Start-ups from Sweden: Three steps ahead

"What do the Scandinavians do better than the Germans when it comes to promoting young companies? One thing is clear: if you want to learn from Sweden, you have to have staying power – and have the courage to make some important decisions.

Germany has eight times as many inhabitants as Sweden, but not even twice as many start-ups valued by investors at more than one billion dollars. What do the Northern Lights do better than the Germans? 

Some so-called soft factors play their part in the success: Scandinavia is three steps ahead when it comes to gender equality and the compatibility of family and work. There are also fewer reservations about new technical developments and the use of data.

But that's only half the battle. In addition, there are tangible political decisions that were initially hotly contested but have proven to be extremely clever in the long term. 

Sweden was one of the first countries to levy a tax on carbon dioxide emissions back in 1995, making the search for climate-friendly solutions attractive. 

A year earlier, Stockholm City Council had already started building a fiber optic network for all residents and companies.

This investment has paid off many times over. The city network operator is highly profitable, the price for high-speed Internet is low. And for Swedish start-ups like the online bank Klarna or the streaming provider Spotify, it was obvious to develop business models for the digital world. If you want to learn from Sweden, you have to have staying power – and have the courage to make such decisions."