Ambassador visit at Karlstad University

Last week, fifty ambassadors came to visit Värmland with the purpose to get to know the county, visit local enterprises and make new contacts. The first stop during the visit was at Karlstad University where the university’s two excellent research environments, CTF, Service Research Center and Computer Science presented their research.

The ambassadors visit one county in Sweden every year, and this year the trip went to Värmland. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stands behind the trip in cooperation with the County Administrative Board of Värmland. The group was able to experience the culture of Värmland, be inspired by the business community, and take part in the international research conducted here.

– I presented CTF and explained how a service research center is relevant in a region like Värmland which traditionally is dominated by industrial companies. I emphasized the importance of generating knowledge, that is not only relevant to a specific organization, but can be applied to all types of organizations and explained how the service logic developed at CTF can be used. The ambassadors had many initial questions, such as how we fund our research and how the relationships with other service research centers around the world are,” says Per Skålén, Professor of Business Administration and Vice Director at CTF.

–The meeting with the ambassadors was a great opportunity for us to showcase and present our operation and excellent research, especially given the international relevance of our research. It was a very positive meeting and several ambassadors were interested in knowing more about our research,” says Anna Brunström, Professor of Computer Science and leader of the Excellence research environment Computer Science.

Other destinations during the trip in Värmland were: Löfbergs, Sandgrund and the Lars Lerin Exhibition, Experio Lab, Broby Graphics and Selma Lagerlöf’s Mårbacka.