ScandAsia June 2018

JUN 2018

BUSINESS

Volvo Buses new

B8R chassi

TECHNOLOGY

Antler innovation

start-up generator

LIFESTYLE

Chokladbollens dag

COMMUNITY

Viking Fest

Ho Chi Minh City

Augmented reality

and machine learning

next for games producer

Jakob Lykkegaard

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June 2018

26

Mr Andrew Kvalseth

dtac’s AI, machine learning seminar

ScandAsia

Community

30 Viking Fest

Ho Chi Minh City

31 DABS Ball 2018

33 Danish Design Fair

Singapore

34 Thordur Adalsteinsson

new Chairman SSS

Augmented reality

and machine learning –

Jakob Lykkegaard

10

30

ScandAsia

Business

16 Volvo Buses new chassi

B8R launched in Thailand

20 AndersenB2B and Norcham

Philippines

New cooperation launched

20 Singapore-Swedish business

delegation

Visited Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City

22 Antler start-up generator

Magnus Grimeland at Norway-Asia

Business Summit

28

Mr Martin Bech

Danish Innovation Centre Shanghai

36

Ms Alaine Handa

Chokladbolle enthusiast from Singapore

31

33

34

Editorial

The GDPR fuss

Social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, Google+

sent a few weeks ago emails to their users and posted

messages on their profiles about GDPR - a term

most people had never heard about before. General Data

Protection Regulation - or in short GDPR - regulates how

companies in EU or doing business with EU can collect and

use personal data

Many regular website publishers also sent out emails

to their members or users to explain how they were now

GDPR compliant.

ScandAsia did not send you anything. We believe this

whole fuss is about the bad guys and not about websites like

ScandAsia.com and other regular member websites who

always have complied with best practices of data collection

and usage and intend to continue doing so.

Of course, we store personal information about you. We

know for instance your email - how could we send you the

ScandAsia Weekly and the ScandAsia eMagazine without

it? We know in many cases also your nationality and in

some cases the country, you live in. Some of you have also

informed us about the company you work with and how

to reach you there.

Subscribers provide their postal address in their profile

and keep it updated, if they should move.

Everybody have for years been able in an easily

understandable way to control this information about

themselves. In particular which part of it that should be

visible to the world, which part should be visible only to

other logged in ScandAsia users or what you decide should

be kept private, only viewable to you and the concerned

ScandAsia admin staff.

Should anybody wish to leave, it is also easy to find

the “Delete my account” button under “Settings” in your

profile and in one click remove yourself completely from

our server.

The companies who think they will no longer be able

to remain in business after the GDPR are probably the

companies, we are all better off without!

Why not look at this in another way? Many of you spend

a considerable amount of time maintaining your profile on

LinkedIn and social media pages like Twitter and Facebook.

Instead of trying to hide information about yourself on

ScandAsia.com, why not look at ways to enhance your

profile on ScandAsia.com

An example for inspiration is - not surprisingly - the

profile of Managing Editor Joakim Persson. You can view it

here: https://scandasia.com/members/joakim/profile/

My own is here: https://scandasia.com/members/gregers/

profile/

Have fun!

Gregers Moller

Editor in Chief

ScandAsia is a printed magazine and online

media covering the people and businesses

of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland living

and working in China, Hong Kong, Thailand,

Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines,

Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

Who should subscribe:

ScandAsia subscribers are typically Nordic

expats and companies from the Nordic

countries living in and active in Asia.

Another group of subscribers are Nordic

people living in the Nordic countries who

subscribe to ScandAsia for personal or

business reasons. We also have many Asian

subscribers, who for a wide range of reasons

are following the activities of

the Nordic expats and companies via a

subscription to ScandAsia.

The ScandAsia magazine is produced every

month and distributed to all print version

subscribers via postal services and to all

eMagazine subscribers via email. Subscribing

to the eMagazine is FREE - simply sign up

on the ScandAsia.com website.

Become a ScandAsia user/

get free digital ScandAsia magazine

or paid subscription via

www.scandasia.com!

Publisher :

ScandAsia Publishing Co., Ltd.

211 Soi Prasert Manukitch 29

Prasert Manukitch Road

Bangkok 10230, Thailand

Tel. +66 2 943 7166-8

Fax: +66 2 943 7169

E-mail: news@scandasia.com

Editor-in-Chief :

Gregers A.W. Møller

gregers@scandmedia.com

Managing Editor:

Joakim Persson

Joakim@scandmedia.com

Advertising :

Finn Balslev

finn@scandmedia.com

Frank Leong

frank@scandasia.com

Graphic Designer :

Peerapol Meesuwan

Peerapol@scandmedia.com

Production Manager:

Sopida Yatprom

Printing :

Siam Print Co., Ltd.

6 ScandAsia • June 2018

BANGKOK PATANA SCHOOL

CLASS OF 2018

Celebrates Global

University Offers

47

CANADA

176

USA

USA

192

UK

5 21 THE NETHERLANDS

IRELAND

1

1

1

FRANCE

CHINA

ITALY

3

1 HONG KONG

THAILAND

GRADUATING STUDENTS HAVE RECEIVED

453 OFFERS

From 184 Selective universities and colleges

(Data correct as of 22/05/18. Southern hemisphere

applications are still in process)

NUMBER OF OFFERS

BY COUNTRY

2

SINGAPORE

3

AUSTRALIA

Over 100 offers were made by the following institutions listed

in the Top 50 of The Times Higher Education

World University Rankings 2017-2018

UK Universities

Imperial College London

King’s College London

London School of Economics and Political Science

University College London

University of Edinburgh

Rest of the World

Peking University

University of British Columbia

University of Melbourne

University of Toronto

USA Universities

Carnegie Mellon University

Columbia University

Cornell University

Georgia Institute of Technology

New York University

Northwestern University

Princeton University

University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Los Angeles

University of California, San Diego

University of Chicago

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of Pennsylvania

University of Washington

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Yale University

A proud tradition of learning excellence

Bangkok Patana School is a not-for-profit, IB World School,

accredited by CIS and NEASC

643 Lasalle Road, Bangna, Bangkok | T: +66 (0) 2785 2200

www.patana.ac.th | admissions@patana.ac.th

June 2018 • ScandAsia 7

Opinion

E-commerce in Southeast

Asia is taking off

- expected to grow 15-fold from 6bn$

in 2015 to 88bn$ in 2025

To leverage the vast

e-commerce opportunities

in Southeast Asia, Swedish

companies need to do

their homework and have

a regional strategy in place

The growth rate of e-commerce

in Southeast Asia is the highest in the

world. The digital consumer base grew

by 50% between 2016 and 2017 and

now totals 200 million, out of more

than 600 million people in the ASEAN

region. By 2020, the it is expected

to increase to 480 million people. A

couple of key factors contribute to the

regions accelerated growth the coming

years:

Increase in internet penetration and

speed: 80% of the individuals in the

region is expected to have internet

access by 2025, as compared to 46%

in 2015

Strong economic growth: GDP is

forecasted to grow, on average, by 5,5%

until 2022, leading the way for a bigger

middle-class with higher purchasing

power

High degree of urbanization and a

young, digitally savvy population: 70%

of the Southeast Asian population is

under 40 years old and tend to cluster

in the bigger cities, which simplifies

the logistics part of e-commerce. In

addition, the digital adoption rate is

among the highest in the world, paving

the way for e-commerce

The ASEAN markets now show

a similar development to China’s rise

over the last decade, with e-commerce

concentrated to retail platforms.

Alibaba-owned Lazada is emerging as a

regional champion and is the preferred

platform in most countries with a few

exceptions, such as in Indonesia and

Singapore. Still, there are other platforms

available such as Shopee and Tokopedia

(only present in Indonesia) to the digital

consumer that need to be considered

to optimize the local strategy. There are

also specific challenges in the region

that needs to be taken into account

such as logistics and imports of certain

goods, and the different payment

methods used for e-commerce:

in Singapore, credit cards are used;

Internet banking is most common in

Malaysia, while ATM payment and bank

transfer is dominant in Indonesia. In

The Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and

Thailand, 60-70% of the population

are still unbanked, resulting in a large

portion of the population not able

to access e-commerce other than via

innovative payment gateways such as

Go-Pay, Grab-pay, T-Cash etc.

Southeast Asia’s e-commerce

sector is a fast moving and diverse

target. Success for Swedish companies

requires local knowledge of the unique

online landscape and agile capabilities

for innovation, not only in how you

develop products or services, but also

in how to interact with consumers

on new platforms and in the digital

channels. It is critical to recognize and

embrace the cultural, technological and

regulatory differences between the

Southeast Asian and Western online

landscapes. Companies that learn to

master the emerging digital channels

in Southeast Asia can leapfrog the

competition and experience radical

growth of online sales in the region.

