TLG - Media, page-6153

Another little snippet. On the homepage of our industrial park: https://vartlulea.se/arkiv/tillvaxt/sockerbitseffektenflervillvaramed.5.562a863917b1507fc793245c.htmlSo now we have a special coordinator sent by the government directly to Lulea.

(translated)
"The sugar bite effect: more people want to join in

The municipality of Luleå is collaborating with various actors to drive the green transition with thousands of new jobs in the north. An important actor is the government's special coordinator, who acts both as a link between the actors and coordinates the efforts made at national, regional and local level. This is Peter Larsson, senior advisor at the Swedish Engineers and member of the Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences. Vårt Luleå had a brief chat with him.

How did you get the job?
- Ibrahim Baylan, the Minister of Economic Affairs, contacted me and asked if I could take on the job based on my experience. I had planned to step down, but this was too exciting to turn down.

The Government's special coordinator, Peter Larsson, is the link between the actors involved in the major industrial initiatives in Norrbotten and Västerbotten.

You say "now we are turning the map of Sweden upside down", what do you mean?
- North and south play a big role in our way of thinking. Many people I've talked to from West and North Sweden say "We here in the north", so there's a value in the fact that we're not like the other parts of Sweden. It also confirms a bit the image that people in southern Sweden think that unemployment is extremely high in northern Sweden, even though it is the lowest. And the 180-degree turn, the reversal of perspective, is that the really big and interesting investments are taking place in these two counties. "I usually say in my major lectures, a bit jokingly, but with a slightly serious undertone anyway, and that is that the colonial era is over*. We will move towards a time when more and more of the resources will be processed in northern Sweden. And when you get higher added value, the value and employment will also increase. "But one thing I would like to emphasise now is that we are not just focused on what comes from outside, but that we also wonder: What can we do ourselves? What is interesting around the corner that can be developed?

"Even more people want to be where it happens, I call it the sugar cube effect", explains Peter Larsson in the interview with Vårt Luleå.

It used to be that everyone had to go south, but now everyone has to go north.
- I stood out quite early and said that we have to put a figure on this. If you convert the large investments that are being made, you have said that there are 15,000 direct new jobs. But then there is what I call the sugar cube effect, where even more people want to be involved, either because they have a business that is quite close by or because they want to be right where it is happening. And then there's the municipal expansion and the expansion of the service sector.

Is it in the pipeline that people who move north are sponsored in the same way as when people moved south?
- If you're a bit fussy, it's too easy if you were to transfer the 1960s and 70s to the 2020s. People are different. Back then, it was very much about jobs, increasing one's income. I think the main thing to focus on is quality. We know that a good and accessible school and preschool are important locational factors. Also proximity to nature, proximity to other types of activities. So it is rather such aspects of quality that are decisive than whether one would receive a relocation grant.

What does the government contribute?
- It is to be able to use the systems that already exist, in terms of adult education and vocational training. There will be investments in infrastructure, not just the Norrbotnia railway, but also the Malmbanan and the E4 motorway. We will see a turnaround in that there will be expansion northwards instead of stagnation. The autumn will be a bit crucial.

*The colonial period refers to the debate about a Norrland exploited for its raw materials and natural resources, with the profits accruing to the southern parts. Originates from the quote "In Norrland, we have an India within our borders, if only we rightly know how to exploit it" uttered by the Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna in the 17th century.

FACTS
- The green transitionProjections show that the industrial initiatives in Norrbotten and Västerbotten together can create 100,000 new jobs throughout the region
- In the coming years.Investments in the billions are planned in a new steel plant in Boden, the battery factory in Skellefteå and the Hybrit plant for fossil-free steel in Malmfälten.
- In Luleå, the Hertsöfältet industrial park is an important part of the transition, where battery anodes will be manufactured, among other things."