Mallory’s Thoughts:
We started our business course in the cold, windy city of Skelleftea, located in Northern Sweden. On the first day of business visits, we went to Northvolt, North Kingdom, and Skelleftea Science City. Northvolt hopes to create the world’s greenest battery. Northvolt Ett is the first giga factory and the total site is roughly 3 million square meters. The company will have all steps of the process to not only create the batteries, but also recycle them compared to other companies that only deal with the manufacturing and assembly of batteries. Both Northvolt and Science City explained why Skelleftea was a great fit for companies. The presenters at Skelleftea Science City also shared why Skelleftea is a great city for new residents, but I think it’s still too small for me. North Kingdom was my favorite visit during our time in Skelleftea and one of my favorite visits in general. I loved the creativity and how humble this amazing company is. I thought it was really cool how they created games for kids to teach them about cybersecurity and about puberty. I was also impressed by the start-ups Jakob created and hope to be that successful too.
The second day of visits, we saw the wind farm of Markbygden and Lundqvist Travaru, a company that makes modular homes. The bus ride through the wind farm was enjoyable. We learned a lot about renewable energy, heard stories and jokes, then enjoyed fika once we stopped at the section, 3A “Aura.” While it was nice to enjoy fika, it was pretty cold and I just wanted to be back on the bus. This whole trip it’s been hard for me to truly slow down and relax because 1. I hate being late anywhere 2. there’s only so much time to explore and I don’t know when I’ll be able to travel abroad next (this trip brought to you by student loans and only 52 hours of PTO).
It was nice to learn about Skelleftea and it’ll be interesting to see how it grows (and how they can build enough housing for all the new residents).
Jamie’s Thoughts:
Batteries and Sustainability
What a lovely city! Even though I’d looked up the weather forecasts for Stockholm, I didn’t have the foresight to look up the rest of the cities on the trip. I was a little shocked by how cold and windy it was in the little city. This was even more apparent during our first trip to the Northvolt factory where we could feel the wind whipping a little more free. Many of us were a bit disappointed that we didn’t tour the plant or even the grounds. We basically got the typical PR PowerPoint tour. It was still an interesting experience. I am generally skeptical of companies which perpetuate the idea that sustainability through consumerism is a viable solution to the climate crisis. In places like Sweden where the public transport system is hearty, it makes sense to begin promoting personal electric vehicles as a supplement to said transport. However, in places where public transport options are lacking, promoting these types of vehicles seems like a hollow gesture of sustainability. Northvolt’s main operations are B2B, however, generally with companies whose operations are B2C. Putting more vehicles on the road, whether electric or gas, may be counter to the mission of lowering emissions.
Jam and Mal at the Wind Farm
The next day we visited the Markbygden Wind Farm near Pitea- the largest wind farm in Europe, and learned that Sweden uses all renewable energy from Solar, Wind, and Hydroelectric power. Again, it makes sense that a sustainable country whose public transportation system is robust, including a bus system which is already being converted to electric, would convince it’s public to switch over from gas to electric. In the United States, 60% of electricity generated comes from fossil fuels. The conversion there seems to be starting at the end and I don’t believe having the public buy electric cars will make up for a lacking public infrastructure. If anything, increasing traffic on the roads will only tax the system further.
Switching up a bit, some of the other visits were enlightening, if not fun. We visited North Kingdom, a “global experience design studio” which specializes in creating meaningful customer experiences for companies of all different sizes.
Sustainable Building Practices in a Modular Way
There was also Lundqvist Travaru. I was delighted to see several women working on the construction of the modular sections for custom homes, which you can see in the above video. The business seems to be innovative and sustainable and I’m interested to see what direction the company will go into next.
All in all, the trip to Skelleftea and Pitea was great and I hope I get to visit the area again soon.