Sources: Business Sweden Analysis,

OECD, Temasek & Google Asia,

Southeast Asia Digital Consumer Survey

(Bain & Company)

Martin Glaumann,

Market Area Director South East

Asia, Business Sweden

Disclaimer: The views and opinions

expressed in this article are those of

the authors and do not necessarily

reflect the official policy or position

of ScandAsia Publishing. Examples of

analysis performed within this article

are only examples. Neither ScandAsia

Publishing nor any person acting on

its behalf may be held responsible for

the use which may be made of the

information contained therein.

If you would like to share your

thoughts and insights on this

page contact Managing editor,

joakim@scandmedia.com



Business

Augmented reality

and machine learning

next for games producer

Jakob Lykkegaard


Jakob Lykkegaard Pedersen,

known from the gaming

company Playlab, is clearly

one of those uniquely talented

entrepreneurs - and who is

making it in Asia while having

the whole world as his market.

By Joakim Persson

At the age of just thirty Jakob has already done

two start-up exits. With his new venture

Lykke Studios he has intentionally reduced

the business to the very minimum. No more

investors, no more big companies – that is

the formula for Jakob going forward – as he is confidently

entering the world of Augmented Reality, or AR.

The start could not have been better. When Apple

launched their by the tech world much anticipated

Augmented Reality (AR) software and hardware solution,

Jakob was quick off the starting blocks to realise an AR game

based on this – put together within the very short lead

time of two months, but based on AR dreams he had been

contemplating for years.

“The reason I sold Playlab was that I wanted to move

into something new. Apple launched their AR kit, with which

they were first in enabling AR to get into the smartphone

devices. For many years you had all these augmented reality

experiences but you had to have certain conditions to make

it work,” explains Jakob.

Then, with one single update – and simply a huge

step forward – Apple enabled the technology on fourth

generation iPhones, and just gave AR away as a free plugin,

with 400+ million devices that supporting it. “That was the

call to me: now is the time to actually go into it and build

something, because the tech is ready,” Jakob recalls.

If you start with:

‘How do we make

money?’ your product

will be so much different

than what you came

up with

He founded Lykke studios, with the main purpose

to take new tech and actually making it consumerready.

“If you look at augmented reality and machine

learning a few years back, I would not in my wildest dreams,

even if had had unlimited budget and a thousand years,

been able to build an app on an AR or machine learning

platform - because the tech was not ready yet. I’ve been

looking at AR for a long time and it has taken Apple and

Google etc. thousands of engineers over many years to

build the technologies that I can basically now just plug in to.

I can with three guys build something on top of what they

have done and open up to consumer’s eyes – and who can

actually figure out how it works.”


3D-scanned sculptures floating around in front of you on the smart phone screen, in the ‘Amon’ Augumented reality game

And that is what Jakob succeeded in doing, right in time

for the Apple launch – seeing his AR puzzle experience

called Amon being introduced.

“We started developing as soon as Apple announced it

and had two months before they actually released it.”

“When the iPhone 10 was launched and they gave the

device to the press, Amon was one of three games. So just

because we have created great content means that Apple

likes it so much that they give it out when they launch a

new product. This is the great thing about being in new

technologies. Based on their new technology Apple took

their entire PR and marketing team and promoted the hell

out of it. That meant tons of free marketing that we would

otherwise never have been able to get.”

“Having a little higher edge you are the one that is being

picked out, which gives so much attention that you get much

better building blocks for the future off the technology.”

This launch also put Lykke Studios two months ahead of

the rest, giving them good partnerships, and which leads on

also to other partnerships, the Dane explains.

“You can throw the traditional business model out

the window!” continues Jakob. “Charging 3 USD for it we

would never have been able to afford TV commercials or

user acquisition online or anything else and make it into

a profitable business plan. But we’ve been able to create

something cool and show it to the world’s most valued

company. And they like it so much that they are pushing it

because they also want to showcase to their users what

their phones and technology can do.”

“They give us so much free traffic that I will be able to

profit from it. And As long as you do something cool people

will share and talk about it!” he adds.


The coolness – showcased live by Jakob – is this: The

AR app in the smart phone uses its camera to scan

a floor surface, which is then replaced with a graphic

environment – all happening live on the camera screen. In

Amon the floor cracks open forming an abyss.

“To make this seem as real as possible you can actually

see down through the floor.”

Above it, 3D scanned sculptures from museums in

Europe “float around”, divided into several parts.

“With Amon we wanted to create something that you

can’t just play on a screen but need AR to do. I can make

experiences for users by placing content on the ground in

front of them that the users feel is real and right there; kind

of tricking the mind of the users.”

“And with the 3D model statues we worked heavily on

that you should be able to actually touch them with the

phone and get feedback so it feels like actually touching

it - as if being real.”

This, combined with using real statues adds to the

authenticity.

“Interesting with this game is that it took us quite some

time to teach people that they actually have to stand up and

physically move around to play the game. That is something

that users are not used to at all.”

Jakob, who is fond of experiences, says this game also

increases people’s understanding of AR in general. “I just

like to create products and I feel that the best products

to create to tell people about new technologies are games.

Everybody can adapt to that; it’s about taking some of the

technologies that have been created over the last few years

I feel that the best

products to create

to tell people about

new technologies

are games

and build small products that I can actually give to my mom,

who will understand.

If his parents can play it that means the consumer market

will be tremendous: “They will become aware of machine

learning and AR that will heavily impact them, and which

they are now able to interact with. It’s not some futuristic

thing; it’s happening now!”

“It will change how everything works in a few years and

I’m impressed by how few actually are seeing it coming

and how fast I’m expecting it to happen. In the community

people have a tendency to heavily over-estimate the short

term but underestimate the long-term effect of things,” he

elaborates.

The excitement often dies out fast, as things take time

to develop. But then it suddenly kicks in and transforms

industries.

“All sectors will be affected, and I can barely predict next

year. I don’t know how the market is going to look like then

for any digital, media, or game company because it’s easier

to follow trends and look into the future.”

“What I know for sure is that all companies are going to

be fully transformed. All these companies are going to rely

fully on AR for many of the decisions that are being made.

So for me it is very easy to take the aspect of AR and going

heavily into studying it and actually having an edge once it

comes out.

“The technology is there, and so is the server power to

develop the tools. So the impact that will have on the world

is tremendous, and that’s what I feel is super exciting and

where I feel I want to be on the right side of the table when

things really kick off.”


Jakob, who has no programming background, likes to

go into areas he doesn’t fully understand but can see

an opening in. He subscribes to the saying ‘passionately

curious’.

“Whatever I’m interested in I follow heavily on every

single aspect. Then I figure out that there are these big

holes that nobody is really doing and that are opening up.

One market is usually dying and another one is opening. For

Lykke Studios AR and machine learning are opening while

the Premium side is dying. It’s much easier to follow a wave

when it starts and when it becomes big and leave before

it breaks.”

So did the sales of Playlab mean getting rid of a sinking

ship, since its business model focused on the premium? Not

necessarily, it is just becoming much more competitive.

“Why we started Playlab, six years ago was based on

the revolutionary thing that games on mobiles started

becoming free to download, designed on a system where

people got to spend money later on in the game. As one of

the first studios within that we developed very successful

games.”

Thailand’s second largest e-commerce company, Danishowned

Chilindo, is the buyer.

“They have changed the direction of the games a bit.

They wanted to take a lot of users from our mobile games

and turn them into e-commerce customers, because, when

you win something in the game, like a virtual trophy, you

might as well win something in real life. And instead of

having ads inside the games for other games, you might as

well have ads for online purchases, to convert a lot of that

traffic into online sales. Instead of spending money on the

game they want people to come in and buy products.”

Playlab also had a lot of technical skills that Chilindo

needed.

With his new company Jakob however wants to have

maximum freedom: “I have turned down many investors

already; I choose to personally fund everything because as

soon as you get co-partners, co-founders, etc. involved you

need to have a plan of how to make money.”

“Not necessarily having a business plan we are already

making money at Lykke Studios. But if you start with: ‘How

do we make money?’ your product will be so much different

than what you came up with and that’s what I want to

eliminate.”

However, validation is his guiding principle: “I always liked

the market validation. Since I can’t develop anything myself

I need to prove the idea before I go out and hire other

people to get it done. And I need to put the money into

it. In my circle of close friends it’s always about killing each

other’s ideas, which is actually amazing because you bring an

idea to them and if they can’t kill it you know it’s really good.

And that’s what I love about the community.”

“I like the entertainment side, because it is easy to grasp

and will always be there; people will always play games, they

will always want to be entertained – it’s not something that

is as niche that will just go away.”

As with other entertainment there will always be a

market as long as the quality is there, Jakob believes: “No

matter if the games are played on glasses, are free or paid

or AR, if you make great content people will buy that, and

as long as you are open to adapting to new platforms you’ll

be able to change.”


