.

Denmark has a longstanding and close relationship with Vietnam. Formal diplomatic relations were established in 1971 and are today underpinned by a Comprehensive Partnership Agreement. Under the new direction of being par tners in quality growth, Denmark increasingly seeks more measures to step up our strong ties by matching modern Danish strengths and the Vietnamese agenda.

The two countries cooperate closely within areas such as sustainable growth, food, agriculture, energy, healthcare and education. New strategic co-operation agreements between Danish and Vietnamese ministries in these key areas have already been crafted and enacted. Denmark’s trade and economic relationship with Vietnam has also grown strongly. Denmark is now one of Vietnam’s top trade par tners per capita within the EU. Vietnam is an important country for direct investment from Denmark.

Danish companies have actively been pursuing business oppor tunities in Vietnam, especially within sectors such as clean energy, logistics, food production and education.

Fur ther growth in the flow of trade on both sides is expected when the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the European Union and Vietnam comes into effect.

People-to-people interaction between Denmar k and Vietnam is also ver y significant. There has been an increase in cultural co-operation between the two countries with emphasis on creation, people’s access and par ticipation in ar ts and promotion of cultural diversity.

The Embassy’s Culture and Development Exchange Fund has supported hundreds of successful projects and artists, assisting Vietnam in creating a vibrant contemporary arts scene.

Source: Embassy of Denmark, Vietnam January 2019 • ScandAsia 11

Business

Head of the largest Nordic bank branch in Asia, Jan Stjernstrรถm retires after 40 years in the business Text and photo: Jonas Boje Andersen

12 ScandAsia โ ข January 2019

It has been a fantastic opportunity to experience the different environments in the region

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e has worked in over 50 different countries, doing transactions, and his career has spanned 40 years in the banking business. Now, after five years as the head of the largest Nordic Bank branch in Asia, Jan Stjernström retires from SEB Singapore.

Jan Stjernström is a passionate sailor and from his office he can look down on Singapore’s Marina Bay, where he a few years ago participated in a professional catamaran race.

As a young banker in 1984, the Swede travelled to Southeast Asia and Singapore covering corporate clients for Citibank. The goal was to establish relationships for Citibank with Nordic clients in the region. 34 years later after covering almost the entire world within his field, he came back as the Managing Director of the SEB Singapore Branch and he is now closing the circle. ScandAsia sat down with a passionate traveller, who might be the most international banker in the Nordics covering all continents with an extensive career.

Mr Stjernström describes it as an amazing journey and he does leave a lot behind when he is retiring in December - from setting up the first foreign bank in Sweden with a small team from Citibank in the 80s to being a member on a number of business boards including as President of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Singapore (SwedCham) – and of course the career as Managing Director of SEB Singapore.

The mild-mannered banker is overall positive about the accomplishments of his team and the state of the prosperous region: “Yes, we have managed well but the environment has been very volatile over the last five years,” Jan Stjernström says, as he points out how he especially sees a positive shift in Malaysia given the political changes which might give room for more long term investments.

One country he is especially focused on is Vietnam, which he has seen develop faster in these five years than any other country in the region.

“It’s a magnet for foreign direct investment right now and there’s a lot of manufacturing opportunities.”

The key troubling aspect about South East Asia, that comes to Stjernström’s mind, is the level of corruption which hasn’t improved as much as he had expected with Singapore being the absolute exception. This is also one of the competitive challenges for Scandinavian companies due to the high standards and zero tolerance for corruption when doing business, Stjernström points out.

Even though Stjernström will be a missed talent in this region, the timing is right, he believes, and soon he and his wife will start a new life in Southern Europe. “Ingrid and I have enjoyed it in Singapore. It has been a fantastic opportunity to experience the different environments in the region and we’ve certainly made use of this,” he says.

Working around the whole world in over 50 different countries over the last 40 years, Stjernström and his wife Ingrid Stjernström Roos, are not so keen on going back full time to cold Sweden. The choice fell on sunny Portugal which the couple will use as a base over the coming years for more travelling. They both share a profound love for travelling and with 75 countries visited during a busy career, they will now be travelling at their own pace. Though Sweden is still in their hearts and the summers will be spent sailing in the ‘Stockholm Skärgård’ (a unique archipelago in the world) and meeting with their five sons, family and friends.

January 2019 • ScandAsia 13

Business

Nordic Innovation House - Hong Kong opened

Christian Bergenstråhle appointed ‘Community Director’

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By Joakim Persson n 28 November a Nordic milestone of sorts occurred in Hong when the Nordic Innovation House - Hong Kong (NIH-HK) was inaugurated! Its importance was also acknowledged by the very fact that Mrs Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR graced the opening with her attendance and opening address, along with Nordic ministers!

Ms Anne Berner, Minister ofTransport & Communications and Nordic Cooperation of Finland; Ms Ann Linde, Minister for EU Affairs and Trade of Sweden and Mr Dagfinn Høybråten, Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers also gave speeches.

This opens a significant new avenue to connect Nordic start-ups and entrepreneurs with Hong Kong and also to serve as a gateway to the wider Chinese market. Innovation and technology are areas where Nordic countries and Hong Kong have converging interests and great potential for cooperation.

Being the most open and international city in the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong has a unique position by 14 ScandAsia • January 2019

having its international know-how and at the same time mainland China as its back-bone. The new Nordic initiative will strive to encourage more Nordic Innovative start-ups to use the Chinese market as their prototype test market for demand in Asia, by leveraging resources from the area to incubate innovation and technology.

The Nordics have a history of disruptive innovations and setting new international standards, and hence in many of the global innovative indexes, Nordic countries top the rankings: NIH-HK will target to bridge the Nordics’ outstanding innovations in life science, clean-tech, ed-tech and smart city to suit Hong Hong’s strategy of being a world-class innovation hub and smart city. It will also open up opportunities for social innovation and design.

Nordic Innovation is the organization behind it, which sits under the Nordic Council of Ministers, to promote crossborder innovation. In Hong Kong, four countries are founding partners to the House. It’s the 4th Nordic Innovation House after Silicon Valley, New York and Singapore.

Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR

Christian Bergenstråhle, Community Director at Nordic Innovation House - Hong Kong

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hristian Bergenstråhle has been appointed as Community Director of NIH-HK to spearhead the initiative.

“I think it’s exciting first of all that they have picked someone that does not come from the tech world (which would probably have been most obvious, given that the majority of start-ups are within that) but who can enter with another perspective,” he tells ScandAsia.

Relating to this he also says: “Looking at start-ups it is also my ambition to look more broadly at innovation; social innovation and design, in order to always keep our eyes and ears open, even if the large majority will focus on tech.”

“To succeed with this project has to do more with being the man at the centre and having the ability to make the connections, rather than possessing all the competence on one’s own. It’s about getting to know those with the best competence within each field to generate the prerequisites for companies to succeed,” says Christian, who has been an entrepreneur for about 15 years.

He has lived in Hong Kong since one year back and before that travelled here frequently during five years,

more or less monthly. “And the reason I ended up here was because I took part in Business of Design week in 2014, with one of my projects involving art.”

So far Christian is the only employee but into 2019 the plan is to recruit a person who can ensure local engagement by being able to converse in both Cantonese and Mandarin too. Then, long-term, the plan is to also have interns from the various Nordic countries, in order to connect well there.

Prior to his new role he served customers in Sweden from Hong Kong. “And I have experience in working with everything from member organisations to sponsorships as main focus area - which is about creating circumstances where there are always several winners in collaboration. I can draw a lot parallels to that as well.”

“I know Greater Bay well from the standpoint of an incredibly expanding phase the whole area represents and the whole strength within IoT etc. Initially our focus will be on establishing an overview of the network here and then in parallel start building the relations with the Nordics,” Christian comments.

