SACC New York

The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce (or SACCNY) is a not-for-profit membership organization located in New York City. It was founded in 1906 and was the first Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce in the United States. With its 258 members, it is the largest and most active Chamber of its kind in the United States, and one of the largest Swedish Chambers of Commerce in the world. SACCNY’s mission is to promote, advance and protect direct commercial relations between the United States and Sweden in all possible areas while providing a broad spectrum of services to its members. Our gold members include 3M, Aggancio, Applied Value, Atlas Copco North America, Carl Bennet, Citi, Deloitte, Ericsson, Essity, EY, Investor, KPMG, Nasdaq, PwC, Qlik Technologies, Sandvik, SAS, SEB New York Branch, Skanska USA, SSAB, Svenska Handelsbanken New York Branch, Swedbank USA, Swedish Match North America, and Volvo Cars of North America.

SACCNY’s operations are made up of three core areas: events, business services, and memberships. As a membership organization SACCNY is based around its members. Member companies, both Swedish and American, represent all sectors and industries, ranging from smaller, younger companies and entrepreneurs to major global corporations. SACCNY regularly organizes a large selection of events to maintain an actively engaged network, providing a unique platform for Swedish and American businesses and professionals to meet, connect, and exchange ideas. They include workshops, breakfast seminars, conferences, and networking sessions, offering a platform to develop new business connections. The Chamber organizes over 40 events per year, hosting over 2,000 attendees, with over 100 featured guest speakers. Notable past speakers include former Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, former CEO and Chairman of Volvo Pehr G. Gyllenhammar, NY Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, and CEO of Nordea Casper von Koskull. A few of the Chamber’s recurring conferences and pinnacle events include the Sustainology Summit, Innovate46, and the Executive Women’s Conference.

Conferences

Sustainology Summit

The Sustainology Summit (previously known as the Green Summit, From Farm to Fork), launched in 2008, was initiated to focus on sustainability and the most pressing eco-related issues of contemporary society. In 2017, the conference was renamed “the Sustainology Summit” which started a new chapter within FoodTech with a special focus on production, transportation and packaging, consumption, and waste. In 2016, the conference was dedicated to the future of food, with the theme “Exploring the Secret of the Three-Course Pill”. Other past conferences have touched upon food sustainability, clean tech, and water management. The conference has featured speakers from leading companies concerned with the core eco-related issues presented at the summit. Notable past speakers include Gerd Diewald, Head of IKEA US Foods, Josefin Strömberg, CEO at Qvicket, Andrew Knowlton, Deputy Editor at Bon Appétit, Danielle Gould, Founder and CEO at Food+Tech Connect, Marcus Samuelsson, Award-winning Chef, and Björn Öste, Co-Founder of Oatly.

Innovate46

Innovate46, the Chamber’s conference dedicated to entrepreneurship and innovation, was founded in 2016 and is held at Nasdaq MarketSite in New York City every year. The event features notable speakers from leading Swedish and American startups and companies, ranging from venture capitalists to researchers and startups. For five consecutive years, the Swedish startup sector has joined the corporate world at Nasdaq to meet, launch, network, and receive an introduction as to how startup-corporate collaborations and partnerships work in a groundbreaking fashion. The full-day event is aimed at continuing to build bridges between Sweden and the United States and exploring the collaborative ecosystem that allows for these relationships to thrive.

The three main pillars of Innovate46 include Expo, the Anders Wall Award for Exceptional Entrepreneurship, and Speakers. Over the years, the Chamber has highlighted 28 prolific Expo-companies that, in collaboration with the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, have been welcomed to Nasdaq MarketSite to participate in a one+of+a kind acceleration program named Startup Sweden. Previous companies include Boldarc, DigiExam, Ekkono, and GreatPeople. Part of the conference is the $25,000 award, which is awarded following an on-stage pitch session with five nominated entrepreneurs. Previous nominees and winners include Erik Gatenholm, CELLINK (winner), Carl Waldecrantz, Tictail, Mehrdad Mahdjoubi, ORBITAL SYSTEMS, and Stina Ehrensvärd, Founder and CEO of Yubico. Innovate46 is a forum with the purpose of knowledge-sharing, which is why the Chamber aims at providing a stellar line-up of seasoned executives, entrepreneurs, and innovators to speak at the conference. Previous speakers include Northvolt CEO Peter Carlson, BareMinerals Founder Leslie Blodgett, and Avito Founder Jonas Nordlander.

EWC

The Executive Women’s Conference, which launched in 2003, is an all-female event held with the purpose of creating a network for executive women in Sweden and the United States. The event is held annually, alternatively between Stockholm and New York, and grows in importance and significance every year. This year marks the conference’s seventeenth year as a well-established transatlantic event. Speakers include some of the most influential leaders and executives of our time, including Norrsken Foundation CEO Anna Ryott, Collector Bank Founder and CEO Lena Apler, Telia Sweden CEO Hélène Barnekow, Volvo Cars Mobility Chief Executive Bodil Eriksson, and Perfect Day Media Co-Founder and CEO Hannah Widell.

Services

SACCNY’s consulting practice is known as Business Services. With over one hundred years of experience, the Chamber has accumulated the right tools, contacts, partners, and services to ensure a successful business strategy. The Business Service sector aids member companies through a business support office, business matchmaking, and marketing. The program is highly tailored to the member’s needs on the American market and provides a solid platform for necessary exposure. We also provide services to non-members.

In detail, our services include regional development programs, industry- and trend reports, export consulting and training, business relations and speaker engagements. Additionally, the Chamber also publishes information booklets that cover the fundamentals of transatlantic business. Examples of this include the essentials of importing and exporting into the United States, acquiring a business in Sweden, corporate banking in the United States, planning to work in the United States, and greening the supply chain.

Board

SACCNY's Board Members make up a transatlantic network of ambassadors, business executives and partners. Anna Throne-Holst is the current President of the Chamber and Karl Wellner, CEO of Papmarkou Wellner, is Chairman. Current Vice Chairs of the Chamber are Cathinka E. Wahlström, Senior Managing Director and N.A. Banking at Accenture, and Jacob Wallenberg, Chairman of Investor AB.

Future Prospects

Currently, the Chamber is developing a project named GatewayUSA, which will be a platform to facilitate business expansions and innovation in New York City. Launching in September 2018, the physical platform will be a space to connect, collaborate, and co-create for Swedish ventures expanding their presence on the American market. The venue will provide permanent, regular, or occasional office and meeting facilities in the heart of Manhattan for Swedish firms to conduct business in the New York area. The future members of GatewayUSA will not only benefit from the extensive network, expertise, and services provided by SACCNY, but also from the community of high-profile members utilizing the venue.

References

• The SACCNY website
• The Sustainology Summit
• Executive Women's Conference