Lifestyle Asia Swedes in new,

pivotal Burda Digital role

Business

Fr. left: Richard Nilsson; CEO Sven Friedrichs Hubert Burda Media Asia; and Christopher Lindvall

Burda International Asia, a

subsidiary of Hubert Burda Media,

has announced new, far-reaching

changes that “will place the company at

the forefront of the region’s publishing

industry.” The international technology

and media company are making these

changes in response to the changing

needs of readers and advertisers,

therefore introducing a new structure

that reorganises the business into three

distinct units: Digital, Print and Services.

The Digital business unit will

be responsible for Burda’s digital

publications, including luxury content

platforms Lifestyle Asia, PrestigeOnline,

Pin Prestige, August Man and Hello!

Thailand. Lifestyle Asia’s co-founders,

Christopher Lindvall and Richard

Nilsson have been appointed as key

members for Digital and will act as

Digital Managing Directors for Hong

Kong and Thailand, and Singapore and

Malaysia.

The Print business will continue

to oversee the group’s luxury print

publications. In addition, the Services

unit will be renamed to Augment and

endeavour to increase the product

offerings within content marketing,

custom publishing, event planning and

an array of digital marketing services.

Burda International will be making

a significant investment to expand

its business units across the region,

bolstering its workforce to offer

innovative luxury content solutions. The

Digital business unit is the first of the

three units to be aggressively launched

in the coming months, with 38 new hires

planned across the region.

In their new roles, Lindvall and Nilsson

will draw upon more than a decade of

experience in online publishing to steer

the Digital business towards growth.

Formerly Lifestyle Asia’s Editor

in Chief, Michael Alan Connelly and

Managing Editor Luann Alphonso, will

be appointed Heads of Digital Content

for the region. Tony Cheong is appointed

the new Head of Digital Sales for Hong

Kong and Thailand, and Chris Ng is

announced as Head of Digital Sales for

Singapore and Malaysia.

“Our mission is to be the first in

luxury. We connect affluent consumers

with luxury brands and services, through

targeted content solutions. We believe

to support this mission, we must

redefine ourselves, from a traditional

publisher, to a content company,” CEO

Sven Friedrichs announced recently to

key executives at the BurdaTomorrow

conference held in Bangkok.

“We’re thrilled about Burda making

such a significant investment into the

Digital unit and sharing our vision for the

future of the business,” said Christopher

Lindvall, Digital Managing Director for

Hong Kong and Thailand. “We can’t wait

to launch new brands and products,

while offering our clients strong social

media offerings.

The new structure of the Digital

business will enable growth strategies

and improve product development. To

ensure a cutting-edge digital portfolio,

Burdahas recently signed a contract

with American agency Wondersauce,

which specialises in creating best-in-class

content experiences for the modern

consumer.

“We’re excited to work with

renowned developer and agency

Wondersauce, not only as our platform

builder but as our product advisor

moving forward. Our ambition is not

only to enhance the existing portfolio

of digital brands, but also to launch new

brands, expand into new markets and

launch products in the social media and

transactional space. Still, our core focus

will remain on working in the luxury

and lifestyle space,” said Richard Nilsson,

Digital Managing Director for Singapore

and Malaysia.


Business

Volvo Buses’ new B8R

model arrives to Thailand

Text and photos: Joakim Persson

H.E. Ambassador Staffan Herrström in the middle, flanked by

the Volvo Buses Asia Pacific and Thailand management team


The new Volvo B8R chassis from Volvo Buses has

arrived to Southeast Asia – ‘Made to just keep

running’. The Swedish premium buses brand’s

latest model, which replaces the top-selling B7R,

was in Thailand launched with a Bangkok in late

March. Volvo Buses assembles the B8R in its plant there,

using kits from Volvo Buses’ factory in Borås, Sweden.

The new chassis, powered by the 8-litre Volvo engine,

is already being sold throughout the Asia- Pacific region

and will be available in Euro 5 emission standard when so

required by Thai regulations.

To celebrate the arrival H.E. Ambassador Staffan

Herrström honoured the occasion, praising one the Nordic

country’s most well known brands.

Volvo Buses is replacing a top-selling product with

something even more modern, and doing it in a region that

is one of the growth engines of the world – SEA.

“Congrats to Thailand, Volvo’s customers and prospects.

Volvo Buses is taking a major step forward with its new chassis.

Increased safety, fuel efficiency and life cycle cost efficiency

will mean important improvements and opportunities

for buyers of buses in this country and the region,” said

Sweden’s ambassador to Thailand in his welcome address.

“Volvo is a trademark closely related to Sweden as a

country. It stands for many things; safety, quality, environmental

concern… as does Sweden as a country. Volvo buses is

one of the world’s leading brands of buses and coaches,

operating in more than 140 countries all over the world,

in Thailand running since 1999,” he continued and went on

to point out the two countries have a significantly longer

history together.

“Our first relations were established, this year, 150

years ago! King Chulalongkorn visited Sweden in 1897. King

Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit followed in 1960 and our royal

families have very close relations with each other. And the

Thai Supreme Court hosted Queen Silvia in Thailand last

month. In parallel we have seen remarkable relations been

developing between Thais and Swedes,” said ambassador

Herrström, pointing to the large number of Swedes, residing

in and visiting Thailand every year, as well as the many Thais

living in Sweden.

David Mead, Vice President, Volvo Buses Asia Pacific then

continued and highlighted and impressive number: “In 2017

Volvo Buses delivered almost 1500 new Volvo Buses in

the Asia Pacific. We supply operators in various segments,

including city buses, tourist coaches, express coach services,

as well as corporate and school transport. We’re very

proud to provide the world’s safest, most reliable and most

environmentally-friendly buses and coaches across the

region and the world.”

“Thailand has always been a special market for us and

for the last ten years we put almost 200 new buses on

the road every year. In 2017 we are really proud to be the

market leader amongst European coaches, and the outlook

for 2018, with the new product entry of the new Volvo B8R,

looks even brighter,” Mr Mead continued.

“Those that want differentiation in the market and the

value of after sales; customers looking to quality and safety

in choosing buses – that’s our market.”

He said that with their vision for the future they have

made investments locally to serve their customers in the

best way possible, and you’ll meet the Volvo bus team based

right here in Bangkok.

Volvo Buses spend over 100 million USD annually on

R&D, Mr Suresh Chettiar, Business Head of Volvo Buses

South Asia and Vice President Volvo Bus Corporation,

informed, where the new chassis represents the Swedish

company’s commitment to invest in future technologies.

“Describing Thailand as one of their most important

markets, he said: “It’s not every day we launch a new

product; in this case a product that has been designed to


keep our customers in Thailand and markets around the

world on the road. It is designed to just keep on running.

The new Volvo B8R represents Volvo’s commitment to the

intercity tourism and coach segment across Asia Pacific and

the rest of the world.”

He described the B8R as well suited to Thailand on long

distance and th tourism couches market.

The latest result of the R&D is a “new driveline that takes

fuel efficiency to an even better level with the B8R. You will

see new features, great flexibility and most importantly

the Volvo quality and safety built into this product. But it

represents so much more than just being a product – it

represents a way that we at Volvo Buses think about public

transport, the way we wish to move people and the way

we wish to respond to the cities of the upcoming future,”

Mr Suresh Chettiar continued.

“At Volvo Buses we understand the importance of being

able to move a large number of people reliably, safely as

well as with care for the environment. We see the role of

B8R as a workhorse for leading bus operators around the

world. We are closely working with operators, distributors

and with governments. With them we jointly plan for the

future in public transport.”

“We are looking at sustainable technologies that will

deliver mass transit outcomes with care for the environment

where they work. In time we see a world where vehicles

are inter-connected. We see a role also for electric vehicles.

And one day maybe even vehicles that can navigate a

country like Thailand on their own, with autonomous roads.

Above all we do see a bright future or public transport, for

operators, our operators, and of course for ourselves as

Volvo Buses.”

Speaking to ScandAsia General Manager for Volvo Buses

Thailand, Mr Dechchai Kulkarineetham said that the forecast

is for its sales volume to increase, a bus well suited to

Thailand. The focus is on tourism couches, a market of 1200

buses per year in total. In fact, tourists and tour operators

increasingly demand more safety and quality from the bus

operators.

In 2017 buses from Volvo represented 52 % per cent of

sales of brands from Europe.


Business

Helsinki co-hosted Global Technology

Collaboration Conference Hong Kong

Jukka Jokinen, 2 nd from left, senior venture advisor of HBH. Mahmudul Hasan

(1 st from right) from a startup ‘MVision’

Global Technology Collaboration

Conference was arranged in

April to explore and maximise

opportunities in the Greater Bay Area

(expected to be the fastest growing

region in the world).

