Nordic countries are known for their specific design.

Maybe it is the bleak weather that prevails here during most time of the year. Their approach to design can be seen everywhere.

From the corporate identity of startups over the interior design of work places to the industrial design of street lamps. What particularly impressed me was the beautiful aesthetics of certain subway stations. Like this one.

« Vi hanterar ej kontanter » (engl. « we do not accept cash ») is a sentence tourists will come across very often when they try to pay in Stockholm with the krona. Many stores in Sweden do not accept cash as a methode of payment anymore and only allow payment by card, such as the Fotografiska Museum where this picture was taken.

After visiting a restaurant where some of us tried to pay with cash, we were advised by the waitress that we should not exchange too much money into the swedish krona, as there might be little chance to get rid of it.

Most Swedes use their credit cards or other digital payments, like the App Swish, to pay for their coffee, groceries or subway tickets.

Only about 20% of all transactions in Sweden are still paid for in cash. Until 2030 this percentage is expected to go to 0, as Sweden plans to become the first cashless nation in the world.

Co-working spaces are just one of the reasons of Stockholm’s entrepreneurial success. These innovation hubs allow your company to grow according to your specific needs. THINGS is one of this Hubs with a big focus on Internet of things, automation, Robotics and 3D scanning/printing and scanning and Energy.

Here you can take part in a community of 40-50 strong tech startups and share challenges and successes with other 150 energetic entrepreneurs. Members have access to supreme prototyping and testing capabilities and have their company space where they develop their business. Moreover, the Hub incentives partnerships with some of Sweden's most successful and innovative international companies leading to insights about the fit of your business solution with other markets.

As soon as we stepped down our flight in Stockholm, we noticed that something has changed. The automatic doors were opening to advertisement of 5G network by Ericsson, while we were heading to our hotel.

The next morning, at breakfast, small displays allowed us to choose the juice we wanted to drink.

During a conference, the building in front of ours had roll-up shutters that automatically opened and closed according to the sun rays’ orientation.

The technological perspective of Stockholm is embedded in the city, without being blatant.

Talking to people, wandering around different companies and places, the impression is to be in the future of our countries. Will it be possible to have the same network connection in every part of Paris, instead of swinging between 3G and 4G as it is now? Will it happen to find a cash-free shop in Italy?

The future is yet to be built but Stockholm seems to be ahead of the other European countries in doing so!

“You go faster alone, you go further together”

LOI DE JANTE

The Swedish one is a collectivist society. Since a very young age, Swedish people learn how to work together - sharing knowledge, collaboration, helping each other. You don’t have any individual grades before you are 14, because you work well as a group. Education is group based. They don’t put brands on their kids. The final objective is to give confidence to anybody. As Darwin once said: “it is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones who are the most responsive to change”.

Small companies need to have a big one to involve them.

Creating something that gives a sense of what you really are doing is the objective of the founder of the hub.

It is really difficult, it is like with trust: it is so easy to destroy.

3 floors, 2000 square meters. From showers to bands to yoga classes ... Open 24/7.

From health care to gaming companies ... Shoes off and post it mode on, and ready to work!

The basement is the makers place.