Thursday August 30 – Uppsala / Stockholm

Today’s full day of programming began with a trip to Uppsala to return to the Uppsala Science Park and to the University of Uppsala. 

I had the pleasure to meet with Eva Åkesson, Vice Chancellor of Uppsala University.  Eva is the 19th Vice Chancellor to take over leadership of the University, and the first female.  Eva assumed this role in January, leaving her previous position as Vice Chancellor of Lund University.  We met in the Rektor’s office, where Eva is reminded of the leadership of those who have come before her with portraits on the wall, but she is just as interested in looking forward and urging renewal.  This is in part evidenced by her use of social media, such as Twitter, and a blog to keep touch.    Currently 22% of Uppsala University’s full professors are female and the university continues to work towards increasing this percentage.  The University is active in mentoring and ensuring role models are in place.

I spent the next several hours at the Uppsala Science Park interacting with several companies who are working innovation.  I had the opportunity to meet with Christina Frimodig, CEO of STUNS, which is a cooperation between businesses and the university.  The goal of STUNS is to provide a linkage between the research area and private funding to continue innovation with a focus on projects with scalability and transferability.  She also shared her experiences participating on several boards and working for Pharmacia. 

I next had the opportunity to meet the CEO’s of Angstrom Aerospace Corporation (Kjell Bohlin) and IMINT (Harald Klomp).  They shared their passion for technology and how their companies have evolved. 

In the afternoon I met with Ann-Louis Mänsson, Head of the International Department at the Swedish Parliament (Sveriges Riksdag).  Ann-Louise shared her perspectives on leadership and her experience working for both the public and private sector in Sweden.  When asked what she believed were contributors to the success that Sweden has had in promoting gender diversity, she indicated that a long history of social obligation and liberal parental leave were contributors.  She has also seen increases over time of both genders utilizing the provided parental leave. 

Media has also contributed to gender equality.  One specific example was an ad of a famous wrestler holding a baby with the title “Daddy’s Leave”.  This ad was designed to continue to promote the use of at least one month of paternal leave following the birth of a baby. 

 Ann-Louise shared that the public sector has moved faster than the more conservative private sector in terms of achieving gender equality and there is still room for improvement within Sweden in terms of equal pay and continued representation of women on boards.