City of Helsinki and Helsinki Business

Hub co-hosted the conference that

was organized by Compass Innovation

Alliance. Three start-ups from Helsinki

attended the pitching competition..

Representatives from Finnish companies

in Hong Kong were also invited.

The purpose of the Conference

was to explore the opportunities and

challenges encountered by foreign

investors when bringing in international

projects to China and especially the

Greater Bay Area.

With the new scheme to integrate

9 cities and 2 districts (namely, Hong

Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, Shenzhen,

Zhuhai, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan,

Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing), the

Greater Bay area is expected to be the

World’s fastest growing business hub in

the upcoming decade.

“Successful day for Finland - Hong

Kong innovation relations,” stated

Consulate General of Finland in Hong

Kong and Macao. “Helsinki Business

Hub was portrayed as a leading foreign

partner of Greater Bay Area start+up

business development. Jukka Jokinen,

senior venture advisor of HBH, got

the spotlight. Mahmudul Hasan from a

start-up ‘MVision’ won the award of the

most convincing pitcher. MVision uses

AI to speed up treatment of cancer

patients.

How can you make your money work

while you enjoy life?

Kim Osborg Nielsen

kim.nielsen@nordea.sg

www.nordeaprivatebanking.com

Nordea Bank S.A, Singapore Branch is part of Nordea Group, the leading financial services group in the Nordic and Baltic Sea regions. Some products and services may, due to local regulations, not be available to individuals resident in certain countries and their availability

may depend, among other things, on the investment risk profile of persons in receipt of this publication or on any legislation to which they are subject. Nothing in this publication should be construed as an offer, or the solicitation of an offer, to purchase, subscribe to or

sell any investment or product, or to engage in any other transaction or provide any kind of financial or banking service in any jurisdiction where Nordea Bank S.A., Singapore Branch or any of its affiliates do not have the necessary license. Published by Nordea Bank

S.A., R.C.S. Luxembourg No. B 14.157 on behalf of Nordea Bank S.A., Singapore Branch, 138 Market street Capita Green #09-03 Singapore 048946. www.nordeaprivatebanking.com subject to the supervision of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (www.mas.gov.sg).


Business

Singapore-Swedish business delegation

in Vietnam

On 23-24 April the Embassy of

Sweden in Hanoi welcomed

a Swedish business delegation

from Singapore to Vietnam. The

delegation was led by the Swedish

Ambassador to Vietnam Mr. Pereric

Högberg, the Swedish Ambassador to

Singapore Mr. Håkan Jevrell and the

president of the Swedish Chamber

of Commerce in Singapore Mr. Jan

Stjernstrom.

The delegation consisted of 12

Swedish companies from a broad

range of industries, such as banking,

manufacturing, shipping, transportation

and health among others. Many

of the companies are market

leaders in their respective fields and

they were very interested to get a

better understanding of the overall

developments, opportunities and

challenges in Vietnam. After two days

of fruitful meetings and discussions, the

delegation left with new knowledge

about the conditions of doing business

in Vietnam, reports the Embassy of

Sweden in Hanoi.

In Hanoi the delegation got the

opportunity to meet with Hanoi

People’s Committee and several

ministries. The delegation also listened

to Vietnamese top economists to

understand more about where

Vietnam is coming from and where it

is heading in the future. In the evening

the ambassador invited the delegation

to a reception at the Swedish residence

where the delegation met with people

from Vietnamese businesses as well as

with Swedish business representatives

working in Vietnam.

In Ho Chi Minh-city the delegation

met with Ho Chi Minh-city People’s

Committee and gained insights into

what opportunities there are for

Swedish companies in Vietnam in

general as well as HCMC in particular.

The innovation, quality and sustainability

that characterize many Swedish

companies are qualities highly valued

and the chairman expressed his wish

for more Swedish companies to come

to Vietnam.

Source: Embassy of Sweden in Hanoi

AndersenB2B and Norcham Philippines

starts cooperation

On March 22, Aalborg-based

AndersenB2B.com and

Makati-based Nordic Chamber

of Commerce of the Philippines

announced their cooperation, which

brings their respective memberships

and networks closer together. The

purpose of the cooperation is to help

establish new partnerships, and increase

communication and awareness about

mutual business opportunities between

Danish and Philippine companies,

particularly SMEs.

Source: Nordic Chamber of Commerce

of the Philippines


Norwegian Embassy Bangkok met

Multiconsult

Business

On 22 April, Chargé d’Affairs

a.i. Mr. Vegard Holmelid, had a

meeting at the Embassy with

representatives from the Norwegian

engineering consultancy company

Multiconsult. In the meeting, the many

possibilities for closer Thai-Norwegian

cooperation within the energy sector

were discussed, as well as how the

Embassy can contribute in this regard,

reports the Norwegian Embassy in

Bangkok.

Multiconsult is a company with

roots going back to 1908. They have

been operating in South East Asia

for many years. Now, Multiconsult is

steadily expanding its presence in the

region. Recently Multiconsult opened

their first office in Thailand. In Thailand,

as generally in South East Asia, their

work is mostly focused on projects

within the renewable energy sector, as

well as the oil and gas sector.

Mr. Vegard Holmelid underlined

that the Embassy appreciates when

Norwegian companies like Multiconsult

are concentrating on Thailand. He

made it clear that he was particularly

happy that a company like Multiconsult,

a centrepiece of Norway’s world class

expertise on renewable energy, is now

investing in Thailand. This is of great

importance for the continuation of the

strong bilateral relationship that has

existed between Norway and Thailand

for 111 years.

Source: Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok

Team Sweden Philippines

representatives visited Singapore

On 19 April the Swedish

Chamber of Commerce

Singapore, together with

Danish Business Association Singapore

and Finnish Business Council Singapore,

held a roundtable session where Mr

Joona Selin, Executive Director of

NordCham Philippines, shared his

lessons learned and best practices

from more than 50 market entry and

business development engagements

with Nordic companies in the Philippine

market.

To succeed in the Philippine market

four things was pointed out by Mr

Ulf Wennblom, country manager at

Business Sweden, as key success factors:

building trust, partnering with the right

people, investing in people and to be

patient.

In this breakfast we took this a step

further, writes NordCham. Joona Selin,

joined the roundtable discussion on

how this is carried out and achieved in

reality. Joona Selin presented some live

cases and answered questions on how

to succeed in practice in the Philippines.

Source: Nordic Chamber of Commerce

Philippines


Business

Norway-Asia Business

Summit – Digitalisation,

world changing

businesses


In Antler, we want to

bring in great founders

from different walks of

life as we want to ensure

we can both do systematic

innovation and more of

the random innovation

By Sara Brun Nielsen

The seventh edition of the Norway-Asia Business

Summit took place in Singapore this year.

ScandAsia met Mr. Magnus Grimeland, Founder

and Chief Executive Officer at Antler Innovation

and one of this year’s keynote speakers to talk

about digitalisation and world changing businesses.

If you have one egg and I have one egg and we swap the

eggs, we will both have one egg. If you have one idea and

I have one idea and we swap the ideas, we will both have

two. That is the wording of an old Chinese saying. It is also

the basic point when talking about digitalisation in relation

to building great companies.

Mr. Magnus Grimeland, Founder and Chief Executive

Officer at Antler.co, a startup generator based out of

Singapore, was moderator of the panel debate “Digitalising

the core” at this year’s Norway-Asia Business Summit. And

when it comes to businesses of today, digitalisation is a

matter of survival.

“With the advent of more powerful artificial intelligence

and machine learning algorithms you can start to get pattern

recognition out of very random data sets that will show you

inventive things we cannot even imagine right now. I think

that is extremely exciting,” Magnus Grimeland states.

But to digitalize a company means putting great levels

of trust in other companies. Most businesses need to

outsource some non-core aspects of the company to focus

on the core aspects themselves and avoid slowing down

the more essential parts. This means collaboration between

companies in very different sectors. And according to Mr.

Magnus Grimeland collaboration is also the key to a truly

great business. But it all starts with finding great people to

build great businesses.

“In Antler, we want to bring in great founders from

different walks of life as we want to ensure we can both do

systematic innovation and more of the random innovation.

We bring in the best possible expertise to tackle these things

– people who are really excited about building businesses

and we will help them do that,” Magnus Grimeland explains.

And Magnus Grimeland knows about building great

companies. He himself has co-founded the e-based

fashion shop ZALORA and is responsible for the overall

coordination of the ZALORA Group. In 2016, ScandAsia

talked to Magnus Grimeland about ZALORA. Back then, he

said “It has not been easy. But it has not been impossible

either.” To Magnus Grimeland it is very much worth to put


an effort into building great companies, because the world

needs them. The thought is, that great businesses of today

not only have an excessive financial impact on the world,

but are truly world changing.

