Last week, the Smart City Expo World Congress took place in Barcelona and a delegation trip from Northern Sweden joined to show smart can sustainable solutions for the international market.
The Smart City World Expo Congress is an annual fair that this year attracted approx. 853 exhibitors and more than 20,000 visitors from all over the world. The Expo was an opportunity for the entrepreneurs to market their companies, products and services as well as make international contacts with potential customers and partners.
North Sweden Cleantech, responsible for Smart City Sweden region north, exhibited in the Nordic pavilion and functioned as a gathering place for companies and organizations from northern Sweden. On-site during the Expo were actors from all corners of the world, in many industries, all of whom in different ways have a connection to urban development and smart sustainable cities. Companies that were participating at the Expo; Inpipe Sweden, Flow Below, Boreal Orchards, Vertisà and Enduce.
Innovative solutions were presented
During the Expo, a panel discussion was organized in the Nordic pavilion where four Nordic companies could participate. Fredrik Sahl, CEO of Flow Below participated in panel discussions and shared his experiences of how Flow Below successfully worked together with municipality-owned water and sewage companies. Flow Below offers sensor-based solutions to companies and municipal administrations in the water- and wastewater sectors. The focus area is to monitor sewer overflows and mapping sources of additional water.
Enduce, a company from Umeå that manufactures energy-recovery shower floor drains, pitched in the German pavilion, and received several pacifiers, including from actors who wanted to go ahead with hotel and apartment establishments.
Inpipe Sweden, which is the biggest producer of CIPP (Cured-In-Place-Pipes) in the Nordic countries, was also satisfied with the Expo and made many new international contacts that showed interest in their products. The Inpipe liner is a glass-fibre reinforced Polyester liner that is used for relining sewer pipes, road culverts and water pipes. With Inpipes liner the customers get a new, strong, leak-free pipe inside the old pipe.
New contacts were made
Participants at the fair were given opportunities for meetings and networking when the Enterprise Europe Network arranged a Brokerage Event where participants could book meetings with interesting actors in advance. In addition, speed-dating was organized in the Nordic pavilion. One who took advantage of the networking opportunity was Rosario Garcia Gil, CEO of Vertisà, which is a company from Umeå that offers modules for vertical farming with an integrated irrigation system that saves water. In addition to good contact with an architectural firm that operates in both Sweden and Spain, the company also contacted representatives in Nordic cities.
North Sweden Cleantech also invited Business Sweden to the stand and the companies had the opportunity to meet them. Daniel Pacurar who is CEO of Boreal Orchards, a company that offers consulting services linked to plant production systems in suboptimal climates, took the opportunity to introduce himself and his company.
– My dialogue with them confirmed the development of a specific project relevant to us in Madrid. We will follow this and maybe get some insights and contacts through Business Sweden, Daniel Pacurar concludes.