NIH-HK has a steering group consisting in representatives of all the Nordic countries. “In my steering group there are representatives from Business Finland, Business Sweden, the Finnish and Swedish General Consulates, Iceland’s embassy in Beijing and also Innovation Norway in Beijing.”

The first event following the inauguration was arranged with support from the Swedish company CellMark, as well as the Swedish and Finnish Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong.

“I see this as one of the ways how we should operate; in this case partnering with CellMark that invited, facilitated and sponsored four start-ups to come here. And those four have now become members, two from Sweden Finland respectively, within medtech and cleantech.”

“In 2019 NIH-HK will have three main focus areas: IoT – given the oppor tunities within that in Shenzhen; Creative Industries, including gaming (which all the Nordic countries are skilled at) and fashion tech; and then medtech.

So I am setting the agenda to do some things together with partners and will then also do some things on our own,” finishes Christian.

Photos: Nordic Innovation House - Hong Kong January 2019 • ScandAsia 15

Business

Ms Paula Parviainen, Ambassador, Embassy of Finland, Singapore, giving the opening remarks at the Finland-Singapore HEALTHtech event

Finnish healthtech solutions target Singapore, Southeast Asia

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By Joakim Persson mong the oppor tunities to meet Finnish innovators during the Singapore Week of Innovation & TeCHnology 2018, was at the ‘Finnish HealthTech Event’ (par t of ‘Meet Finland in Singapore’ Week).

The largest delegation of healthcare companies (10+) from Finland to Singapore so far, including some of the most innovative brands and start-ups, shared their latest innovations there and had also come to Southeast Asia’s regional hub in order to seek new strategic partnerships and customers.

In a dialogue session Dr Patrick Tan, Precision Medicine initiative,A*STAR / DukeNUS and Ms Meria Heikelä, National

16 ScandAsia • January 2019

Personalized Health Program, Finland also participated.

“Big data and analytics have presented Singapore and Finland with many oppor tunities to deliver solutions for personalised healthcare,” Meria Heikelä commented following the session.

“In healthcare, there is increasing pressure to produce ser vices more cost-efficiently and offer more patientcentric and tailored towards personalized care. We are therefore very pleased to work with Singapore to create solutions for personalized patient-centric care pathways that consider the special needs of patients” Personalized healthcare, digitalization, big data and Ar tificial Intelligence (AI) are some of the new trends

Katarina Segerståhl, Aava popping up when discussing about future of health.

The Health Ministry in Singapore has estimated that 30,000 more healthcare workers would be needed by 2020 to meet the demands of an ageing population and the continued growth in medical services from medical tourism and other evolving healthcare needs.

Smar t tools and new technology will therefore be needed to tackle the challenges in healthcare.

Sever al Finnish enabling and ready-to-mar ket technologies in health and wellness found ready demand in Singapore as the country seeks to adopt Smart Health solutions to deliver enhanced healthcare services more effectively and efficiently to the public.

ScandAsia talked to three Finnish companies eyeing, and creating, the new healthtech opportunities with their respective tech breakthroughs.

Virta wellbeing by Aava Medical

Virta, a wellbeing unit of the Finnish 60-year-old company Aava Medical Centre offers coaching services and group trainings to assist individuals to find energy permanently.

Core to this is the ‘Virta 360’, which includes a personal Wellbeing Test to provide each person with a holistic picture of one’s wellbeing, from mental health to activity and exercise.

Aava Medical has developed the service architecture to match its own needs to provide holistic preventive care and wellbeing.

“We are not measured by the amount of doctor visits but we’re actually sustainably developing preventative care, which hopefully reduces the doctor visits, and focus

investments on wellbeing and maintaining health,” says Aava’s Chief Strategy Officer Katarina Segerståhl.

“We are now focusing on Vir ta wellbeing business development, where we are developing these digital solutions that actually prevent people from getting sick and improve people’s lifestyles, so very much a different area of practice than our traditional healthcare practice.”

Their strong conventional business is to take care of the working population and private customers. Katarina Segerstahl says that being fully family-owned the business also have a very long perspective to developing solutions for preventative health and this long-standing strategy is key to success in the changing market situation.

“What’s also interesting about the index is that we are the first point of leveraging objective and diagnostic data also to show whether health behaviour are directing that person further away or closer towards metabolic risk factors, that indicates the risk of getting diabetes or other chronic illnesses. So this is a kind of concrete tool that we have developed in our own clinical practice and are also leveraging with corporations.”

“The test tells me which areas I should focus on in terms of health. We have a very holistic model, so also with social and psychological models, not only physical health and nutrition. There’s for example also financial well-being, environmental factors. These are very important; if you live in a much polluted environment vs. a different type. And we can identify those different areas and their impact on your overall health.”

January 2019 • ScandAsia 17

Mr Jarkko Pyykkönen, Innovator, Near Real “If we run the healthcare for example for a company we can also compare an individual’s profile with a unit’s profile, or the entire corporation’s profile.”

In Singapore Aava met a couple of companies to see whether they could possibly co-develop these tools as part of their services.

The health insurance sector is also one of their targets.

“We are learning about the Singapore market and Asia, trying to identify partners for co-developing these services and testing how they could benefit the local market here,” says Katarina.

Near Real

Near Real enriches health care systems by secure video, audio and chat features enabling health care professionals to treat patients online, and charge customers.

“The main angle of the Near Real service is designed to enrich any existing healthcare system so we are not providing any new application for professionals but we are enriching the existing ones,” says Jarkko Pyykkönen, Founder and CEA at Near Real.

This approach is based on that doctors and nursing staff don’t want to have yet another application but prefer to use their preferred existing one.

“In Finland we a few players in the patient information sector providing those services to hospitals in private and public sector and once we have enriched the one source we have hundreds of thousands of people using our service,” he continues.

18 ScandAsia • January 2019

The skilled Near Real team has developed an API (application programming interface), hiding all complexity of secure video, so that it becomes easy to create patientspecific appointments for whenever needed.

“The patient can save time and money and the doctor is available regardless where the patient is and of course also from the hospitals and doctors point of view it’s much more efficient so that you are not restricted in terms of the area you are operating but you can offer your services wherever the patient is.”

“Finland with its long distances is a good example where we have huge pool of doctors in the capital of Helsinki but not in the north part of Finland. In Singapore, or other places where distances are small, you can still have some special areas that you don’t have available right now or you would need to be in traffic jam for hours to see the doctor.

That’s the kind of main benefit we are offering.”

“We are looking at going to market in the Nordics and then we are trying to select the market from Asean and the US. Being a small start-up with limited resources Singapore seems like one of the most interesting places to go to and that is why we are here,” explains Jarkko.

“When you go to Singapore you need see it as part of the whole of Asia, but you need to start somewhere. And based on our studies, and guidelines we have got from Business Finland Singapore is one good place to go to as a start.”

In Singapore this new start-up met with government representatives well as well as several private sector players.

Mr Markus Lind, Chief Sales Officer, Buddy Healthcare Near Real is also part of iCory project, a co-creation group of enterprises developing together the future hospital solutions in Finland, including using machine learning and robotics for personalisation. Funded by Business Finland iCory is backed by a consortium comprising Finnish health and wellness companies, universities and hospitals.

Buddy Healthcare

In the iCory ecosystem Buddy Healthcare, can also be found.

Buddy Healthcare provides of a mobile care coordination and patient engagement platform that automates and monitors clinical pathways for surger y and procedure patients.

Represented this time by its Chief Sales Officer Markus Lind this Finnish start-up was in Singapore to meet with local health IT companies who had contacted them, to discuss collaboration.

“Also, they have very interesting products that we try to see if we could sell in Finland and Europe,” says Markus.