“There has been a mind-set change in the way people

are using companies and services. I think it is very hard for

a company that does not have a positive societal benefit to

do well in the long term. Great companies have this dual

impact. Nobody will be interested in buying your product

or using your service if it doesn’t have a real impact on

society which is positive. High efficiency, making things easier

and cheaper and helping certain parts of society that need

something done,” Magnus Grimeland explains.

For great companies to have that kind of impact on

society they need to be up to date. And that might not even

be enough. The companies need to strive to have the best

digital platform both in-house and outhouse. Digitalisation is

unavoidable, in spite of all its limits. As one of the speakers

of the panel debate, Andreas Sohmen-Pao put it:

“We cannot eat 1’s and 0’s. We cannot move in 1’s

and 0’s.”

At Antler.co, the goal is to find the best talents on

different platforms and help them build their company.

The people Antler work with are people with a drive. It

is important that the companies they build are owned

by the founders who build them. That helps the founders

maintain the drive to achieve great things. But Antler also

has a responsibility in terms of what kind of businesses they

help build – and whether the dual effect of the company is

positive to society.

“We are very conscious about that. Primarily in terms

of bringing in people who possess that integrity. The type of

people who want to build companies and the type of people

we see applying very often have this type of characteristics

as well. It is amazing. Normally it is not something you

actually have to do very consciously, it is just part of the

people coming in right now,” Magnus Grimeland explains.

On top of that the consciousness level in terms of the

environment and secondary benefits on the world seem to

be way higher than it was before. Consumers demand not

only great products and services, but also make demands

on how businesses are run. For companies to achieve all of

that, idea-sharing is essential. Both concerning digitalisation

and other business developments.

“We really believe that great businesses today are

world changing. And it does not need to be globally world

changing, it can also be a really good business which is very

regional impactful,” Magnus Grimeland states.

Lastly, Magnus Grimeland would like to encourage

people with a drive to create businesses: “If you want to

be an entrepreneur and help change the world, apply on

Antler.co.”

Nordic Chamber of Commerce and

Philippines-Sweden Business Council

to collaborate


On April 23, Nordic Chamber of

Commerce of the Philippines

signed a Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) with the Philippine

Chamber of Commerce and Industry

(PCCI) and its newly-established the

Philippines-Sweden Business Council

(PSBC).

The key objective of the MoU is to

strengthen economic and trade ties

between the Republic of the Philippines

and the Nordic countries, and to bring

the respective business communities

closer together.

Source: Nordcham Philippines

Nordic Innovation funds

Hong Kong incubator

Business

Building on the success of the

Nordic Innovation Houses in

Silicon Valley and New York

government agencies from four

Nordic countries have joined forces to

open soft landing incubators in both

Singapore and Hong Kong. Nordic

Innovation has now decided to grant

the Nordic part of the financing.

Nordic Innovation House is a

soft-landing concept for Nordic

entrepreneurs and small and medium

sized companies who are new to a

specific market or who see the benefits

of a being part of a Nordic community.

Nordic companies can get access to

a Nordic community in important

international hubs and the services

offered will be complementary to what

already exists through the different

national trade organizations in the

Nordic countries.

Choosing to set up this incubator

in Hong Kong has to do with several

things. It ranks as number 5 (out of

190) on the ‘Ease of doing business’

index. Hong Kong is also situated right

next to the Chinese mainland market.

The city is also very close to Shenzhen,

which builds on market attractiveness.

Investors in Hong Kong are very

interested in Nordic companies in life

science, clean tech and ed-tech.

Nordic Innovation is a Nordic

organisation working to promote

cross-border trade and innovation.

Nordic Innovation’s board members

are selected by the five Nordic

governments. The chair of the board

is an alternating position. Board

meetings are held four times a year and

representatives from Nordic Council

of Ministers and Nordic Innovation are

present at all meetings.

Source: Finnish Chamber of Commerce

in Hong Kong, Nordic Innovation

Sustainable urban planning Nordic Java,

Indonesia road show

During a few days in April the

four Nordic embassies was

on the road on Java Island to

promote Nordic solutions on mobility,

visiting Bandung, Jakarta, Surabaya and

Yogyakarta.

With rapid development follows

challenges, not least when it comes to

mobility. Being able to transport people

in an efficient and environmental

friendly way is crucial if we are to

ensure a sustainable future, especially

in our large growing cities. A better

working transportation system will

save both our environment and have

positive socioeconomic effects. This

involves facilitating movement for

bicycles, buses and metro-systems.


Business

Norwegians presented

beneficial breakthroughs

at dtac’s AI, machine

learning seminar

Mr Andrew Kvalseth, Chief Marketing Officer, dtac

When Telenor’s Thai mobile operator

arranged a talk (arranged on 21 March)

around the data science breakthroughs

with artificial intelligence and machine

learning, two prominent speakers

represented Norway.

Andrew Kvalseth, dtac’s newly appointed Chief

Marketing Officer, and Telenor’s Senior Research Scientist

Kenth Engø-Monsen shared their insights as part of this

‘dtac loop: The Shapes of Data’ event, held to underscore

how machine learning, connected devices and big data can

empower society.

Four speakers in total demonstrated how connected

devices, big data and machine learning can be combined

to unlock new value in the fields of health, marketing and

agriculture.

Andrew Kvalseth focused on advanced customer

personalization, which relies heavily on big data and machine

learning; areas in which dtac is the industry leader.

“The idea is to be able to go from knowing what you’re

looking for and actively searching for it to just showing up

and saying, ‘Hi, it’s me. Amaze me,’” said Mr. Kvalseth.

Mr. Kvalseth outlined how dtac uses machine learning

in both its extensive in-house online marketing capabilities

and through strong partnerships with social media services.

This allows dtac to provide customers, or prospects, with

offers that are continually refined to best meet their needs.

“It’s working,” he said. “Eighty per cent of dtac’s data

users with smartphones have downloaded our app. Our

digital revenue increased more than tenfold in 2017. Our

customers are increasingly realizing that our personalized

offers can bring value to them.”

To generate this level of personalization, dtac must

process billions of data points that are constantly being

updated. Mr. Kvalseth highlighted that only advanced

machine learning algorithms can make sense of this much

data and turn it into segments of like-minded customers.

Founded by four MIT graduates, Ricult tackles the


Telenor’s Senior Research Scientist Kenth Engø-Monsen

low yields of Thai farms and consequent poverty of Thai

farmers with extremely precise satellite imagery and

weather forecasts. Their motto: “Those who feed us need

us.” Strategy manager Chawin Chatsirivichaikul introduced

the AI-powered future of precision farming in Thailand—

including a new collaboration with dtac Smart Farmer.

“The yields of Thai farms aren’t just low compared to

global benchmarks; they’re low compared to our regional

neighbours. Thai farmers keep spending more and more on

fertilizers and pesticides but their yields hardly increase,”

said Mr. Chawin. As a result, Thai farmers make up the bulk

of Thailand’s population beneath the poverty line.

By providing farmers with actionable information, Ricult

is able to increase yields by 40 per cent and profits by 100

per cent. While open source weather forecasts are for a

50km radius, Ricult’s have a resolution of 3km. Its machine

learning algorithms applied to satellite imagery can also

analyse the light reflected off of leaves to estimate the

crops’ health.

“dtac’s Smart Farmer app, which was developed jointly

with the Rak Baan Kerd foundation, has already been

downloaded 100,000 times by tech-savvy farmers. Through

this app, we hope to reach even more farmers and help

break the cycle of poverty,” Mr. Chawin said of the Ricultdtac

partnership.

Telenor’s Senior Research Scientist Kenth Engø-Monsen

defines himself as a data explorer. In partnership with

Harvard University, his work has led him to Pakistan and

Thailand, where he harnesses mobile data to predict the

spread of infectious diseases. He shared why stopping the

spread of dengue and malaria matters, and how big data

can help win the day.

“Knowing where dengue or malaria will spread next is

incredibly important. It tells national health services where

to intensify their efforts. They can distribute mosquito

nets or set up mobile clinics. They can roll out information

campaigns. They can monitor that area more closely,” said

Mr. Engø-Monsen.

By using data from mobile usage, it is possible to

paint a picture of a country’s human mobility. This data is

then layered with information on the location of malaria

outbreaks to predict where humans will carry the disease

next. He noted that this level of data crunching is big data

on a massive scale. He also stressed the need to keep that

data safe and private.

“Whenever we look at client data, we take extreme

precautions. The data is completely anonymized and

aggregated. It can only tell you that, for example, 500

individuals went from cell tower A to tower B. It can’t tell

you who those people were,” said Mr. Engø-Monsen.

Developed jointly with Harvard University and Mahidol

University, the Thailand project will rely on mobility data

from dtac and case data from the Ministry of Health to

better predict future malaria outbreaks in the country.

The art of Customer Value Management is both highly

creative and data driven. Chatsuda Santanond explained

how her team balances soft and hard skills, and how the

combination of big data and machine learning keeps pushing

the limits of her field.

