 Covid-19 has effected us all in some way or another. Not only are people getting ill, but families and individuals with small businesses are facing extreme difficulties as the US economy is seriously damaged by the aftermaths of the pandemic. San Diego Regional EDC, in partnerships with San Diego and Imperial SBDC, have commissioned a broad team to develop detailed guides to help small businesses reopen. There are different guides depending on what line of business you are in.
"Small businesses are the backbone of our region’s economy, and employ the majority of San Diegans. In order to meet our regional goal of creating 50,000 quality jobs in small businesses by 2030, we all need to invest in ensuring small businesses have the tools they need to recover, adapt, and thrive over the coming months. Funding, technical assistance, and childcare for working parents are also important to the long term recovery and resiliency of San Diego’s small businesses." Linked in the button below is the specific web page for small business guides by San Diego Regional EDC. Happy Friday! Time for a new Board-presentation- Alfonso Limon! Alfonso has been on the SACC-SD board since 2018. Alfonso has a BS in Mech Engr, MS in Math and PhD in Comp Sci at SDSU/CGU. He spent a few years teaching at the Claremont Colleges; transitioned into bio-tech, first at Impedance Cardiology Systems and at Intersection Medical as Director of Research. "After opening the Oneirix office in San Diego, my time is spent helping clients develop next generation technologies in the intersection of engineering, data science and medical applications" -What's your favorite thing about living and working in San Diego? The family move to San Diego a century ago; during the Great Depression they moved across the border and founded the first newspaper. My parents moved back to San Diego in 1980, so I feel almost native. My only escapade was about a decade in LA during my graduate work and where I met my wife. Great people, beaches, mountains and desert valleys, what’s not to like. -Best Swedish meal? I always look forward to Rebecca and Hans’ Gravlax that have become a great holiday tradition for the SACC family. Thank you Alfonso, we love having you on the SACC-Board! 
Johan Marcus, President and Executive Director at SACC-USA, was interviewed in Dagens Industri on June 4th. The interview is in Swedish and discusses the current economic status in the US in midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. The interview also discusses how this in turn may effect the Swedish-American relations. Johan Marcus- "We can see that it is almost an economy in free fall. The first quarter we did not see so much, but the second quarter we saw much clearer impact. The economy has shrunk by a quarter. The Governor (of Sveriges Riksbank) believes that it can be as much as a third"   This week we want to highlight our Board Member, Anders Brunmark! 👏 Anders has been on the Board of SACC-SD a little over 4 years. He grew up in Skåne and completed his undergraduate in chemistry in Lund and his PhD in Linköping with a thesis work on quinones and oxygen radicals. He moved to San Diego for a postdoc at Scripps in 1990.
“It was supposed to last for two years but those two years quickly became four. And now almost 30. Well, my postdoc ended after four years and then I took a job at J&J just across the street. So after moving nine time zones I felt a move of a few hundred meters was just right.” -What's your favorite thing about living and working in San Diego? Even the first years in town when I returned from trips and we were just about to land on Lindberg field I had that feeling of coming home. There was just something all together pleasant and welcoming about this city. And, ever since then I have never been able to talk myself out of here, there are just too many good things in San Diego. -Best Swedish candy/ or meal/ or sommarställe? Do I have to pick just one? Moose filet with gorgonzola. Warm smoked salmon. Smultrontårta. Homemade vanilla ice-cream with cloudberry jam. Etc. Thank you Anders for your engagement and work on the SACC-San Diego!  Today we want to introduce Hans, our Chairman and solid rock of SACC-San Diego. Hans has been on the Board for four years and has during that time served as President of our organization.
👏 Hans has a Masters in Geological Engineering from Colorado School of Mines. During the years 1981-1985 Hans worked as a geologist including 2 years in the North Sea for Norsk Hydro. From 1985 to 1996 he worked in various marketing manager jobs at Atlas Copco, Mining and Construction including 2 years in Seattle. From 2003 to 2014 Hans was President of Grolls/Björnkläder in Sweden, where he managed to successfully build the company from 9 stores to 49, with stores in four countries and an increase in sales from 300 MSEK to 1000 MSEK in those 12 years. Amazing and inspiring work! -What's your favorite thing about living and working in San Diego? My favorite thing to do in San Diego is golfing and hiking,and some skiing in the winter. San Diego has the best climate in all of the US. Also working with SACC is a great pleasure! -Best Swedish candy/ meal/ sommarställe? My favorite Swedish candy is Turkish peber (really strong salt licorice) My favorite meal is Sechuan beef at PF Changs or anything REAL spicy. My favorite place in Sweden is Bohuslän with the fantastic archipelago Thank you for all your hard work Hans, we really appreciate you!  On June 4th The Swedish American Chamber of Commerce in San Diego will host a Webinar focusing on decision making in the Life Science Industry. For this Webinar, we have invited one of our Life Science Members- Captario. Specialized in helping Drug Development project teams and portfolio leads, the Swedish high-tech company Captario will show their advanced modeling & simulation tool and argue that decision making must shift from guesswork to well-informed data driven decisions. The complexities in the development processes must be structured and uncertainties must be dealt with and used to your advantage. This will save time, enable evaluation of many more options, understand risks and find the right opportunities.
