SACC Summit will gather corporate members, partners, industry leaders and representatives from 20 regional Swedish-American Chambers of Commerce. This year’s SACC Summit will be held on October 25-26 in the vibrant city of Houston, Texas. Houston is a place for opportunity and discovery. As a front-runner in wind power energy in the U.S., Texas is also the second largest state with continued project growth. Renewable energy will become increasingly important which will open tremendous business opportunities and Houston is a perfect place to discuss future sustainable innovations and ideas. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to participate in this event and listen to leading innovators and companies, entrepreneurs and academics from the U.S. and Sweden, including Jo Vanhoren, President and CEO of Alfa Laval; Karin Olofsdotter, Ambassador of Sweden to the U.S; Bob Harvey, CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership; Rolando Pablos, Texas Secretary of State, Governor’s Office of Texas; Myrtle Jones, Senior Vice President of Halliburton and William McKeon, CEO of Texas Mediacl Center.
AGENDA
DAY 1 – OCTOBER 25
Open for all – members, Non-Members, Partners and SACC Regional Chamber Representatives
• Astrid Marklund – Consul General of Sweden in Houston
• Johan Marcus – President, SACC-USA
Opening Remarks
• Karin Olofsdotter – Ambassador of Sweden to the U.S.
• R. Jack Cagle – County Commissioner for Harris County Precinct 4
The Innovative Future Of Energy (8.30am – 9.30am)
In this session, we will discuss what the innovative future of energy will bring. Fossil-based energy is facing major challenges and non-fossil energy has had a lot of traction in the past years. Both areas are highly innovative, focusing on developing clean energy solutions. However, there remains a lot to be done until non-fossil energy surpasses the volume of fossil energy that is being used. What will happen and where will efficiency take us?
Moderated by Christopher Westerlund – Finance Manager, Keane Group
• Jim Hughes – CEO & Managing Director, Prisma Energy
• Hans-Christer Schulze – CEO, IOWN Renewable Energy
• Michael Wong – Professor & Chair, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University
• Peter Gunnerman – Managing Partner & co-Founder, Advanced Refining Concepts
Smart And Sustainable Cities Of The Future (9.30am – 10.30am)
How do we create cities with a smart outreach: how do we upgrade our urban areas and build the right framework for the future? In this session, several experts will present novel technologies that can be used to unlock “smart” potential. Discussions will focus on how such technologies can connect rural and urban areas, creating new business opportunities nationwide.
Moderated by Clay Pearsson – City Manager of Pearland, Texas
• Andrew Dunn – President, Mobile Guarding Division, Securitas Inc.
• Mats Petterson – CEO & Founder, Sensative AB
• Peter Lindér – VP 5G, Ericsson
Texas is a mecca for Med Tech and home to some of the best hospitals and medical research facilities in the world. This session will start with several industry presentations, followed by an interview of the CEO/Presidents of the Texas leading medical centers. The interview, led Dr. Marguerite Mensonides, patented novel drug products of medications with proven therapeutic efficacy, will reflect on how to overcome daily challenges, including access to the presented innovations/know-how in a marketplace that, surprisingly, is simultaneously both highly regulated and unregulated. The returning question will be: how can SACC-USA help building successful bridges between US-Med and SE-Tech.
Moderated by Dr. Marguerite Mensonides – Managing Director, MPT Consultancy
Introduction to Texas Med Tech (10.50am – 11.00am)
• William McKeon – CEO & President, Texas
Presentation (11.30am – 11.45am)
• Karin Von Wachenfeldt – CEO, Truly Translational
• Erik Gatenholm, CEO – Cellink
• Philip Siberg – CEO & co-founder, Coala
Interview/Discussion (11.45am – 12.05pm)
• William McKeon – CEO & President, Texas Medical Center
• Prof. Dr. Steven J. Frank – Medical Director, MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center
Lunch (12.05pm – 1.05pm)
Innovation Across Borders (1.30pm – 2.30pm)
This session starts with a keynote presented by Alfa Laval Inc. and is followed by a panel discussion. Following a short introduction of the panel members and their respective backgrounds, the panel will continue to discuss the power and essence of sustainable innovation across industry sectors and continents. The world is getting smaller as we become more international. What are the challenges and opportunities of innovation as we go global? Join this discussion on innovations with a broader outlook.
