We used the opportunity to also visit 2 of the 3 biggest cities in Sweden – Malmo and Stockholm, and the capital of Denmark – Copenhagen aswell, and to exchange knowledge and experiences with some of the leading startups and IT companies of Scandinavia. Served with the good weather conditions we were able to fully enjoy our trip until the last day of our visit.
I would describe Sweden as an optimistic version of the future. It is adorned by innovative, clean and minimalist design, with a focus on sustainability and functionality. High life standards, attention paid on the development of ecological sources of energy, care about the historical heritage, de degree of respect of the human rights are only some of the aspects enjoyed by the swedish society. Special care is dedicated to kids where every child has its place in kindergarten, while the books in schools are free.
The Swedes have the longest lifespan in Europe, the largest number of PCs per capita, 90 000 lakes… Their official Twitter profile is run by another citizen of that country every other week and they are also deserving for the first national park in Europe. In Sweden there is also garbage deficit so they are forced to import it from abroad so they could be able to continue recycling processes that produce huge amounts of electricity and fuel.
Malmo, which was the main base during our stay in Sweden, is the largest city in the southern region (Scania region). This region is extremely technologically advanced and is the place where many well-known brands are founded, such as Bluetooth, Tetra-Pak, Absolute Vodka and one of the brands they are extremely proud of – Zlatan Ibrahimovic. This city, as well as the whole of Sweden in essence, adorns multiculturalism, organisation, cleanliness, meticulousness, architecture and many bicycles – everyone rides a bike. From Malmo we easily moved to surrounding cities such as Lund and Helsingborg, where we had a really warm welcome from our hosts who at first broke the prejudices about the Swedes as the cold people, then Copenhagen and Stockholm.
We set out to Copenhagen over a staggering traffic phenomenon – the Oresund Bridge that transforms into an underwater tunnel and is one of the largest infrastructure projects in Europe. There we had the opportunity to visit the CBS (Copenhagen Business School) and to meet a large number of young and ambitious people in the presentations and workshops, share experiences and get a lot of information from first hand about the digital world of Denmark, the IT industry, trends and everything that can help us apply it to us.
The last stop of our visit was the capital of Sweden, Stockholm, one of the cities with the largest number of museums in Europe and the city that left the biggest impression on us. At the exit of the station we were spattered by the amazing blend of tradition and modern solutions. Over the bridges, since Stockholm was built on 14 islands, we headed toward the oldest part of the city, Gamla Stan, where we passed through the narrow streets and passages to the Nobel Museum. Then we continued to the royal palace which is in the vicinity of the Swedish institute, where we used the opportunity to share ideas with the coordinators of the program for reconstruction and development of this part of the Balkans.
After visiting the institute, our friend from Croatia, Antonio, who has been a resident of Stockholm for a long time, waited for us and led us to a real tour of a large number of attractions, such as Vasa Museum, Stadhuset – Stockholm City Hall, Ridarholm Church, etc. I have to mention that, although a programmer, he was very good in the role of a tourist guide.
The night was reserved for hangout with some of the leading people from the startup world of Stockholm where, despite the cold and the rain that started, we enjoyed talking with warm, cozy and sincere people.
Full of impressions, new knowledge and acquaintances, we returned to Montenegro eager to share our experiences and new ideas with our colleagues and friends, and put at least some of them into action.