We are also presenting our newest member, Westwood & Wilshire! They deliver premier talent to the world’s most innovative companies; primarily in Life Sciences and Technology industries. W&W partners with companies ranging from VC-backed start-ups to mid-sized commercial entities on assignments ranging from C-Suite to mid-management. The firm has offices in Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, and Seattle; serving clients on a local, national, and global basis. The Webinar will discuss how to deal with uncertainty – in drug development and in leadership response. We are thrilled to have these two highly skilled companies with us and the webinar will bring great insight and discussion in this thriving industry. WHEN: June 4th. 11 am PDT, 20:00 CEST. WHERE? Closer to the event, a Zoom-link will be sent out to all registered attendees. The event is free of charge for all to attend. #lifescience #pharma #pharmaceutical #decisionmaking #responsevieleadership #drugdevelopment #recuitement #saccsdmember #saccwebinar #lifescienceindustry #socal  Starting today, we will do a weekly series with small presentations of our fenomenal Board of Directors. First out: our President, Ted Stübner! 🥳
"I have been on the Board of SACC-SD since the fall 2018. I moved to San Diego with my wife in 2014 and I have a background in Tourism Marketing, having worked for one of the leading travel agencies in Scandinavia. In San Diego I run my own company where we help Nordic students come to California for professional work experience. In March this year I stepped in as President for SACC-SD." What’s your favorite thing about San Diego? -I love the ocean, so my favorite thing with San Diego is that I can access two beaches in less than 3 minutes and I can commute on the board walk with my bike. What’s your favorite Swedish meal? -My best Swedish meal is my fathers homemade “pannbiff” with potatoes, gravy and lingon berries. Thank you Ted, we appreciate you and the great work you provide the chamber with! Fika is a Swedish word meaning to have a break and drink a cup of coffee and of course, most importantly to have something sweet to eat with it. In these times, it is more important than ever to support your local. So if you're a Swede in Southern California, this can't get anymore local! And the best part is that their Fika tastes just like home.
All of these kanelbullar, kardemummabullar and småkakor are baked by our Corporate Member Swedish Fika! Go and order your Fika to go with your coffee. We promise you won't regret it.  This month, we would like to highlight the work of our corporate member Trice Imaging! The CEO of Trice, Åsa Sjöblom Nordgren, was one of the speakers at our webinar: How is Covid-19 accelerating Digital Healthcare? Trices product is called Tricefy and is a cloudbased medical imaging product. With Tricefy, the patient can collaborate with referring physicians, outside providers, scholars and industry professionals instantly for a second opinion, research, or education - right from home without unnecessary in-person visits.
The coronavirus hit hard with worldwide lockdowns. Along with it comes a huge need for healthcare working remotely as people no longer have the option of visiting a hospital for check-ups or other medical needs. The same way goes for maternal fetal medicine. During these difficult times with the coronavirus, partners or other family are not allowed in with the expecting mother when she is having an ultrasound. This can be quite isolating for the patient as her partner and family can’t be involved. Using Tricefy during this pandemic reduces exposure risks to patients as well as healthcare workers. Trice is now offering their product Tricefy for free during 90 days: ”We want to make sure that we do everything in our power to support the people on the frontline. As such, we have made the only right decision to offer Tricefy, our remote medical imaging solution, free of charge to any health care provider in the world for at least the next 90 days.” - Åsa Sjöblom Nordgren, CEO of Trice Imaging  Every year on April 30th, Swedes celebrate the tradition of Valborg. This is a celebration of the welcoming of spring. This is also a day where all of the graduating high school students get to wear their graduation cap for the first time, which is an important and essential moment for a young Swede. Furthermore, Valborg is one of our Annual Events and we usually celebrate it at Mission Beach with our members and friends. Valborg is often celebrated with choir singing, gathering by a big bonfire and lots of joy and hope. Hope, as spring is arriving with better weather and the days getting longer and lighter. As we all still need to stay at home, we will have to celebrate Valborg virtually this year. But the key aspects of Valborg still remain: hope for lighter and better days. This is something we all need. Things will get better and the world will heal. Happy Valborg from all of us at the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce in San Diego.
 WEBINAR WITH COALA LIFE & TRICE IMAGINGTomorrow Wednesday April 29 we will host our first webinar of the spring!
