Texas- Swedish Exchange: Panel on Nordic leadership and its Implications for the United States

This event addressed Nordic leadership through discussions by members of two panels (see below) as well as questions from the audience. The members have extensive expertise on Nordic Leadership and its Implications for the United States, with a great list of speakers providing insights from not only Sweden but also Denmark, Finland and Iceland. More than 100 participants were registered, including a group of Masters students from JSOM who will travel to Stockholm in May, through a faculty-led visit led by Dr. Lisa Shatz, Assistant Dean and Director, MBA Programs.

Texas, all the speakers agreed, moves at a much higher speed; at a more rapidly expanding scale; and using many more superlatives along the way (like That’s Great!) than Nordics are used to from their home countries. This in itself can make it difficult to integrate a Nordic approach to leadership of continual dialogue with an American approach of more direct communication and decision-making.

Purpose to launch exchange program with JSOM at University of Texas Dallas

This visit to Dallas-Fort Worth area is the second trip that Professor Maureen McKelvey made in recent years, together with Olof Zaring, Head of Department of Economy and Society at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg and Chairperson of Gothenburg U-GOT KIES. Previously, they then visited Waco (TCU university), Austin (UT Austin; venture capitalists; innovation hubs) and Houston (Rice University and ION innovation hub). The purpose of the trips is to explore entrepreneurship education in Texas. Moreover, these visits help with inspiration and possible exchanges with Texas for the 2025 launching of our redesigned educational programs: Innovation & Industrial Management Masters and particularly our Knowledge-based Entrepreneurship Masters.

The purpose of this year's trip was to visit JSOM at University of Texas Dallas as well as Swedish companies and contacts to explore the possibilities for collaboration within the Masters of Science programs.

Maureen McKelvey: 

- JSOM at University of Texas Dallas is a perfect fit for Gothenburg U-GOT KIES, not least due to the huge Swedish-linked innovation ecosystems in North Texas. About 10 000 Swedish nationals live in the DFW area. This trip has been extremely interesting, and we have been able to develop new contacts, with special thanks to Helene Honeybone, Honorary Consulate of Sweden, Dallas, Texas. For example, we visited Ericsson’s Imagine Studio in Dallas and the Richardson’s IQ Innovation District.

- Keep posted for more development by our Gothenburg U-GOT KIES centre to facilitate and strengthen multiple ties between Texas and Sweden!

About Maureen McKelvey

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Maureen McKelvey holds the Swedish Research Council’s Distinguished Professorship in Knowledge-Intensive Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, thereby also heading the Gothenburg U-GOT KIES centre to impact society on these topics.

She is Professor of Industrial Management and Economics at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and currently President of the International Joseph A. Schumpeter society, leading the ISS2024 academic conference. Maureen has advised many national and international agencies including OECD and European Union, in innovation and industrial management as well as knowledge-based entrepreneurship, based on alternating theory-practice cycles and many societal partners. She grew up in Texas but has had her professional career in Europe