Economic and social transformation of cities – policy challenges and policy responses in Sweden
Invited Session: Tuesday 11th June, 15:00-16:00
Theme
The economic as well as social fabric of cities continuously change and evolve. In recent decades we have witnessed significant changes in cities with regards to industry structure, income disparities, employment gap between skilled and unskilled workers, immigration of workers and refugees. The developments are in turn a response to technological developments, digitalization, labor market polarization, the structure of global value chains as well as geo-political conditions. These are ‘global transformative forces’ that individual cities cannot influence directly, but exert a significant influence on the challenges faced by local city governments.
Based on an overview of current “global transformative forces”, this session discusses policy challenges facing local city governments and provide examples of different policy responses of cities in Sweden. The session includes presentations of recent policy work in Sweden by Swedish researchers as well as local policy practitioners. The session also discusses novel ways to organize policy processes to develop practical policy.
Organizers
Martin Andersson
Martin Andersson is full professor of industrial economics at Blekinge Institute of Technology and professor of Innovation Studies at CIRCLE, Lund University. He is also at the Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum in Stockholm and affiliated researcher to the Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN). Martin has a PhD in economics from the Jönköping International Business School (JIBS). His research is focused on industrial dynamics, entrepreneurship, innovation, and the geography of growth, including cities, productivity, and urban labor markets. Martin is editor-in-chief of Annals of Regional Science.
In 2012, he was a recipient of the young researcher award in entrepreneurship for his research on the role of entrepreneurship in industrial dynamics and economic growth. He was chairman of the prize committee of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research (www.e-award.org) 2017-2023. Martin has significant experience of policy analysis and has worked with organizations such as OECD, EU commission and numerous regional boards and city governments in Sweden. He has been a member of the scientific advisory board of the Swedish Agency for Growth Policy Analysis, and recently served as chairman of the Malmö growth commission – a commission that worked for 2,5 years to develop policy recommendations to strengthen the preconditions for inclusive and sustainable growth in the city of Malmö.
Pontus Braunerhjelm
Pontus Braunerhjelm is a Professor of Economics at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Blekinge Institute of Technology, and Research Director at the Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum. He earned his PhD at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva and became full professor at KTH in 2005. He was the Managing Director of the Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum between 2008 and 2015. He has also served as deputy director at the Center for Business and Policy Studies (SNS), the Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), and been head of the Department of Industrial Economics and Management at KTH. His research concerns the intersection between innovation, entrepreneurship, industrial dynamics, and growth, areas in which he has published extensively.
Pontus serves, and has served, on several boards, including the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA), research organizations, and start-up firms. He is a senior advisor to both early-stage financiers and entrepreneurs. Pontus has also been engaged in several policy-oriented projects. In 2007–2009 he was appointed Executive Secretary of the government’s Globalization Council, and in 2014 he chaired the governmental committee on Swedish entrepreneurship policies.
