SCCT Newsletter November | Swedish Chamber of Commerce Taipei on Glue Up

Welcome to the winter edition of SCCT's newsletter

Dear Subscriber,

A good few months have passed since our last edition and as usual, please allow us to summarize what we have been up to and what's ahead of us.

Even though Taiwan is a relative safe haven, the world is not yet out of the woods from the pandemic and we are all clearly facing professional challenges. It's truly encouraging to see the flexibility, adaptability, and reactivity to the situation amongst our Swedish member companies operating on the Taiwanese and APAC markets. You have all clearly managed to build resilience and come through stronger and your resiliency, tied with a confident Taiwanese and Regional macroeconomic outlook means there is absolutely growth to be had in 2022 and beyond.

Turning to our personal lives and overall well-being you have all provided us with very positive feedback on our social events and we will continue our work with building an open, welcoming and inclusive local community in Taiwan. We hope that our Chamber will continue to play a significant role promoting Swedish business, culture and values in Taiwan and acting as a social platform and cross-border 'connection hub' for people. Because people make business.

Team work makes the Dream work!

In this newsletter we introduce a collaboration with our colleagues at Taipei Mission in Sweden, the official representative office of Taiwan R.O.C., where Ambassador Vincent Yao shares Taiwan updates from Sweden.

The Swedish Chamber of Commerce Taipei, Business Sweden make up Team Sweden in Taiwan. Each organisation is complementary to each other in how we assist Swedish business navigate the Taiwanese market space and to further promote our Team Sweden effort Business Sweden has also been provided with a segment in our newsletter

Warm regards and with a hope to see you at our events.

Fredrik & Ingrid

Taipei Mission in Sweden update 1/3

Sweden-Taiwan Joint Business Council Meeting is Just around the Corner

The “Sweden – Taiwan Joint Business Council” (JBC) meeting is a high-level bilateral meeting with government officials and business leaders from Sweden and Taiwan with the purpose to enhance collaboration within key areas.

The 37th Sweden-Taiwan JBC Meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 24, 2021 at Hotel Marriott Taipei, 1:40–5PM (Taiwan Time), 06:40–10:00AM (Sweden Time). The topics of this year’s JBC meeting are EV Supply Chain and Smart Healthcare. There will be roundtable events and B2B meeting. We sincerely invite you to participate physically or virtually.

To sign up for the JBC meeting, please contact CIECA or Business Sweden Taipei.

Henry Hsu: henri85@cieca.org.tw

Coka Liu: coka.liu@business-sweden.se

See you at the JBC meeting on Wednesday, November 24!

Taipei Mission in Sweden update 2/3

Work in Taiwan with Taiwan Gold Card

Are you planning to work in Taiwan? Are you currently working in Taiwan and will revise your work permit/resident visa soon? We suggest you to apply the “4-in-1” Taiwan Gold Card (TGC), a combination of work permit, resident visa, ARC and re-entry permit.

See more info on its official website.

https://goldcard.nat.gov.tw/en/about/

https://goldcard.nat.gov.tw/en/qualification/field-of-economy/

Taipei Mission in Sweden update 3/3

InvesTaiwan One Stop Service

Are you interested in investing in Taiwan? Are you planning to expand your business in Taiwan? Do you have any questions about the process or how to proceed? Feel free to contact InvesTaiwan, the agency empowered by Department of Investment Services, Ministry of Economic Affairs. They offer one stop service. You will find the information and help you need.

https://investtaiwan.nat.gov.tw/homePage?lang=eng

Business Sweden update

The Sweden+Taiwan Green Transition Alliance welcome founding members from eight Swedish companies (see the list below) to join the alliance. The Sweden+Taiwan Green Transition alliance is a joint efforts between Swedish companies, Business Sweden and key stakeholders from Sweden and aims to promote Sweden and Swedish companies as strategic partners to support Taiwan and Taiwan’s industry for its net zero goal in 2050.

There will be a press launch event for the alliance on Nov. 24th prior to the Sweden- Taiwan Joint Business Council Meeting.

Assa Abloy
Atlas Copco
Baseload Power
Ericsson
Scania
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions
Volvo Car
Volvo Group

Contact person for Sweden+Taiwan Green Transition Alliance from Business Sweden

Ms. Coka Liu, Project Manager, Coka.Liu@business-sweden.se, M: 0910-080-894
Mr. Petter Sund, Market Manager, petter.sund@business-sweden.se

Upcoming event - Swedish BBQ

Hot off the heels of our crayfish party it's time for our annual Year End party. This year we once again welcome members and friends of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce Taipei for an unforgettable winter BBQ at our Party HQ on YangmingShan. Baba Kevin will be catering your food, Heineken Taiwan serves you ice cold Heineken Silver, Rick from Bar Mood will pour you exclusive drinks and DJ Cola from ICRT will be serving you music all night long.