“Our goal is to reach our customers with the right offer,

through the right channel at the right moment. And with

the help of machine learning, our one-to-one marketing

will be even more powerful,” said Ms. Chatsuda. “Across

all channels, nearly one third of our topping sales are now

coming from our AI-powered recommendation engine.”

Machine learning has also enhanced dtac’s Prepaid

Registration Audit by utilizing image recognition techniques.

Moreover, it was used to develop social listening tool to help

classify the intent (positive, negative, or neutral) of social

media comments on our channels. Both projects achieved

above 90 percent accuracy.

On top of the data scientists on her team, Ms. Chatsuda

also joined an AI research collaboration with Thammasat

University to build new AI talents for Thailand by focusing

on intelligent automation, machine learning, customer

experience enhancement, and analytics.


Business

Photo: Asia Development Bank

A brief guide

to making it big in China

By Henrik Vinther

China is one of today’s biggest

and most profitable markets

and a true Eldorado for anyone

wishing to expand their product

to a consumer group consisting

of more than 1,3 billion people.

But as the old tale of the City of

Gold told, it’s not easily found.

China is a market differing significantly from

any market Scandinavians or citizens of

the EU for that matter are familiar with. It

takes knowledge, ingenuity and an ever so

important network to just gain entrance to

the Chinese market, and once you’re there, there’s no telling

whether you will achieve success in the end or if it will be

another failed venture.

ScandAsia contacted the Danish Innovation Centre


Shanghai to ask them about how to enter the market in the

best way. Martin Bech, Consul (Science and Technology)/

Special Attaché agreed to give out his experiences.

Thank you for agreeing to speak with us. First of all,

let’s say I don’t have a product to sell, I just want

to enter the Chinese market. In your opinion, what

should my company do?

I get this question from time to time. Usually I tell people

that it isn’t necessarily about the area your company

specializes in, but more the way you address your idea,

what your business model is and your approach to the

market that determines if you will be successful in the end.

There are some areas that the government has stated to

be “sensitive” in the way that they wish to focus on solely

Chinese technology. Energy is one of those areas, ICT is

another one. Foreign companies will have a much harder

time entering these markets compared to markets that

aren’t a strategic priority for the government.

But if I have to recommend an area more suitable

than others, I would look at some of the major issues

Sanlitun , Beijing, China. Photo: Kentaro IEMOTO

Martin Bech

A factory along the Yangtze River in China. Photo: Creative

Commons 2.0 Germany

China is facing today. One of these is pollution and China

is desperately seeking new technology to help solve the

problem. Take water as an example. In the North and

especially in Denmark, we have lots of technologies to clean

wastewater, improve water supply and clean polluted water.

These are all areas with considerable potential in China.

Okay, so now I’ve decided upon an area for my

company. But it is no secret that China is very different

from the Northern countries when it comes to doing

business. Is there any way to prepare for that?

Other than making it clear to yourself that it’s a very hard

market to access, I don’t think you can prepare much from

back home. It requires a long and hard pull, commitment

and a good network here in China. One particularly

challenging area is legislation. It changes much more

frequently compared EU and other markets. Also, there are

more grey areas that you need to know how to navigate

and make sure to stay on the right side of the red tape at all

times. Another major challenge is the competition. Chinese

industry has developed tremendously in recent years and

in some sectors such as consumer electronics are playing

eye to eye with their western competitors. But China is

also still full of copy cats and the legislation, especially the

implementation, is not always supportive towards securing

foreign brands agains these copy cats. Though, in this area

we are also seeing positive, slow, but positive developments.

So how does the Chinese market differ from the EU

or similar markets?

To understand the situation in China, it is helpful to

compare with the pharmaceutical industry in Denmark.

Pharmaceuticals are a highly regulated area in Denmark

and so companies in this sector must have close contact

to the government to understand and adapt to changing

regulations. In China, the situation is similar – almost no

matter which sector you are in. For smaller companies,

government contact and relations may not be that important

but as soon as you reach a certain size government relations

quickly turns into one of the most important management

responsibilities. Basically, it is crucial to your success that you

understand how to properly interact with authorities and

how to build and use your network towards this end.

And how does one go about doing that?

That’s one of the things Danish Innovation Centre Shanghai

can help with. One of our tasks is to assist Danish companies

meet the right people – in government, potential partners,

investors or even universities that can supply specialist or

provide future employees. We do this on a case by case basis

but of course also have a range of more or less standardised

products on offer such as our innovation camps which is a

deep dive into a specific sector or specific eco-system. Late

last year, we did a camp focusing on automation and this year

we expect to organise camps focusing on China’s FinTech

industry and its Creative Economy industry. Still, however,

we always underline that one camp is not enough and that

the chinese market requires a long term commitment. It’s

hard work. Really hard work. But if you succeed, the reward

is also potentially much higher.


Community

Viking Fest in Ho Chi Minh City

Text: Håkan Ottosson Photos:

Nordcham, Ho Chi Minh City


The Nordic business community’s

annual Viking Fest was organised

on 19 May. The theme of this

year’s event was ‘Discover America’.

The almost 300 participants

gathered in the mid afternoon at Nha

Rong Port in central Ho Chi Minh

City to get dressed in proper biking

gear and prepare for the Viking ship

journey to America ( Thanh Da Island),

an hour’s journey up the Saigon River.

During the journey, the 300 Vikings

enjoyed refreshing drinks and snack on

the Viking ship. The weather was nice

and the Vikings had a beautiful sunset

during the trip and arrived just after

dark.

Just before entering port, the skies

started to darken, and just when every

one had come ashore and under

cover, the skies opened up for one of

the heaviest rains in this year. Luckily,

we were all under cover and started

digging in on the roasted pig, roasted

lamb, and other delicious items that

were consumed together with soft

drinks, beer, and Linie Aquavit that has

been specially imported from Norway.

In addition to the schnapps songs

signed by the Vikings, there was also

sing and dance entertainment provided

by “the Native Americans”.

At around 10 PM, the Vikings headed

back to central Saigon were some of

them continue to enjoy adventures in

foreign lands.

Community

One Night in Paris – an overall success


Photos: Tatyana Kildisheva @Kildi Photo (kildi.com)

One Night in Paris was the

theme of this year’s DABS

Annual Gala Dinner. As always,

the event included phenomenal dresses,

great dinner, champagne en masse and

the distribution of the DABS Business

Award.

This year’s Danish performers Big

Fat Snake perfectly matched the French

premise with their theme song Bonsior

Madame which surely is a song that will

get most people twirling on the dance

floor. 170 guests joined the party at

the beautiful Shangri-La Hotel. Days

after, when then eventual hangovers

had eased out, DABS send out a thank

you-note to all participants:

“Thank you all – sponsors, guests and

entertainers – for an absolutely amazing

DABS Gala Dinner on the 19th of May.”

ScandAsia has talked with two of

the participants who both agree that

the evening was delightful. Maria Ruby

and Camilla Sejr Larsen enjoyed the

nice atmosphere, good company,

extraordinary dresses and champagne

ad libitum. Also, the yearly night snack

was complimented – the all Danish

hotdogs.

“It was lovely,” Camilla Sejr Larsen

states.

Quality rather than quantity

Even though the overall impression of

the night was a success, the two guests

did ask for a little more attention to


Community

the details for next year’s Gala Dinner.

The impression was that some of the

younger generations stayed home.

“We usually get these little photos

taken that we can bring home with us.

Still, I will definitely attend next year if

there is a great band,” Maria Ruby states.

According to DABS president Stine

Martinussen the association made the

priority to focus on quality rather than

quantity. For instance, more finance

went to the photographer in order to

get higher quality pictures than previous

years. And no less than 152 bottles of

champagne were emptied at the end of

the night.

“We want it to be as distinguished

as possible,” Stine Martinussen explains.

And the DABS Business

Award goes to…

Not only was the evening about the


music and great company. This annual

and very special event is also a way of

celebrating Danish business in Singapore.

To do so, DABS each year chose a

winner among nominated candidates

for the DABS Business Award. And the

winner of the award 2018 is a company

that every person who have had their

childhood in Denmark value dearly. That

is, of course, LEGO.

“This year’s DABS Business Award

went to a company which most of

us will come across at some point

during our lives; LEGO!” DABS states.

The award was received on behalf of

LEGO by Leslie Falvey, General Manager,

Singapore and Malaysia.

DABS visited the LEGO office prior

to the Gala Dinner. And the award was

given to LEGO for their innovative

approach to “New Ways of Working”,

which DABS explains: “LEGO Singapore

has created a very dynamic workspace,

which focuses on activity-based working

and allows each individual to structure

his or her workday based on the tasks

at hand. In practice, the office space has

been divided into a number of different

work zones that enable employees to

change seating throughout a workday

or week, and to meet colleagues and

collaborate across teams, functions and

specializations. By focusing on the ways

of working LEGO has acknowledged

that people have varying needs to focus

and collaborate with colleagues during a

day and that traditional-style offices do

little to cater for these needs.”