“At the moment we are active in Finland and in Central Europe, we are now building a company in Germany. From Singapore, we are looking for partner to work with us, local presence and market knowledge is essential. Also, we are looking innovative clinics/hospitals to start project with us” “We try to find a company who can see that that our platform suppor ts their por tfolio or knows that some hospitals are requesting this kind of service and they can fulfil the need.”

“Our software is care coordination and patient

engagement platform for patients but also for hospitals.

When a patient gets any indication to come to a hospital – be it pre-operative visit, pre-evaluation visit, surger y procedure etc. – patient normally receive lots of phone calls and all information are handed in paper form. In our platform, patients have care-related information in an easy-to-use mobile application, instructions, questionnaires, reminders, what you need to do before the visit etc. And post care procedures, with all information how to heel your wound, recovery training programme QOL questionnaires etc. “ “Then, the hospital can on its dashboard see if the steps the patient has taken or not and doctors can get attentions from missed tasks and/or changes in care plan.

They can re-remind the patient, modify the care plan and send messages through platform in this kind of cases. Most of the patients follow their care planning, so our customers have seen significant amount of reduced phone calls and administrative work” Markus explains the solution.

“Hospitals also need to do a bit of changes in their processes, when using our care coordination platform. We can significantly reduce administrative work the nurses are doing at the moment by digitalizing all pre- and postoperative phases of care” he adds.

Its main differentiation is to not concentrate on any particular disease but offers to set up any care guidance.

Buddy Healthcare has ongoing projects in 4 out of 5 Finniah university hospitals, and also in over 60 per cent of central hospitals.

January 2019 • ScandAsia 19

Advertorial

Cold Flood Prevention - Danish innovation finds Southeast Asian market via AndersenB2B

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s Cold Flood Prevention (an innovative alternative to the traditional use of sandbags) is making inroads into Southeast Asia – it already constitutes proof of concept that the SME business networking and business internationalisation platform AndersenB2B.com works in action! Its mission is to strengthen the access to new clients, markets and information and its approach enables companies to connect across borders.

By being part of this platform and network Cold Flood Prevention, a new Danish innovative SME, has managed to find strong interest for its solution from prospects far beyond the initial home market that is Scandinavia.

Consequently, its CEO Michael Cold, accompanied by AndersenB2B’s CEO Lars Siggaard Andersen, have been 20 ScandAsia • January 2019

visiting countries in Southeast Asia, in particular Vietnam, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand to do field demonstrations.

“The challenge is always when you have a person with a brilliant idea and technology how you can spread the word. Southeast Asia has tons of small companies, so does Denmark and the rest of the Nordics. So how can we get to know each other? This is where we work together to communicate as much as possible on this platform, and distribute information and put up videos. We allow business owners like Michael to give some statements in our newsletter and talk about, in his case, how he has been in Southeast Asia looking for sales opportunities,” says Lars Andersen, who is also behind well-established Andersen Consult.

Lars says that their news send-outs also reach some 2,000 companies and government officials in Southeast Asia.

“And seeing for example the Cold Flood Prevention info they might take the product into consideration.’ Some of these people contacted us wondering what it is about: ‘We have sandbags but your product also looks interesting; can you come and give a demonstration?’ So being on the platform is another way to spread the word; much faster and economically than do your own marketing,” he explains.

“And I think the most exciting part is that people from out here are contacting us, asking for more details. So the vehicle, the platform, is working in that way, a reversed way; normally we would be going out communicating: ‘Why don’t you look at our product?’”

So AndersenB2B is about: talking to companies based on the actual market, meeting those people and discussing about one’s product or service’s options; communicating.

The platform facilitates active networking in Denmark and abroad to grow one’s business by communicating with people knowing the market and perhaps having needs that generates a match.

Then, one can also learn from peers what is required on a certain market. For example, in Southeast Asia a lot of patience and continued dialogue are needed.

‘‘I

n this par t of the world we have to address the public authorities again and again because they have to feel safe, convinced. So we are doing a number of demonstrations in Vietnam and we’re going to do it here in Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, and will continue those so that we convince people that this is really the technology to go for and stop using the sand bags. And we will convince them, there is no doubt about it, they have to use a product like this!” claims Lars.

“Michael’s product is quite unique and highly interesting because it is climate-oriented. It’s an exciting product because it’s – compared to many other technologies – easy to use, understand and operate. It also has a long lifetime span, and makes so much sense.”

Building 100 metres of flooding protection wall with Cold Flood Prevention costs about Euro 33,500 while sandbags costs about Euro 29,000. But second time around the Danish solution will cost the user only about 500 euro.

One can use flooding water to fill up the barriers or use a fire department’s water outlets, if access is available.

“We share the cost calculation system with clients so they can put in their local costs and every time the result is the same. Our solution is more expensive the first time, second time using it costs close to nothing, and you have up to 10 years use of our Cold Flood system, while you have the same cost of sandbags every time because you cannot re-use those. This is an amazing selling point,” says Lars.

“Michael even gives 5 years warranty; he has that much faith in his product, which also has a structure that it fits the Asian climate.”

Michael Cold, Cold Flood Prevention

January 2019 • ScandAsia 21

Michael Cold, Cold, together with CEO for AndersenB2B, Lars Siggaard Andersen “If you have to protect something in a flooding zone you can build it up using the flooding water to protect against flooding. Everyone can accomplish it so it’s easy to put up and take away again and use in another place,” explains Michael.

A team of two can handle up to 50 metres per hour ensuring a very fast response to the flood-exposed area.

When it takes 750 labour hours to set up a 100 m sandbag dam and 300 labour hours to remove it, it only takes 4 labour hours to install the cold flood prevention system and 4 hours to remove it.

“This, paired with that you can have any form measurement, mobility and flexibility are the two most fantastic parts about this product,” Michael explains.

A

mong the versions is a lower barrier suitable for restaurants so they can keep open without the water from the stress entering their restuarants.

Other than that, typically critical infrastructure can be kept going in critical spots; roads, schools, airports, hotels etc.

“We know for a fact that manufacturers have their production materials destroyed by flooding water. Or, they have to stop the production raise all products and equipment high up from the ground until flooding has gone again. We can however accommodate maintaining full production also during flooding.”

22 ScandAsia • January 2019

Flooding is the single most common natural disaster in the world as well as the disaster with the highest economic and humanitarian impact. In Southeast Asia damages from flooding amounts to $ 175 billion each year – and these expenses will only continue to increase as the climate changes, if traditional approaches remain the applied solution to prevent flooding. Hence, Lars and Michael being so expectant about the market potential.

Their direct target clients are public authorities, disaster management systems, vulnerable SMEs and larger corporations. ”But more also insurance companies should take an interest in this product – they are the ones that have to pay for all the insured losses.”

“Sometimes it is: out of eye out of mind. The public sector sometimes think: ‘Maybe we will not have a flooding next year!’ Our challenge is to tell them to prepare for next time. It is almost as if governments and countries are getting used to spending a percentage of BNP on cleaning up from flooding every year. We say: we cannot remove that but we can reduce it. And the environmental impact is incredible.”

“We are planning for the delivery of huge quantities going forward. Right now we are convincing people, and we will convince them; there is no doubt about it!” www.andersenb2b.com www.coldflood.com

Business

Singapore FinTech Festival a big draw also for the Nordics Text and photos: Joakim Persson

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ingapore FinTech Festival 2018 included significant participation from the Nordic countries. Both Denmar k and Sweden came with delegations (Sweden also with two days in Kuala Lumpur) Business Swceden’s delegation came mainly to explore the financial sector here in Singapore and Malaysia. Swedish and Danish star t-ups par ticipated in a Nordic FinTech Investor Event event. Each company was given two minutes to do their pitch to invited local investors.

The same night the joint organisers held a networking gathering hosted by the Swedish Ambassador Niclas Kvarnström, at the Swedish Residency, where it was evident by the high number of attendees that people in the financial sector had come from both far and near and that the interest in Nordic fintech innovations was very strong.

