Umeå to export local know-how

The municipality of Umeå is creating a municipal company to export know-how in the local welfare sector, ranging from child care to waste treatment. The customers are to be found in Asia, with cities in Japan and China showing concrete interest, but also with prospects of working in Europe and other parts of the world.

Right now there is a delegation from the Chinese city of Lanzou, with 3.5 million inhabitants, in Umeå to study the Scandinavian model for the welfare sector.

- We have a long-term strategy of building relations internationally, which now converts in business openings, says deputy mayor Marie-Louis Rönnmark, chairman of the local committee on globalisation and research.

The contacts with Lanzou and two other Chinese cities, Xian and Qoufo, have been fostered through projects financed by the Swedish Municipal Partnership Programme.

Magnus Liljeström