Moderated by Patrik Melander – Chairman SACC Dallas
Keynote Session – Alfa Laval Inc (1.05pm – 1.30pm)
• Jo Vanhoren – CEO & President, Alfa Laval Inc.
Panel Presentation & Discussion (1.30pm – 2.30pm)
• Wilka V. Toppins – Principal Attorney, Toppins Law Firm
• Elin Östman – Good Ideas Inc.
• Jeremy McKane – Artist & Founder of Lucid Project
Women Leaders Driving Innovation & Growth (2.30pm – 3.30pm)
This panel session, chaired by Karin Olofsdotter, Swedish Ambassador to the US, and moderated by Amanda Brock, Chief Operating Officer of Solaris Water Midstream, brings together women who are leading voices for innovation in their companies and communities for action-oriented change and growth. These leaders will share their own stories and tipping point strategies for paving a way to a new energy future.
Moderated by Amanda Brock – COO, Solaris Water Midstream
Chaired by H.E. Karin Olofsdotter – Ambassador of Sweden to the USA
• Myrtle Jones – Senior Vice President of Tax, Halliburton
• Dr. Ann Christine Langselius – CEO & Co-founder, Miraculum Inc.
• Melody Meyer – Board Member, British Petroleum
• Elizabeth Heider – CSO, Skanska USA
• Lydia La Ferla – Cash Innovation in a Digital Future
Outside The Box – Meeting of Brilliant Minds (4.20pm – 5.20pm)
Those that are not outside the box are trapped inside. In this final session of the day, in reflection to the earlier sessions, you are invited to walk alongside several outside-the-box innovators and listen in how they ‘think’.
• Magnus Penker – CEO & Founder, Innovation360 Group
• Per Cromwell – CEO & Founder, The Moby Mart – White Whale
• Prof. Dr. Matteo Pasquali – Chair of the Chemistry Department at Rice University, Houston, USA
Transport to Greater Houston Partnership (5.30pm – 6.00pm)
Dinner Reception – Why Texas? (6.30pm – 9.30pm)
Welcoming Remarks (6.30pm – 6.45pm)
•Rolando Pablos – Texas Secretary of State, Governor’s Office of Texas
•Bob Harvey – CEO, Great Houston Partnership
Why Texas (6.45pm – 7.15pm)
• Patrick Janowski – SVP of research, Great Houston Partnership
DAY 2- OCTOBER 26
For SACC Regional Chamber Representatives
Internal day for SACC representatives where we will discuss the future of our great Swedish-American network and how we will make SACC even greater.
Location during day 1: Rice University, 6100 Main St, Houston, TX 77005
Dinner location: Greater Houston Partnership, 701 Avenidas Las Americas, Suite 900, Houston, TX 77010
Some view Innovation as an abstract, serendipitous event. We have shown through dedicating our lives to research applied in practice that this is not true. There are more efficient ways to succeed with your innovation projects if only you know what to look for! The below resources will help you get a better understanding of that.
Understand how I can better use my resources to reach my growth goals
Reaching your growth goals requires you to set the right aspiration, supporting this with the right ability and structure. Operational Model focus more on the way your organization is designed, and how improvements within the system can be made. The innovation assessment, on the other hand, is like an x-ray of your organization to find untapped potential.
Doing the same thing as you did yesterday is the biggest risk of all. That´s why a portfolio with projects that include both improvements and radically new offers. But what´s the right balance? The below service offerings could get you a step closer to answering this question.
One idea will rarely be the “big idea”. It requires a systematic way of inspiring many people to leave ideas, and then find patterns within clusters of ideas. Click below to learn more!
Increasing your speed to market requires a holistic thinking from idea to commercialization. A major reason why organizations struggle to deliver on time is either because they make the projects consistently bigger or because they are jamming too many projects in the same system. Find out how to not be one of those organizations by reading more on the topics below.
We have helped countless organizations free up working capital by refinements in the “fuzzy front end” or inside their innovation process. If this is what you are looking for, the below resources will help you get a better understanding.