Community

Danish Design Fair in the Danish

Seamen’s Church


Half a thousand people showed

up for the Danish Design

Fair at the Danish Seamen’s

Church. The event included delicate

Danish Design at advantageous prices,

smørrebrød and special brewed Danish

beer.

The well-known tones of Malaga by

Danish artist Thomas Helmig fills the

room with a Danish summer nostalgic

feel. The long and bright summer nights

as we know them best. The delicate

sound comes from the Danish highend

B&O speakers who are among

the Danish designers participating in

the event.

More than 550 people visited the

church at the event, which was about

much more than just spending – but

hey, spending money on great Danish

Design is always great. The event

brought people in the Danish expat

society together to enjoy each other’s

company and the things they have in

common.

And there is no real Danish event

without real Danish foods. Therefore,

Danish hotdogs with red sausages was

a must. No less than 200 hotdogs were

sold. But the big attraction was the

“smørrebrød”. Within one and a half

hour the 350 pieces were sold out.


Community

Thordur Adalsteinsson new Chairman

Scandinavian Society Siam

Thordur Adalsteinsson, 3 rd from left, with Jan Eriksson, James Raymond Medlycott, Pall

Steinarsson and Pertti Järvelä

Text and Photos: Gregers Moller

Thordur Adalsteinsson, elected

in April 2013 as the first ever

Icelandic Board Member of

Scandinavian Society Siam, made

history on Thursday 19 April 2018

when he was elected as the first

Chairman ever from the smallest of

the Nordic countries covered by SSS.

Thordur Adalsteinsson was elected

unanimously and with applause as

successor of Lars Andersson from

Sweden, who stepped down after

three years as SSS Chairman.

Two new members elected to

serve on the Board were Nicklas

Moberg, the Swedish manager at

Oakwood Residence Sukhumvit 24

Bangkok, and Nick Sahl,the Swedish

manager at Restaurant Cajutan. They

replace outgoing Board members

James Raymond Medlycott and Isak

Johansson. The rest of the board was

reelected:

• Thordur Adalsteinsson – Chairman

(Iceland)

• Claus Gundersen – Treasurer

(Denmark)

• Pall Arnar Steinarsson – Event

Manager (Iceland)

• Knut Hauslo (Norway)

• Flemming Kruhøffer (Denmark)

• Nick Moberg (Sweden)

• Nick Sahl (Sweden)

• Lars Andersson will continue in a

role as advisor to the board.

The open and constructive

member debate centered on the 100

Year Anniversary to be celebrated on

7 March 2020. Previous AGM’s have

heard proposals from members to use

the occassion to close and dissolve

the Scandinavian Society Siam, but this

was totally rejected by the around 20

members attending this year’s AGM.

There was a great interest in spending

around half a million on a Great Grand

Gala Ball in two years time, but a clear

vision of the life of the SSS after the

100 year birthday still needs to be

worked out.

The AGM took place at Rembrandt

Hotel Bangkok and after the meeting,

the members enjoyed an exquisite

dinner with wine ad libitum – free as

usual. It is surprising that this offer is

not more popular, considering how

hundreds of members join the SSS

Crayfish Party where tickets are sold

at 3.000 THB per person.


Swedcham China International

Women’s day seminar

On 7 March the Swedish

Chamber of Commerce in

China held its ‘International

Women’s day – Breakfast and Inspiring

Talks’ event in Shanghai.

The Chamber thanks everyone

who came to this seminar to celebrate

International Women’s day. “It was an

inspiring and insightful morning! Also

a big thanks to our guest speakers

for sharing their great stories and

experiences!”

Speakers were:

Lisette Lindahl, Consul General,

Consulate General of Sweden in

Shanghai, China. Lisette shared her

solid experience working abroad for

Swedish embassies as well as personal

thoughts.

Audrey Deng, Head of Regions

and Payment Solutions, Atlas Copco

Financial Solutions. Audrey has been

working for Atlas Copco for more

than 13 years. She shared her inspiring

career path.

Caroline Xue, Managing Director,

Marja Kurki China Operation. Caroline

shared her fascinating story on how

she became Managing Director of a

Finnish company in China.

Source: Swedish Chamber of

Commerce in China

Community

Sweden in Hanoi honoured artist Avicii

One of Sweden’s most famous

musicians suddenly passed

away recently only 28 years

sold: Avicii. His music was played all

over the world. In Hanoi the Embassy

of Sweden reports it has received

flowers and greetings from his fans

wanting to pay their respect. Avicii’s

first hit ‘Levels’ was released in 2011 and

made him an international superstar. In

2014 his song ‘Wake me up’ became

the first song to be played more than

200 million times on Spotify.

There was no better way to honour

his memory than through his music, the

embassy thought, inviting all to join an

event in Hanoi, at Ly Thai To-square, in

the evening of Saturday 5 May. Hanoian

DJ Lkaz played some of the Avicii hits

followed by an evening of Swedish

dance music.

Source: Embassy of Sweden, Hanoi


Lifestyle

Chokladbollens Dag –

a story on true passion for

Swedish chocolate balls


May 11 is a very special day for Swedes or

really just every chocolate loving person out

there. In Sweden, they have dedicated this

day to chocolate balls – “Chokladbollens

Dag”. For one especially chocolate craving

person, Alaine Handa, the search of making the best

chokladbollar has almost become an obsession during the

last five years. Now, she is working on a coffee table book

dedicated to chokladbollar, the Swedish concept “fika” and

a balanced way of living.

The Swedish chocolate balls “chokladbollar” are buns

made of left over cake, cocoa, butter and a few other

ingredients. Alaine Handa is a chokladbollar enthusiast. In

fact, she claims to be obsessed with the Swedish treat and

she has spent years getting the recipe just right. Today, she is

co-hosting an event at a café called Ebbas Fik in Helsingborg.

The first time the world was introduced to Swedish

chocolate balls was in 1943 during World War II. A recipe

was published in “Svenska Dagbladet” and the same year a

similar recipe on Danish “havregrynskugler” was published

in the Danish book “Ingenuity in times of crisis”. The recipes

are simple, using leftovers to create chocolate balls. But as

Alaine Handa was to find out, the method can be tricky.

Alaine Handa has truly lived a nomadic live. She was

born in Singapore, had her childhood in Jakarta until moving

back to Singapore when she was eight years old. Then she

studied in California, moved to New York for seven years,

back to Singapore, then graduate school in Switzerland and

an internship in Belgium. And now this multinational woman

has dedicated all of her passion and energy in the Swedish


specialty “chokladbollar”. Seems a bit confusing? Well, it all

started years ago, when Alaine Handa was just a child.

“I grew up with my aunt making these rum balls in

Indonesia. She made them the Dutch way using biscuits

appose to left over cake. But she used real rum. As a child

that was one of my favourite treats. Then, when I lived

in New York, a Swedish café called Fika opened near my

apartment. I walked in and saw chokladbollar. And I thought

that kind of looks like rum balls, maybe it tastes similar to it.

I tried it. And loved it,” Alaine Handa explains.

Before Alaine Handa moved to New York she had

studied in California. At one point the students had to

choose a “general education requirement” such as literature

or social science. Alaine Handa did not feel like taking

Shakespeare, as she puts it, instead she chose Scandinavian

Studies. Having lived a truly international live, she already

had plenty of Swedish friends. Therefore, she decided to

take a Swedish class every Monday to Friday before going

to university. Still, this may seem odd to some. But Alaine

Handa is the kind of person who decides on a project and

sees it all the way through. In the same way, she years later

was to do with the chokladbollar. That obsession started

five years ago on a plane from Copenhagen to Singapore.

“I was on a plane, sitting next to a Swedish woman.

We were prata lite svenska. I was telling her that I love

chokladbollar and she told me it was super easy to make

and gave me the recipe. So, this entire trip I was just going

like – coffee, oats, butter, sugar, cocoa – I literally memorized

it. I went home, bought the ingredients, started to make

them. It was kind of try and error to get the proportions

right, because all the recipes online did not come up right,”

Alaine Handa explains.

Three years later, two years from today, Alaine Handa

finally perfected the recipe.

“It was like an obsession basically. In Switzerland and

Belgium, the weather is different than in Singapore. Singapore

is very humid, so the balls tend to be more wet. And

Switzerland was dry, so they were not forming properly,”

Alaine Handa explains.

Now, she has gotten the chokladbollar making down to

a science. It is all about measuring the ingredients just right

and taking humidity and temperature into consideration. It

took her three years to get the basic right. Then she started

to experiment. Today, she masters about 30 different types

of chokladbollar.