Speaking at the event Mr Sopnendu Mohanty from the Monetary Authority of Singapore said: “One thing I tell to my people here: the reason you should

par tner with Nordic countries when it comes to fintech is the design part, how to build a system which is really human-centric. Second, we have same constraints as you have, being small and far away we really have to create a perception of being bigger than what we really are. These constraints drive our thinking. So with that I think we have a natural partnership and I believe we can work together more.”

Introducing himself Sami Jääskeläinen,Community Manager for the brand new Nordic Innovation House explained that facilitating networking where one can make the connections between local and regional investors and Nordic start-ups.

“We are basically a community platform accelerating high quality Nordic star t-ups on scale who are coming to Singapore, and also using this as a springboard when it comes to expanding their business in this region.”

With a ver y strong NordicSingaporean connection Magnus Grimeland CEO of Antler, a a start-up

Magnus Grimeland, CEO, Antler

Sami Jääskeläinen,Community Manager, Nordic Innovation House

generator and early-stage VC investor, was also given the stage.

“We just launched Antler last year which I think is a fantastic blend of Singapore and the Nordic region. The guy running Southeast Asia for us is from Finland, our CMO is from Sweden, we have a couple of Norwegians in the leadership team, and our head of partnerships is Singaporean, so we have the Nordic-Singapore leadership team and Singaporean-Nordic owners.”

“There interesting thing we also do in Antler is to bring down Nordic founders here and I think we will find tremendous success in the region. We are also in Stockholm and Oslo.”

“The reason why we are very excited about Southeast Asia I think is manifold: If you look at it from a global scale, this is the fastest stably growing economy in the world. You are also close to key markets such as China and India - so tremendous amount of opportunity in terms of scale and growth. The second thing is the significant amount of value created in short time that shows a little bit of the opportunities space.”

Other great reasons are that access to talent (the best locals now wanting to be entrepreneurs) and improvements in the region in terms of ease of doing business.

“If we can be of an helpful in anyway, we are super happy to help anyone considering expanding to here,” ended Magnus.

Mr Sopnendu Mohanty, Monetary Authority of Singapore January 2019 • ScandAsia 23

Business

Helsinki promotes start-ups, business investment in and via Singapore

F

By Joakim Persson

Mr Tommo Koivusalo, Helsinki City 24 ScandAsia • January 2019

ollowing the ‘Meet Finland in Singapore’ week during the Singapore Week of Innovation & TeCHnology 2018 (SWITCH), and that included Helsinki’s very own Slush tech start-up event (third time), the Finnish organisers’ initial evaluation was positive and upbeat. They said that the effor t had drummed up significant interest among the business and investor community.

Networking events, dialogue and investor receptions as well as the “Coolest tech hub” booth at SLUSH Singapore, and the Finnish Singapore showcase at Techinnovation 2018 had all been successes.

It has opened up new Singapore-Finland collaboration opportunities in healthtech, travel tech, edutech and Virtual Reality and Augmented innovations.

The cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Turku par ticipated in the effor t that brought in a total of 120 Finnish delegates comprising innovators and tech companies to promote

awareness and business collaboration between Finland and Singapore.

Some of the technologies come from start-ups within the Helsinki-based iCor y project, which is funded by Business Finland and backed by a consortium comprising Finnish health and wellness companies, universities and hospitals.

Another example is Helsinki-headquar tered VR company, Zoan, that gave visitors a preview of Helsinki, its digital buildings - i.e. apartments and commercial spaces before they are built; and a virtual tour of Finland.

Helsinki, ‘the most functional and sustainable city in the world’, provides a platform for entrepreneurship and suppor ts businesses to innovate and create new while remaining sustainable. Joint efforts of the city, its citizens and businesses are turning Helsinki into the world’s leading test bed for solutions that tackle global problems.

O

ne of Helsinki City’s six representatives in Singapore, Tommo Koivusalo Head of Economic development unit, NewCo Helsinki, explains why Helsinki is engaging so strongly with Singapore.

“The unit I am heading is responsible for having as many new businesses founded in Helsinki as possible. We’re also responsible for helping start-ups to grow internationally, and to build the star t-up community, the ecosystem in the Helsinki area, which means that we are naturally very interested in the other best-in-class cities and their communities. We try to interact and exchange talent, and learn from each other,” says Tommo.

“And I see a lot of similarities between these two cities; the level of technical skills and the level of ambition are about the same. I’d say Singaporean people are better in delivering right away, while in Finland we may take a little bit longer time to get started but when we do we really deliver.”

“We work closely with local Helsinki start-ups and also financially help them to come here and do sales and find investors and see what the competitors are doing.”

But it has to “work” in both ways to make sense in the longer run: “It’s pretty O.K that we facilitate start-ups from Helsinki going to Singapore and even staying and finding customers and investors here. But we also want to see traffic the other way around, so that investors and start-ups from Asia come to Helsinki.”

Seeking par tnerships is also on the agenda: We are very interested in the good academic organisations here and potential collaborations with those. The universities, for example, have own entrepreneurship programmes, excellent innovation programmes and departments.”

Slush Singapore is par t of the reason why Helsinki returns to Singapore: “The City of Helsinki and Slush have a deal that it’s not only about Slush in Helsinki but also the other Slush events taking place in Asia and we participate in them all. But we see Singapore as a good benchmark and reference case to Helsinki because of that the level and quality of things here are high enough.”

Needless to say, Helsinki promotes itself very heavily at

the main annual Slush event back in Helsinki too.

“I would say that what we have done in Singapore last year and this year shows that we really value Singapore pretty high and for example our involvement in Slush Shanghai was not this big.”

And, even more important, says Tommo, are the other events arranged by Finland during SWITCH where startups can meet investors and other players that can help them and generate something.

“Last year there were many start-ups from Helsinki that were able to find an investor or make a good deal here in Singapore. Singapore is a capital-rich city, so there is a mutual interest; we have good business ideas and start-up teams. Singapore also has this but also capital.”

“And I do think we need to have consistency; it’s not good to go to some place only once – to build successful relations takes time. You have to have a longer perspective, especially in Asia, and this is why we come here every year.”

The efforts in Singapore are also bearing fruit in terms of Singapore coming to Helsinki. “There are things happening at the grassroots level. But the way we see it you need have to have both levels; the high level with the vision and citygovernment level and the grass roots level. If you have both you will be successful.”

January 2019 • ScandAsia 25

Business

2018: SweCham China turned twenty, held gala

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he Swedish Chamber of Commerce (SweCham) in China on 20 October crowned a year of celebrations will be a very special Gala Dinner, held at the Wanda Vista Hotel in Beijing.

SwedCham celebrated 20 years in business with a Great Gatsby Gala.

Since the start in 1998 with only 30 companies, SwedCham has grown into a community and a network, rich of the common exper tise of close to 300 companies. 200+ guests together celebrated the achievements of the past with an exhibition of 20 stars that has contributed a little extra to the Chamber, and a bright future; enabled through the strong, dynamic and rich network, inspiring and close cooperation with other Chambers in the region as well as within the Team Sweden cooperation.

26 ScandAsia • January 2019

The gala was led by the Swedish journalist and TV personality Ebba Kleberg Von Sydow, who welcomed the guests and spoke of her impressions of the vibrant Beijing and SwedCham’s accomplishments during the last 20 years. “Only 20 years old?” Ebba stated, comparing SwedCham’s development with Warren Buffets’ who twenty years ago still was a salesman in Omaha, and the same goes for Hilary Clinton, who was about to finish law school as well as Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos who still was flipping burgers McDonalds.