Do not miss this opportunity to mingle with both new and old friends and as tickets are limited and going fast you should make haste and get yours now!

(Someone asked if Winter BBQ's is a typical traditional Swedish thing - it is now!)

Upcoming event - All Chamber Happy Hour

Come and celebrate the last All Chambers event of 2021 with the Swedish Chamber of Commerce Taipei at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on the second floor's The Residence. Chamber Young Professionals will be here to meet and greet our members.

Come join us and spend your evening surrounded by delicious food, great people, and a gorgeous night view of Taipei City and Taipei 101.

Signups here: forms.gle/ZamgDr9mJHvgLj66A

Upcoming event - Swedish Saint Lucia celebration

Alongside Midsummer, the Lucia celebrations represent one of the foremost cultural traditions in Sweden, with their clear reference to life in the peasant communities of old: darkness and light, cold and warmth. Lucia is an ancient mythical figure with an abiding role as a bearer of light in the dark Swedish winters.

The Swedish Chamber of Commerce Taipei keeps the tradition alive and in collaboration with the Taipei Swedish School we look forward to welcoming you to the church in Tianmu on Saturday December 11th at 5 PM for a very traditional Lucia celebration.

Please make sure you register your participation using your membership email adress, and you only need to register tickets for adults and children ≥12.

(Parents and children attending Swedish School Taipei joins for free)

Sweden Day 2.0

There has been a lot of back and forth regarding Sweden Day 2021 and given the unpredictable course of this pandemic we have firmly decided that we will not be hosting an event this year either, conditions are simply not there for us to be able to plan something of this magnitude.

We are however looking at arranging an alternative scaled down and cost efficient event mid-February, after Lunar New Year 2022 so keep an eye out for information during November/December

We proudly welcome Atlas Copco Taiwan to the ranks!

We are very pleased to announce that Atlas Copco has decided to become a Gold Sponsor to the Chamber. Cheers Mr. Devlin!

Six strong and well-renowned member companies have all decided to act as patreons to the Swedish Chamber of Commerce Taipei, this is a true testament to their belief in what we deliver and enables us to further foster important trade and investment relationships between Taiwan and Sweden, as well as continue spread Swedish values and culture in Taiwan.

SCCT's bi-monthly Macroeconomic Digest

Published bi-monthly by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce Taipei, this concise report includes macroeconomic and legislative updates as well as the news and projected direction of certain domains, which may directly affect our members’ business in Taiwan.

This is meant to be a short briefing that provides easy-to-use commentary on the key economic indicators for Swedish businesses in Taiwan and should there be content which you would like to see being added to future reports, then please reach out to admin@swedchamtw.org

Next issue will include ready-made powerpoint slides for you to use, we call it the "Daniel version"

Business Climate Survey 2021

We will soon be releasing the 2021 edition of our Business Climate Survey. This annual report takes aim at understanding the interaction between Swedish and Taiwanese firms and economies, assessing how to best continue to support our member companies, as well as Sweden-Taiwan commerce-related activities in general.

Publishing is scheduled for third week of November, coinciding with the Joint Business Council on November 24th and copies will be distributed to all Chamber members, Taiwanese and Swedish government ministries and our local partners.

Past surveys are published here

Huashan park - we need your support

If any member is looking to arrange a sales or company event you may want to look at hosting this at Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山1914文化創意產業園區)

In January 2020 our Chamber made a 96KNTD down payment to Huashan Park for Sweden Day 2020 and given the fact that we will not be exercising this pre-payment ourselves it’s up for grabs with a 10% discount.

Recovering this cost is a key priority for the Chamber, so please, if you have creative ideas please share them with fredrik@swedchamtw.org

SCCT logo competition

The SCCT was founded in 2012 and to commemorate our upcoming 10 year anniversary we are looking at revamping our graphical profile through a logo competition (https://swedchamtw.org/logo-design-compo/. The competition ended on November 1 and Board of Directors will soon get to vote on design, the new logo will reflect the Chamber’s new identity and will be used effective January 2022.

SCCT Board workshop - "Team work makes the Dream work!"

For the second time this year we gathered SCCT's board of directors and supervisors for a creative session to discuss and agree Chamber priorities for the coming 12 months. This time we were invited to IKEA's new office in Neihu where we started off with a tour of their very creative office by Mr. Hugo Asplund .

Many thanks for all the feedback provided and the ideas produced.