In order to protect staff and patients, the healthcare systems need to work remotely. Telemedicine and Life Science companies are developing new efficient solutions faster than ever before, in order to streamline healthcare and make it remote. The event will held through Zoom and attendees in the US as well as in Sweden will be able to attend as the time for the event is 11 am PDT and 20:00 CEST. Tickets are free and it is not mandatory to register for the event, however we have set up an Eventbrite to simplify registration and for the attendees to get helpful reminders and notifications. 1 hour before the Webinar starts we will send out the link via email to all the registered attendees on Eventbrite. We will also post the link on our Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. All info can also be found in our Facebook-event. Hope to see you all there! /The SACC-Team
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Suzanne Svahn Realtor is one of our Corporate Members. Suzanne is such a hard working and genuine person and the best San Diego Realtor 💐 She is also, of course, a trouper in #quarantine and has some great tips on how to stay positive in these difficult times when we all get to adjusted to having our homes as offices: - Make it your office Get off the couch, and definitely out of bed! I work most hours out of my office but sometime during the day I will bring my laptop out on the patio to get some work done. My patio doors are open so I can get as much air and natural sunlight as possible. My diffuser is on during the day with different essential oils depending on the day and my mood. I’ve scheduled time for workouts, I’ve been doing Pilates a couple of times a week, which is a great workout! I’m also thankful I still get to run outside. I’m also taking every opportunity I can to take my dog for a walk. It’s a great way to recharge and to clear my brain. - Stay connected When possible, use video over the standard conference call to help create more interactions and avoid loneliness. Connect with clients, your colleagues and set up virtual Happy Hour with friends and loved ones. This is a good time to connect with people all over the world! - Create lists and stay positive Every night before I go to bed or in the morning I create a list of what I will deliver by the end of the day. Affirmations, meditation, and journaling is an important morning routine. Thank you Suzanne for sharing your great advice! 🤩  A special thank you to the weekly magazine 'Spanaren' and Göran Ekstedt for sending us this article that highlights the very important work of Volvo Group in times of the Coronacrisis. A vast majority of Volvo's 100 000 employees in the company's manufacturing global operations are laid off due to the world wide Coronacrisis. A number of measures are made in order to help customers, employees and society. ”Many of our employees in all markets are voluntary working with non-governmental organizations like the Red Cross International”, says to Spanaren Newsletter Mr. Claes Eliasson, Senior Vice President at Volvo Group headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden.
”During times of uncertainty it’s more important than ever to do what we can to make a real difference. We are working in real time to keep our employees safe, limit the impact for society, support our customers and protect our business,” Claes Eliasson says and adds: ”We are also planning activities with a wide range of authorities and companies to see how we can work together to solve problems where the needs are greatest”. Some of Volvos actions made are: Protecting their employees Suspended production in their global manufacturing operations. Where possible the company's working employees are performing their duties from home in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus. Supporting their customers Prioritizing the workshop and spare parts operation to keep our customers rolling. ”In Poland we hand out food boxes to drivers who have difficulties finding food as restaurants are closed”, says Claes Eliasson and continues, ”We are helping our customers manage their financial needs”. During the outbreak Volvo provides a free online medical service through a clinic app for all 30,000,000 truck drivers in China. Helping the society The company is making 3D printing and assembly capability available for employees voluntary production of face masks. In the Tuve plant alone, in Gothenburg, Sweden, 2000 shields per day will be produced for Swedish health care. Collaborating with Ica, a Swedish food wholesale and retailer, to help secure the Swedish food supply. Ica will use Volvo´s freight trains to transport food from Gent in Belgium to Sweden. ”We have donated 2MSEK to the Red Cross International appeal, says Mr. Eliasson and adds ”We have sourced 100 000 face masks, 20 000 protection glasses and 50 000 face shields to the health care in Sweden and in France”. Other measures taken: Sponsoring Hack the crisis, a hackathon to design, test and develop ideas to fight the crisis. Working together with the Swedish Armed Forces to transport medical supplies within Sweden. Sourced 3 000 excess PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) in Volvo's facilities locally to support the local health care systems across the globe. Funding loaner refurbished laptops and Wi-Fi support to a local school in North Carolina, USA, where over 70 per cent of students come from low-income homes. Planning to donating 100 used laptops for children to help them with their on-line schooling/learning. The laptops will be distributed to poor or foster families through municipality institutions in Poland. Food donations to schools in the US Conducting local food donations in North America as the school lunch may be the only reliable source of cooked food for many students that now can’t go to school. Distributed 1,000 disposable masks, several dozen N95 masks and about 500 pairs of disposable gloves to be delivered to Cone Health Medical Center in USA. Protective eyewear for emergency rooms in Brazil Supporting the production of 35,000 liters of hand sanitizer as well as several dozen masks, protective eyewear and vests for emergency rooms in Curitiba and Parana State in Brazil. Article written by GÖRAN EKSTEDT (Spanaren), with the support of Mr. Claes Eliasson, Volvo Group Media Relations. |
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THE SWEDISH AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN SAN DIEGOThe Swedish American Chamber of Commerce in San Diego is a thriving network of companies and individuals interested in the commercial and social exchange between Sweden and the Southern California’s San Diego region.
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