To make the gala night extra special the guests were also joined by Swedish chef Benny Adler who had created an exquisite Swedish Gala menu.. Benny Adler is currently the head chef at member company and Pur veyor to the Court, Rosers Hotel & Events, and has previously been responsible for

the menu at the Swedish King’s 70th birthday, as well as the Swedish Pavilion at the Olympic Games in South Korea last winter. During the evening the guests could also enjoy beer from the Beijing-based Swedish micro-brewery Arrow Factory as well as chilled drinks in an Absolut Vodka bar.

A lot of prestigious entertainment enter tained the guests during the gala night; saxophone music during the mingle, close up and stage magic from Rock the magician, a surprise flash mob from award winning Swedish swing dance group the Harlem Hot Shots and Swedish swing and jazz legendries’ Movits! who jazzed it up on the dance floor.

The speaker s of the evening Lars-Åke Severin, Chairman of the Swedish Chamber in China; the Ambassador of Sweden to China

and Mongolia, Anna Lindstedt; Kristian Odebjer, Chairman of the Swedish Chamber in Hong Kong; David Hallgren, Trade Commissionaire of Sweden; and (trough a sketch) Mats Harborn, President of the European Chamber of Commerce together with Tommy Liu and Rolf Gren, founding fathers of the Chamber, the speakers of the evening conveyed their respective bithday wishes and a positive vision for the future of SwedCham.

Every year the Chamber awards two people who have contributed a little extra to the Chamber. This year Birgitta Ed was awarded with the Chamber’s Honorar y Award, and Michelle Qin was awarded as the Young Professional of the year. In her speech, Michelle spoke of the digital development that China has gone through and how Swedish brands can be agile and adapt

in this fast moving pace. “In only a few weeks, Alibaba will kick off the famous single day’s event and it is only 10 years ago that the mega shopping day phenomena first started“, speaking of the necessity to keep up with current trends and sharing experiences amongst professionals.

During the mingle Rock the magician handed out golden tickets to some guests that had the opportunity to be a part of The Great Gatsby Raffle and win fantastic prices, sponsored by our member companies. Prices included two free par ticipations in the 17th edition of Vasaloppet China sponsored

by Nordic Ways and ping pong blades from Stiga Sports signed by legendary J-O Waldner, Kong Linghui, Malong, Xu xin, Fan Zhendong, Ma Long, Chen Meng and Zhu Yuling, limited Edition Kar l Lagerfeldt champagne glasses

from New Wave Group, free floats at the exquisite spa Floatasian in Shanghai and free hotel nights at Wanda Vista Beijing.

The Platinum Sponsors of the gala, SEB, PSU Consulting and Celemi, as well as Diamond Sponsors Rosers Hotel & Event, Danske Bank, Elanders, STIGA Sport and Gold Sponsor Fillidutt made the celebration possible.

Source: Swedcham China

January 2019 • ScandAsia 27

Community

Scandinavians at the catwalk at International Thai Silk Fashion Week

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eautiful clothes made of Thai silk and designed by designers from 48 different countries were shown at the catwalk of the International Thai Silk Fashion Week on 2 – 4 December.

From the Nordics, Denmark, Sweden and Finland was represented and the clothes were worn by the Scandinavian Ambassadors or their partners.

Denmark was represented by the young Danish designer Nickie Geneser Bach, who is soon graduating with her Bachelor in Fashion Design at VIA Design in the city of Herning, Denmark.

Her ambition is to combine traditional Thai style and Scandinavian design tradition in the clothes.

“Being selected to represent Denmark for this amazing event is an incredibly exciting opportunity! Thai silk is in many areas an overlooked material

28 ScandAsia • January 2019

in the global fashion image despite its good qualities. It is therefore a very exciting task to work with and show a new interpretation of the material,” Nickie Geneser Bach told the Embassy of Denmark in Bangkok.

Designer Göran Alfredsson represented Sweden. He bought his first Thai silk in 1987 and today has a house in Thailand.

The designer from Finland was Emma Haikonen, who is specialised in womenswear design.

International Thai Silk Fashion Week is an event that focuses on Thailand’s finest hand-woven silk. The tribute to Thai silk was initiated by the Thai Queen Mother Sirikit for the purpose of spreading knowledge and use of Thai silk in the global fashion world.

Sweden Vietnam Nobel Gala

“S

weden is one of the most innovative countries in the world.Together with Vietnam, we have been working on Innovation, Sustainability and Safety since 1969.

The dinner In the Spirit of Nobel that took place paid tribute to Swedish innovation and was also the star t of the commemoration of 50 years of diplomatic relations between our two countries,” repor ts the Embassy of Sweden in Hanoi.

Community

During the event, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Ministry of Science and Technology and Ericsson on establishing an Innovation Centre for Internet of Things at Hoa Lac IT Park in Hanoi. The guests also experienced the Swedish tradition of Lucia procession.

Source: Embassy of Sweden in Hanoi

January 2019 • ScandAsia 29

Feature

Tracing explosives in the Vietnamese soil

30 ScandAsia • January 2019

Jan Erik Støa (left) and Magnus Johansson (right) have been working for Norwegian People’s Aid in Cambodia and Laos since 2011 and now work together in Vietnam.

Many international aid organisations have left the old war-torn country infested with explosive remnants in favour of other urgent cases. But one of the organisations still standing strong in Vietnam, is Norwegian People’s Aid with two Scandinavians in charge.

By Jonas Boje Andersen and Lærke Weensgaard Photos: Lærke Weensgaard

I

n a vast coastal area in the central and most narrow part of Vietnam, the scorching hot November sun is beating down in the early morning hours. A few farming houses are spread across a landscape consisting of small trees, bushes and sandy ground. Around this bushy landscape, dozens of uniformed military-looking personnel are walking meticulously around with metal detectors. They have been sweeping the ground since dawn to avoid the worst part of the afternoon sun. They are not here to uncover hidden treasures but to find explosive remnants from the Vietnam War. Their job might be dangerous, but the heat and their time schedule do not allow them to wear an armoured suit.

With more than 400,000 tons of submunition dropped by the United States some 40 years ago, Vietnam is still far from being rid of so-called cluster munition. But many aid organisations have left Vietnam in favour of pursuing more urgent cases like Syria and Iraq. One organisation still far from done in Vietnam is the Norwegian People’s Aid, also called NPA.

“It’s naive to think Vietnam will be free for bombs in 100 years. By comparison, we still find bombs from World War II in Europe, but we will need several years to clear the high priority areas in Vietnam,” says Norwegian Jan Erik Støa, Operation Manager for NPA in Vietnam.

NPA started their first mine action program in Cambodia in 1992 and began suppor ting Vietnam with disposal of unexploded ordnance in 2008. NPA is now one of Norway’s largest NGOs with involvements in more than 400 projects in 30 countries. Applying classic Scandinavian genderpolicies, the NPA has been the first demining organisation in Vietnam to have several all-female teams in their clearance projects. Something that quickly caught the attention of not only locals but also Vietnamese television, as recalled by the Swedish Senior Technical Adviser, Magnus Johansson.

He talks as straightforward as he looks. Military sunglasses, a big American Ford pick-up truck with the American and Vietnamese flag side-by-side and with a military discipline approach to his job. With 14 years of service as an Officer in the Swedish Army and another 14 years in the business of demining at many former battlefields around the world, he is a man with a lot of experience. In many ways a lot like his Norwegian co-worker Jan Erik Støa. 49-year old Jan Erik Støa started in this line of business for the United Nations in 2001 and a year later for NPA. The former soldiers met in 2004 while being stationed in Sri-Lanka. After Sri-Lanka, they went their separate ways and joined forces again in 2011 in Cambodia and Laos and have worked together since then.

Disciplined work

Today, 50-year old Magnus Johansson is taking ScandAsia out in the current NPA target field, the coastal area of the Quang Tri province in central Vietnam. As a technical

January 2019 • ScandAsia 31

It’s naive to think Vietnam will be free for bombs in 100 years

advisor his job is, among other things, to make sure that the local people are trained and equipped to deal with their dangerous land with utmost caution.