Past event - Swedish Chamber Golf Challenge

We hosted our first Chamber Golf Challenge where dedicated and decisive members and distinguished guests challenged not only themselves but also the Taiwanese weather gods over 18 holes at Ta-Shee Golf and Country Club.

Everyone played their hearts out but there can be only one winner and when the rain and dust has settled, Van Hoang from Baseload Power Taiwan brought home the trophy!

We extend our sincere gratitude to everyone for participating and to Epiroc Taiwan for sponsoring the event!

See you all for our spring 2022 event!

Past event - Annual General Meeting

On September 17th, 2021, we welcomed members to our 7th Annual General Meeting, hosted for the first time in a virtual setting in light of the ongoing pandemic.

In addition to Board elections our CEO presented the review of our Chambers activities, events and financial position during the year 2020 and presented an outline of the objectives and events planned for the year 2021.

New Board of Directors were elected and we say welcome to the following Directors:

Ms. Louise Wikström, Director, Ekpac

Marcus Westdahl, CFO, Scania Taiwan

Jeanette Edman, Höganäs Taiwan

Hugo Asplund, IKEA Taiwan, (re-elected)

At the same time, the SCCT team wishes to say a big thank you to Mr. Kamlarp Sirikittiwatn, Ms. Matilda Guthartz-Pålsson and Mr. Per Jansson who are now leaving the Board. We really appreciate all your hard work for the Chamber and the wider business community in Taiwan.

The CEO would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported and guided us during the year. I also thank all my colleagues on the Board for their continued support and guidance.

(Directors) 董事會成員

Mr. Hugo Asplund (IKEA Taiwan) (Re-elected into a two-year term, subsequently elected as chairman)

Ms. Emily Wang, 王⽅平 (Ericsson Taiwan Ltd.)

Mr. Martin Söderberg (TCO Development)

Mr. Thomas Shaw (HighSpeed Digital Co. Ltd)

Mr. Robin Johansson (Vana Living)

Mr. Marcus Westdahl (Scania Taiwan)

Ms. Louise Wikström (Ekpac Taiwan Ltd.)

Ms. Jeanette Edman (Höganäs Taiwan Ltd.)

Mr. Glenn Lio (Individual member)

(Supervisors) 監事會

Mr. Charles Chang 張峻榮 (SKF Taiwan)

Mr. Pi-song Tsai 蔡碧松 (Dentons Taiwan)

Mr. Hank Lin 林振翰 (Rockland)

On a more personal note the CEO would like to thank Mr. Johan Skarendal for his important contributions to the Chamber during the year.

Past event - Taiwanese-Swedish crayfish party

We are so glad we were able to restart the annual crayfish tradition in 2021. 60 merry guests feasted on home cooked Taiwanese crayfish, traditional condiments and schnapps until early morning and we promise to do this again. September 2022 could not come soon enough!

Past event - World Cup Taiwan

We proudly flew our Swedish colours at the opening ceremony of the 8th World Cup Taiwan soccer games.

We witnessed 外交部 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC（Taiwan）suffer a ‘narrow’ 1-6 defeat against the team of foreign representatives all while the VIP-audience stand was boiling of singing, energy and positive vibes!

This is clearly one of the most unifying events of the year in Taiwan and we aim to bring a Swedish team to the contest in 2022. If you are interested in joining our team please contact admin@swedchamtw.org

Past event - Stocks & Dinner Part IV

In this evening event with pizzas and drinks 15 members reviewed our check-list for the process of making an investment and use it to present research on three investment candidates –

Biopharmaceutical giant AbbVie (ABBV), AI and data analytics software firm Palantir Technologies (PLTR) and "The Monthly Dividend Company"tm Realty Income (O).

Are these companies of high enough quality, with fast enough growth and a low enough share price that they with high probability will be good Investments?

Those who joined us knows.

Thank you Van Hoang and Baseload Power Taiwan for hosting us and to Johan Skarendal and Patric Yu for your wisdom!

Changes to our Chamber Internship regime

For the past 8 years the Chamber has relied on support from an intern, kindly funded by the Swedish Scholarship Fund. Earlier this year we set about to hire a new intern for 2021/2022 and from the applications we received we selected two: Axel Leven and Ingrid Chow.

Axel is unfortunately stuck in Hong Kong and due to Covid-19 restrictions he is not able to enter Taiwan, hence he will move on at the end of October and we hope to welcome him to Taiwan for next year’s internship.

Ms. Ingrid Chow, whom some of you met at the Crayfish party, is in Taipei and already up to speed and working with the CEO and the board to hone our operation.

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