Woodlife Business

A 2024 pilot: Connecting East Africa and Sweden
In 2024, SI is launching Woodlife Business, a pilot initiative with the aim to connect business leaders from different parts of the ecosystem for forestry, wood processing and construction, united by shared interest to drive the green transition, and strengthen partnership between Sweden and East Africa.

By connecting East African stakeholders with innovative Swedish actors within sustainable forestry and wood construction, the pilot will offer capacity building knowledge exchange and networking around innovative industrial practices that are both environmentally sound and economically viable.

Pilot outline
The 2024 pilot will engage participants from East Africa, leading up to a high-level summit in Sweden, September 2-6, 2024. During the week, participants will engage with Swedish experts through meetings and site visits, gaining a practical understanding of advanced technologies and methods. The engagement is designed to inspire discussions on potential collaborations and technology transfers that could benefit East Africa’s forestry and construction sectors.

BACKGROUND

Sweden has a long tradition of using nature’s raw materials in the built environment. Perhaps not surprising as forests cover 70 per cent of the country’s surface. This tradition reflected in our business landscape, with many prominent actors innovating across the wood value chain, from sustainable forestry, to innovative applications of using forest based materials as a modern and sustainable building material. 

Timber is used as structural building material in this pilot four-storey building in Vallastaden, Linköping Sweden. Credits: Okodoki Arkitekter, Ida Gyulai/imagebank.sweden.se

An exhibition sparked interest in further partnership
The Swedish institute has highlighted this tradition and strength through the popular exhibition Woodlife Sweden. The exhibition was developed together with Architects Sweden in collaboration with Swedish Wood, the Swedish Wood Award and the Swedish Forest Industries Federation, and was first shown in 2020. In the exhibition, projects were selected to visualise how architecture, design and urbanism can help reduce the climate impact of buildings and products, and impact future development in line with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Woodlife Sweden exhibition.
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One of the many places to set up the exhibition was Nairobi, Kenya. The exhibition, and further activations of the theme sparked dialogue and curiosity and new relations with the local community, and inspired the question:  How do we go from sharing inspiration from these Swedish examples, to actively nurturing new international partnerships and creating impactful new future solutions in this domain together?

A pilot developed in collaboration between the Embassy and SI
Starting to explore how to develop the concept further was a natural next step. After dialogue with SI, the idea for a pilot initiative was developed for execution in 2024 within the SI Unit for Scholarships and Leadership programmes. Kurt Bratteby, Head of International relations at SI explains: “Using Swedish strengths and an established communication platform as a starting point for our relationship building activity increases our chances to make an impactful contribution. It also an example of how we set out to forge stronger synergies across our strategies for development cooperation, trade and Sweden promotion”.

With impactful partnerships and solutions as the goal
The pilot initiative kicked off earlier in summer 2024, connecting actors from different parts of the East African forestry and wood ecosystem with Swedish counterparts. The programme culminates with a study visit in Sweden, Sept 1-7 for a delegation of over 30 East African representatives from the ecosystem of forestry and construction, of which 15 are sponsored by the Swedish Institute. The week will be spent in Växjö and Göteborg, and include visits to a leading wood tech business fair in the Nordics (Trä & Teknikmässan), The Linnaeus University as well as company visits and networking in Gothenburg and the Växjö-area.

– We are happy to explore and learn from this pilot initiative. We believe that Swedish know-how can be a truly meaningful contribution to support sustainable forestry and wood industry in East Africa. We also believe that the exchange will offer an opportunity for Swedish business to build stronger ties to these interesting emerging markets. Ultimately, it is our hope that the pilot will nurture impactful partnerships, driving green transition and sustainable development overall” says Kurt Bratteby.