“I’m very fond of being stationed in this par t of the world. The Vietnamese are competent and very easy to work with. No drama with them,” he says.

Magnus Johansson and Jan Erik Strøa are both married, respectively to a Thai and a Cambodian woman and both have children. And they both share the same kind of methodology to the work.

“You have to follow rules and be disciplined to work here,” Magnus Johansson says, as the many NPA workers sweeps the ground with their metal detectors producing constant ‘bips’ indicating several unexploded remnants. He adds that it is not a militaristic approach they are looking for when employing workers, but that it does demand an enormous discipline and thoroughness to avoid accidents.

Two years ago, they tragically had an accident. A freak accident, Magnus Johansson explains. It was just a routine job for Ngo Thien Khiet, one of the Vietnamese team leaders, as he was called to inspect a newly discovered ordnance by one of his subordinates. As he kneeled to inspect it, the object blew up without even being touched. In their Toyota Landcruiser ambulance, they rushed him to the nearest hospital two hours away. But too late. The shattered pieces of metal had caused lethal injury to his chest, and he died before they reached the hospital.

32 ScandAsia • January 2019

Luckily, such accidents are extremely rare, and this is the only accident NPA have had in Vietnam. Still, it is an inevitable risk of demining. Now, NPA have employed Khiet’s son for the same project as a form of compensation, as the father was the family’s only source of income. It is estimated that Vietnam has suffered around 50,000 casualties in the years after the war due to explosive leftovers in the Vietnamese soil.

Strategically important areas

It is not hard to imagine the battles that took place in this beachy terrain during the Vietnam war with all the places for people to take cover and the ditches to hide in. You can almost see the American soldiers taking position while the helicopters roar through the sky.

Quang Tri and neighbouring Hue were strategically impor tant places for the Viet Cong and the Americans, as this was the border area between Nor th and South Vietnam. This was also the place in Vietnam that set the stage for some of the fiercest battles during the war. It was not guerrilla war but traditional battles that took place here.

That is also the reason why these provinces in particular were so heavily bombarded, and therefore still to this day demand attention if people are to live without fear of being killed or maimed by the leftovers of the fighting.

According to the Vietnamese Government, Quang Tri is the third worst area when it comes to explosive remnants.

If you ask Magnus Johansson, Jan Erik Støa and their team, it is undoubtedly the worst affected province.That also means, that they find all sorts of unexploded remnants.

This beachy area hides a lot of bombs fired from naval battleships, but most of all the soil hides air-dropped cluster munition also known as ‘bombies’. Usually, every single container of bombies contained 600 small bomblets.

Around 40% of the munition in a container did not explode when it was dropped, leaving some 240 unexploded bomblets on the ground for each container. Especially in the areas where NPA works, it is not landmines but bombies they find, which are dropped in a pattern that makes them easier to find than landmines.

“Those little bomblets look like small footballs which is attractive for small children to kick at,” Magnus Johansson explains. But it is also very easy for the farmers to accidentally hack in the ground and set a bomblet off. Just a few days before ScandAsia’s visit, NPA had a call from a woman whose 10-year old daughter picked up a large unexploded bomb and brought it to show her mom at their property.

NPA has secured the perimeter around it and is ready to dispose it within a few days.

These hazardous situations are luckily more and more rare in Vietnam, partly due to NPA’s risk education in the provinces and partly due to new laws on sale of scrap metal.

Jan Erik Støa recounts how he has seen small children with homemade metal detectors and old men stocking bomblets

on their freight bicycles to sell it at the local market as scrap metal, when he started in Vietnam for NPA.The metal prices were expensive, and it was something a lot of locals could earn some extra money on.

Steps of NPA’s work

Biiiip. A worker with a metal detector stops. He moves the metal detector around while listening to the sound. Some places the sound fades off, but at one place it gets higher.

He places a red flag in the ground next to it and carefully starts to remove the sand. In the ground, he finds a brown and rusty hand grenade.

Prior to finding the hand grenade, a long and technical process has taken place. Simplified, the whole process from finding the areas with explosive objects to destroying them can be boiled down to four steps: Non-technical survey : NPA talks to the locals and find out which areas might be contaminated.

Technical survey : NPA searches the areas that were pointed out during the non-technical survey.

Maps : Based on the information from the surveys, NPA creates detailed maps of the confirmed hazardous areas.

Clearance : Using the maps, NPA combs the areas and detonate the bombies they find.

January 2019 • ScandAsia 33

Those little bomblets look like small footballs which is attractive for small children to kick at

The three explosives are placed in the same hole while the female mine clearer (above) prepares to detonate them .. as seen in the big photo on the opposite page.

34 ScandAsia • January 2019

The non-technical survey starts when NPA begins to work in an area that have not been searched for unexploded remnants before. To get an idea about where to start, they send small, mixed teams of men and women out to talk to locals, who have encountered explosive objects.

Once they have an idea about which places can be dangerous, they start the technical survey. It is a systematic way of searching for bombies with metal detectors. In this phase, the goal is not to find every single bombie. Instead, they aim at finding the border of the contaminated area.

Once they can separate the contaminated area from the non-contaminated area, they make a map to use in the next phase.

Only now, they can start to remove the bomblets. In this phase, the workers search every centimetre of the area inside their new-found borders. They must find everything down to 30 centimetre in the ground.

Almost every day, the teams find unexploded remnants.

“It is very rare that we have days where we don’t find some,” says Jan Erik Støa.

Two weeks after ScandAsia’s visit, NPA destroyed an US aircraft bomb weighing 340 kg. The bomb was found by a farmer, when he was about to harvest his land.

On the day of ScandAsia’s visit the catch is smaller.

Besides the hand grenade, two more objects appear. Every day ends with the team detonating what they have found during the day.

10 years in Vietnam

The hand grenade is put in a hole with two other explosive objects and sandbags are placed around the hole to control the explosion. With microphones, they warn neighbours or others passing by not to enter the area since they soon will detonate the objects.

For an outsider, the upcoming explosion is exciting, but for NPA’s employees it is just routine.

NPA has built up their work routines in Vietnam since 2008 when they came to the country. During those 10 years, the work has developed a lot.

The number of employees has grown from approximately 20 to 280. Among them is the very first female team in Vietnam.

The actual clearance has only recently become a part of NPA’s work in Vietnam. NPA started clearance in Hue province in 2015 with Norwegian funds, and in October 2018 in Quang Tri, when NPA began to receive funding from the United Kingdom. Before that, the clearance has been done by the Vietnamese military or other international NGOs. Until NPA started to clear bombies, their work revolved around making sur veys. Their techniques have become more and more effective over the years and especially the technical survey has changed. When NPA first came to Vietnam, they would search all parts of the areas they suspected could be contaminated, wasting both time and

manpower. They changed to their current method, where they search for the border of the contaminated areas and sweep every centimetre during the clearance instead of the survey.

In the ten-year range NPA has been in Vietnam, they have destroyed around 76,000 items of cluster munition and other remnants of war. The work might be moving forward, but there is still a long way to go: “If we continue to get the funding we need, we expect to be able to leave Vietnam in 15 years. But we do struggle to find enough money,” says Jan Erik Støa while addressing that since the war, the Vietnamese Government have been keener on prioritising funding’s in the tourist-sector and on infrastructure than tracing explosive remnants.

Back in the field, the detonation is almost ready. An explosive charge is connected to a remote control by a long cable. With the remote control and the employees on a safe distance, the only thing left to do is to push the button on the remote control. It is done, and the rusty old war remnants explode.