“I am totally obsessed with making things from scratch.

I started looking into organic food and using whole foods.


I am totally obsessed with making things from

scratch. I started looking into organic food and

using whole foods. It tends to be really expensive, in

Singapore especially. It is not budget at all.

It tends to be really expensive, in Singapore especially. It is

not budget at all.”

Luckily, Alaine Handa ensures that the perfect Danish

butter or the just right French cocoa is not a necessity. If you

have got the method right it should not be too difficult to

make those delicious chocolate balls. But to her, the perfect

chokladbollar still have not been made.

“If I had the perfect ingredients they would come from

different parts of the world. I have gotten very close recently,

but the ingredients were very difficult to get. I literally had

French cocoa from a specialty chocolate shop in Sweden, I

had organic brown sugar from this specialty health store – I

can’t even remember where I found it – and of course, the

best butter that was rated in the butter award, the Danish

butter Lurpak. I use real vanilla bean and Italian roast coffee.


And then of course local coconut shavings from Southeast

Asia. They are very simple to find over there, and they are

very cheap and very good,” Alaine Handa explains and

continues:

“This is why I think I should never open a café, because I

would be like – I need to make it the best every time! And

I would… lose money.”

In the book, Alaine Handa takes a social interception on

chokladbollar. She explains the book is more than recipes it

is also about this concept of balanced life, that Scandinavian

people seem to embrace with the concept of Danish hygge,

Norwegian kos and Swedish fika – which is about taking

some time out for yourself every day to relax either alone

or in the company of others and have a cup of coffee and

a nice treat – like chokladbollar.

“I love fika – taking a coffee break in the middle of the

day or even in the evening actually. Anytime you can fika.

And I love the story about chokladbollar. Almost every

Swede learn to make them as a kid with their grandmother,

aunt or mother, even grandfathers,” Alaine Handa states.

At the moment Alaine Handa is trying out two working

titles for her book. One of them is “In search of the best

chocolate balls”. And then there is the more comical title “I

love Swedish chocolate balls”.

“Some of the titles for my recipes are hilarious. I have

been really into fruit lately and I just perfected what I am

calling monkey balls, because it is banana chocolate. Blue

balls, is another one. It is blueberry stuffed chocolate balls.

So, I thought I could do a funny title like “I love balls”,” Alaine

Handa explains.

Today at the chokladbollar event in Helsingborg Alaine

Handa will be judging chokladollar on appearance, smell and

taste. And you can see the event live streamed on Facebook

from 5.30 pm to 8 pm Sweden time: www.facebook.com/

travelwithalaine.

Unfortunately, we have to wait for the book – which

hopefully will be published in December – to get those

amazing Alaine Handa chokladbollar recipes. However,

Alaine Handa has a tip for all of us in Southeast Asia:

“When you look at the liquid levels do a bit less when

you follow the recipes online or even when my book comes

out.”


News brief

Finnish Ambassador held gender

equality keynote speech

Connecting to International

Women’s Day Finland’s

Ambassador to Thailand, Satu

Suikkari-Kleven, had the pleasure of

giving a keynote speech to Thammasat

University students on achieving gender

equality and women’s empowerment.

As a diplomat from Finland, gender

equality is not only deeply rooted in her

DNA, but also in her work, as gender

equality is a foreign policy priority for

Finland, she noted. Professor Siriwan

Suebnukarn and Vice Dean Jiraporn

Phornprapha highlighted some of the

thresholds preventing gender equality

in Thailand and South-East Asia, such as

high rates of gender-based violence and

women’s low political representation.

Ambassador welcomed Thailand’s high

rate of women board members and

CEOs.

Source: Embassy of Finland in Bangkok

Photo credits: Thammasat University

Finnish Business Council Beijing AGM

The Finnish Business Council

Beijing’s (FBCB) Annual General

Meeting 2018 took place on

19 April at Beijing Grand Concordia

Hotel. During the AGM the activities

and achievements of the past term

were reviewed and the new FBCB

board was elected.

New board members are Larry

Du from Tikkurila, Ulla Nurmenniemi

from Red Orchid, Seppo Selkala from

Sinoreach, Tommy Tang from Honka,

Juha Tuominen from Roboride, Jenny

Xiong from PWC and Liu Yuan from

Wetend. FBCB congratulates the new

board.

Source: Finnish Business Council Beijing


Danish-supported new Indonesia

marine plastic debris report

News brief

With Danish support, the

World Bank and Indonesia

has provided, in a new

report launched in late February,

important recommendations on how

to combat the issue of marine plastic

debris in Indonesia. A government

cooperation between Indonesia and

Denmark will focus on national policies

and regulations for reduction and

treatment of solid waste.

Source: Embassy of Denmark, Indonesia

Norway, Thai foreign affairs ministries

met in Thailand

On 21 - 22 February Norwegian

State Secretary of Foreign

Affairs, Ms. Marianne Hagen,

made the first visit to Thailand at a

political level since the coup in 2014,

reports the Royal Norwegian Embassy,

Bangkok. Her programme entailed both

a bilateral visit as well as participation

in the UN Global Sustainable

Development Goal on Affordable and

Clean Energy (SDG7) conference.

”In a very fruitful and positive

meeting with Thailand’s Deputy Minister

of Foreign Affairs, Virasakdi Futrakul,

many issues were touched upon.

One of them was how Norway and

Thailand can cooperate on sustainable

development.

”Norway and Thailand has a 111-

year history of positive bilateral dialogue

and also close trade relations. Afterward,

she therefore met representatives

from the Thai Norwegian Chamber

of Commerce as well as Norwegian

business leaders in Thailand to discuss

their activities.”

Ms. Hagen delivered a keynote

address at the UN Conference where

she emphasized Norway’s strong

commitment to the SDG7 on energy for

all. She also underlined the importance

of improving access to climate friendly

energy, the tight cooperation with the

private sector and the importance of

a gender perspective for reaching the

SDG7.

Support to Clean Energy is one of

the main priorities of the Norwegian

Development Policy. Norway spends

above 1 percent of its GDP on

development assistance.

Royal Norwegian Embassy in

Bangkok


News brief

Norwegian-Thai parties signed process

safety science and engineering MoU

On Monday 11 March, the

Norwegian ambassador and

the Minister of Energy, H.E.

Dr. Siri Jirapongphan, presided over the

signing ceremony of a Memorandum

of Understanding (MoU) on research

and educational cooperation in process

safety science and engineering. It is

a collaboration that will commence

between the Norwegian company

Gexcon AS and King Mongkut’s

University of Technology Thonburi

(KMUTT).

The Minister of Energy, H.E. Dr.

Siri Jirapongphan embraced the MoU

and its relevance for the continuing

development of human resources and

the energy sector in Thailand. This was

also emphasised by the Secretary-

General for Higher Education

Commission, Dr. Suphat Champatong

and the President of KMUTT, Assoc.

Prof. Sakarindr Bhumiratana, as specially


invited guest to this ceremony.

With the MoU signed, students at

both the graduate and post graduate

levels at KMUTT will be given the

opportunity to learn how to work

with Gexcon’s ‘FLACS’, a 3D software

tool for modelling explosion, dispersion

and fire consequences for all typical

flammable and toxic release scenarios.

KMUTT and Gexcon will also cooperate

in conducting scientific research and

arranging international conferences,

seminars, and workshops related to

the field of Process Safety Science and

Engineering. The signing of the MoU

marks the start of a shared effort of

contributing to enhance safety and risk

management in Thailand, which may in

the end produce knowledge that can

be utilised worldwide.

CEO of Gexcon, Mr. Sturle H.

Pedersen emphasized that the main

mission of Gexcon is to avoid accidents

and save lives worldwide. With the

MoU, KMUTT is now an important

partner in this effort.

“Knowledge is crucial for avoiding

disasters. For that reason we

collaborate with multiple world leading

universities. We are therefore very

happy to cooperate with KMUTT. This

MoU contributes to our shared vision

of making the world a safer place.”

Increased competence on process

safety science and engineering reduces

the risk for accidents causing major

environmental disasters. H.E. Kjetil

Paulsen addressed the importance of

this by stating: “We cannot succeed

in the future if we do not deal with

environmental issues and climate

change.”

Source: Royal Norwegian Embassy in

Bangkok

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allows KIS students to be confident and to

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ensuring an academically rigorous

curriculum that not only prepares students

to be successful at university, but also

teaches important life skills. KIS, it’s all

about Knowledge, Inspiration and Spirit.

Check out the students’ videos to learn

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Tel: +66 (0) 2274 3444

Email: admissions@kis.ac.th


Don’t just hope

for a better future.

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What does the future look like for you and your loved ones?

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50 Collyer Quay #12-03 OUE Bayfront, Singapore 049321

ScandAsia June 2018

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