January 2019 • ScandAsia 35

Community

Swedish Lucia Bangkok: photo expo, 150 years anniversary

By Joakim Persson

S

weden’s Embassy in Bangkok, with Ambassador Staffan Herrström and his spouse Karin Herrström and the embassy team as hosts, on 13 December held a very special ‘Lucia’ Christmas celebration.

It was a warm and jolly evening “to enjoy a tradition very close to the hearts of us Swedes” – to quote the Ambassador.

Invited V.I.Ps, Thais and Swedes then were the first to experience the new ‘Neighbours From Afar’ photo exhibition, displayed at the evening event held at The Sukhothai in Bangkok, paired with a Swedish smorgasbord of Christmas food and warm mulled wine.

This exhibition highlights the 150 Years Anniversar y of relations between Sweden and Thailand, and the unique people-to-people relationship that binds the two countries together.

In the exhibition handpicked Swedes and Thais that have in various ways achieved something in their life, and in the Sweden-Thailand context.

In his welcome speech Staffan Herrström pointed to the tens of thou-

36 ScandAsia • January 2019

sands of Swedes and Thais visiting and living in each other’s countries – representing gamily ties, partnerships, friendships and commitments.

The Ambassader described it as “remarkable people-to-people relations. Someone once said: ‘We are like neighbours, apart from the geographical distance’. So in that spirit we have produced a photo exhibition highlighting individuals, many of them here tonight and in that spirit we have called it ‘Neighours From Afar’, because this is what the simple world relations really is all about. It’s about individuals, like us, about human beings connecting to each other.”

So aside the annual Lucia celebration this evening was also held to commemorate 150 years of bilateral relations. The ambassador described this as “a close and multifaceted friendship between Thailand and Sweden, between our royal families, between Thais and Swedes, all this is established by the treaty 18th of May 1868. Swedish

companies have been investing and committed to Thailand for well over a century, many of you represent them here tonight, with tens of thousands of Thai employees and managers contributing to these companies’ successes.”

The ambassador said that the public will also get a chance to see the special photo exhibition in Januar y 2019 at Bangkok Art & Cultural Center.

In his speech he also went on to highlight the mutual challenges and efforts that Sweden and Thailand are facing.

“We also want to look forward, to joined forces with Thailand in combating major threats to the environment, to humanity - to us all. The threats against the ocean, and threats with so many dimensions; one of them being marine plastic litter.”

“At least 45 billion plastic bags are

consumed in Thailand yearly. All these end up somewhere and they stay on for centuries. Sweden and the whole EU have taken and will take measures to address this devastating pollution.

In the same spirit we are trying to do more here and now at the embassy; like partnering with Thailand when our Ambassador for the Oceans, Helen Ågren, and Thailand’s Minister for the Environment attended a Swedish-hosted event on this theme.”

“And we are providing new funding through UN Environment to combat marine litter in Southeast Asa. And we will provide you with a reusable textile bag when you leave tonight. Thai and Swedes have a great history together; let’s now join forces greening our joint future.”

Photos: Embassy of Sweden, Bangkok

Swedish Gala Dinner Hong Kong

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wedcham and the Consulate General of Sweden in Hong Kong hosted the annual Gala Dinner at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center on 27 November. All guests enjoyed an amazing five-course dinner and entertainment inspired by Sweden and Hong Kong.

The dinner was in connection with the visit of a high level delegation from Sweden. The Hon Mrs. Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of HK SAR also attended the dinner.

After a cocktail reception followed a five-course dinner inspired by Nordic and Asian flavors, composed by Michelin-star chefs Alvin Leung, BO Inovation, Hong Kong and Ebbe Vollmer, Vollmers Malmö, Sweden.

Sources: Consulate General of Sweden in Hong Kong, Swedcham Hong Kong January 2019 • ScandAsia 37

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Using a Cambodian childhood and Danish youth at NordCham As a young teenager, Ghekhuoy Lim from Cambodia moved to Denmark and lived there for seven years. The now 24-years old Khmer woman has returned to her home country and uses her experiences from Denmark at NordCham as a trainee. But she does not want to stay in neither Cambodia or Denmark – she wants to visit new countries and gain more knowledge.

38 ScandAsia • January 2019

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By Lærke Weensgaard he traffic was one of things that struck Ghekhuoy Lim as a major difference between Denmark and Cambodia, when she sat foot in Copenhagen for the first time as a 13-years old teenager. The traffic was well-organized and most impressively there were bicycle lanes and sidewalks almost anywhere. It was far from the streets of Cambodia where you must search for sidewalks, definitely do not find bicycle lanes and always have to keep an eye out for scooters who might accidentally run you over.

“At first, I knew nothing about Denmark. I didn’t even know where it was,” remembers 24-years old Ghekhuoy Lim, who two years ago moved back to Phnom Phen, the capital of Cambodia, after seven years in Copenhagen and Køge.

She wants to work for embassies in different countries. That also has roots in her childhood, since some of her family worked at embassies.

Back in 2009, Ghekhuoy Lim’s mother chose to leave Phenom Phen after her sister, who was based in Copenhagen, encouraged her to move. It was getting to hard to live in Cambodia and she believed her two young daughters would be better of in the Nordics.

The Danish traffic might seemed impressive, but moving more than 9,000 kilometers away was not easy: “It was a whole new culture, the language was difficult and I missed my grandparents,” Ghekhuoy Lim recalls.

She was enrolled into a class for foreign students to learn Danish in Copenhagen. After three months, her teacher found her language skills good enough to let her move into a regular Danish school class.

Houy Lim Ghek tells her story to ScandAsia in English.

Even though she claims her Danish is rusty, she easily answers unexpected questions in Danish and she pronounces the name of her school, Hastrup skolen, as well as any Dane.

When she shifted into her new class, she noticed a difference between Danish and Cambodian tweens: “In my experience, teenagers in Denmark are more open-minded and easy going.”

Trainee at NordCham

In order to study International relations and political science at Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia in Phnom Phen, Ghekhuoy Lim choose to move back to her home country in 2016, while her family stayed in Denmark. She was returning home, but just as leaving was hard, coming back was difficult too: “It was hard to catch up with the Cambodia society.”

Once again, the traffic was one of the things that stood out to her when she came back: “I was used to go around by bus, train or bicycle in Copenhagen. In Cambodia the transportation makes it hard to go anywhere.”

Even though Denmark and Cambodia share few similarities, she has put her Danish experiences to use. Four months ago, she became a trainee at the Nordic Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia, usually known as NordCham.

The chamber of commerce arranges events for their members from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland.

Ghekhuoy Lim is no strange to the countries, since she has visited all of them, expect from Iceland.

As a coordinator, it is her job to coordinate these events: “I have learnt how to coordinate projects and preparing an event for many people. It’s a good experience for me.”

Furthermore, she also likes to share information about the Nordic countries. In her experience, few Cambodians have knowledge about the Scandinavian countries, just like herself before she moved there. “In general, I feel like people in Cambodia maybe know France and Germany, but besides that they don’t really know much about European countries. Also, there are not so many Nordic companies in Cambodia, so I think it is an interesting area to work with,” she says.

New places bring new knowledge

Ghekhuoy Lim’s years in Denmark has left a positive impression of the country that she calls small, but nice. She especially thinks the Scandinavian welfare system holds value, because it in general takes care if its people’s healthcare and education.

Welfare system or not, Denmark cannot, after all, compete with Cambodian food in her opinion. But she is not planning on staying in Cambodia, but neither does she want to return to Denmark. Not because she does not like the countries, but because she wants to get new experiences: “New places have different experiences, people and culture,” she explains.

She wants to go to Europe to study her Master when she finishes her studies in Cambodia in 2019.

Her interest in international relations started already as a kid, when she watched diplomates on the news. That created a childhood dream of one day becoming an Ambassador.Today she is working towards another goal: She wants for work for embassies in different countries. That also has roots in her childhood, since some of her family worked at embassies.

Both herself and her family thinks her hunt for new knowledge and interest in international relations would match well with a job on an embassy.

The dream of one day becoming an Ambassador still lives though: “But right now I just concentrate on getting experiences,” she says.

January 2019 • ScandAsia 39

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Swedish Association in Hua Hin celebrates 10 years

D

Photo: Jan Stoltz

By Joakim Persson ecember to February is the peak period for Scandinavian stays in Hua Hin (longstay visitors and other tourists), while some 1500 Swedes also live there permanently.

The Swedish Association in Hua Hin, which recently celebrated its ten years anniversary, is the coordinator of lots of activities that many Swedes and other Scandinavians engage themselves in when spending time in the famous royal seaside resort.

Last time ScandAsia featured this association was back in January 2013, then describing the influx of Swedes going back all the way to the 2000s and a residential environment being “very international”.

The association was started as a platform to network and learn from each other. Ten years later, it presents living proof that the community thrives, while we learn from two Board members that the role of the association is somewhat different these days.

40 ScandAsia • January 2019

Lasse Håkansson, Chairman of the Board and Sune Westhed, Member of the Board meet up in downtown Hua Hin just after their 10 Years gala dinner has taken place, held on Tuesday 27 November, the very same date when the association was formed exactly ten years ago.

From the successful celebration held at Dusit Thani Hotel in Hua Hin they related that some 120 Swedes,Thai spouses, girlfriends and wives, in addition to their Guest of Honour, the Swedish Ambassador couple Staffan and Karin Herrström from Bangkok, some embassy people including Sweden’s Consul General Hua Hin and the Vice Consul from Bangkok, and the new Swedish priest in Bangkok, Eric Stenberg.

There were friendly speeches, a delicious (mainly Thai) food buffet and live enter tainment by a duo from the Philippines all night long.

The Dusit hotel has hosted many Swedish tourists throughout the year and the Swedish consulate is also based there since opening in 2012.

Sweden’s Ambassador to Thailand H.E. Staffan Herrström.

Photo: Lotta Robertsson.

Lasse Håkansson, Chairman of the Board Swe Association Hua Hin. Photo: Jan Stoltz

Lasse and Sune are among those spending six months in Thailand and the rest of the year back in Sweden.

We are about 3,000 Swedes doing that and the population in Hua Hin is 100 000. The same amount are Finns, and a bit fewer are Danes, But I think we Swedes are the largest foreign population here,” says Lasse, including the estimated permanent residents.

“I have only been here for four years and I have worked in Bangkok once earlier.Then we often travelled to Hua Hin on weekends, finding it to be a nice beach vacation resort.

I got hooked. I think that those who come to Hua Hin like more the quiet setting,” he explains.

Sune, who has been coming to Hua Hin for twelve years.

With his Thai wife he owns a house outside town, to which they return every year during the European winter.

“By coincidence we bought here. Then there were already many Swedes and Europeans here, which I like.”

Lasse and Sune both also like the more genuine Thai culture that they find there.

“We meld in well with the society here and you have everything you yearn for in the form of restaurants, nightclubs, shopping malls and even Swedish groceries! And since the late King spent so much time here, this also meant that this has been quieter than other destinations,” says Lasse, who thinks there is more of everything.

And in addition to the today fourteen golf courses in the area Lasse also highlights the new True Arena Hua Hin, a premier sports complex.

“We must have on Thailand’s best sports facilities with eight tennis courts, badminton courts, fitness equipment, championship pools, two football grounds etc.”

“They are building a lot here, which surprises me as the economy is not strong. So optimism is thriving here when it comes to construction,” observes Sune.

The number of hotels has also increased, including mixed-use large residential complexes.

Also, new international flights have started to come to Hua Hin. AirAsia now fly there from Kuala Lumpur.The roads between Hua Hin and Cha-Am have also been expanded, as the two adjacent seaside towns are increasingly merging into one.

“So quite a lot is happening! My experience is that with increased infrastructure spending the society will also grow.

Cities and countries that do not spend on infrastructure have difficulty in growing,” thinks Lasse.

One thing that has however not changed is all the red tape when it comes to permits such as visa. Both Lasse and Sune find it cumbersome and annoying.

Lasse thinks that other emerging countries may start to compete strongly with Thailand because of this.

“In Vietnam it is also possible for foreigners to own land and it’s probably over all twenty per cent cheaper to live there compared to here. So there are other competitors today than you had back then. Now many travel to Vietnam,” says Lasse.

January 2019 • ScandAsia 41

Per Kågeby, Embassy of Sweden Bangkok.

Photo: Jan Stoltz.

Sweden’s Honorary Consul in Hua Hin Victor Sukseree.

Photo: Lotta Robertsson.

It will be the next large tourist country!” agrees Sune.

Both also think there is a drop in visitor numbers to Hua Hin. “If you talk to business operators they say that the good times are not what they used to be, with a shorter peak season when they can make profit. And it’s shorter stays than previously when almost everyone spent six months here; now it is concentrated around December to March.

So less foreigners are coming here all in all. And Thailand has become slightly more expensive and the Swedish currency has been very low against the Thai baht for years now,” Lasse concludes.

“I can see on the beaches that there are fewer tourists here nowadays. And the Thais also say that,” says Sune.

chess, golf, book clubs, and even afternoon tea. The Swedish Association does not play the same role these days. It’s primary function is to moderate all these activities one wants to engage in,” he explains.

“Here, five years from now, I think the largest population of foreigners in Thailand will not be Swedes but Chinese. I am noticing that on different areas here that Chinese are very interested, and when the middle class there grows just a few per cent you have tens of millions able to travel, which were not there before. Russians is also a large group but not here, where one will aim more for Chinese who usually bring money,” predicts Lasse.

But the Nordics are not leaving. “The association has developed over the years and it will have another role going forward. Many have established themselves and know much more now than when one first star ted to arrive here. Now it is more about facilitating that one can do the activities one wants and can stay up to date about Thai visa rules that tend to change every year, and keeping the community together,” says the Chairman.

“The Norwegians (more or less a golf association) and the Finns also have many activities and we have star ted collaboration the three of us, where we will invite each other’s members to different activities.”

The nearest fun, joint event, as the Swedes told this to ScandAsia, was a Finnish Karaoke night – with a promise also for some Swedish songs.

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ll the many questions connecting to rules and regulations were in fact initially a strong reason for why the Swedish Association Hua Hin was started in the first place. Says Lasse: “Things have changed throughout the years. From what I have heard from those active before is that nobody knew anything about visas, what applied in Thai society and other practical know-how.

Those topics then united all those people into the Swedish Association.”

“Nowadays, most are established so we do not have the situation with settlers arriving like back then, so the needs are a bit different. Aside the association, various networks have been established around interests, such as bridge club, 42 ScandAsia • January 2019

Kenneth Radencrantz’ funeral

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singer s Carr y and Petra Per sson, coming from Switzerland.”

Kenneth Radencrantz passed away on 29 November 2018. Born in 1935 in Skanör, Sweden, Kenneth lived and worked in Thailand since 2001 where he became par tner and CEO of Q Matic Asia. His wife Berit Radencrantz soon became a leading figure in SWEA and Kenneth joined the board of the Thai-Swedish Chamber of Commerce.

He was elected as Chairman of the Thai-Swedish Chamber of Commerce in 2010, a position he held till 2014.

“It was a beautiful ceremony in Skanör’s old limestone church,” Agneta reports.

“Opera singer Monica Einarsson and pianist Christer Einarsson were performing, followed by the opera

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enneth Radencrantz’ funeral took place on the 28th December 2018. Agneta de Bekassy was there among the many friends and members of the family who attended the ceremony.

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January 2019 • ScandAsia 43