Sustainability in focus at this year's SPARK conference

Picture of Jönköping University.

SPARK's annual conference is a forum where business, academia and public actors meet to discuss how to strengthen the competitiveness of the region's manufacturing companies. This year sustainability is in focus.

This year's SPARK conference on 21 April at Jönköping University (JU) has the theme "Sustainable Industrial Development - Climate Transition”.
“The SPARK conference is an important platform for the business community to reach out to future employees and show that sustainability is central to the companies of the future,” says Jonas Willaredt, Sustainability Affairs at Husqvarna.

This year's SPARK conference, which takes place at the School of Education and Communication at Jönköping University, will be opened by Mats Jackson, Executive Vice President at JU and Chair of the Steering Committee for SPARK, Salem Seifeddine, Program Manager for SPARK, and Linda Bergqvist, SPARK’s External Relations Manager.

“We want to learn more about companies' sustainability challenges to see how we can contribute to their sustainability adjustment work. We are here to build bridges between the university and the industry,” says Salem Seifeddine.

Ready to take futher steps forward

He and Linda Bergqvist, believe that this year's theme comes at exactly the right time and that Jönköping University, in collaboration with the region´s companies, is now ready to take further steps towards a more sustainable future.

"Together we will deliver sustainable solutions that support them in their quest for emissions that are close to zero," says Salem Seifeddine.

The overall purpose of the SPARK conference is to be a driving force on how the competitiveness of the region's manufacturing companies can be strengthened. During the SPARK conference, representatives from Combitech, Falks Metall, Husqvarna and Scania, as well as researchers from the School of Engineering at Jönköping University, will report on the sustainability challenges they face and how they handle them.

"Solutions to several of the challenges"

“It is important to show that there are already solutions to several of the challenges for sustainable development,” says Jonas Willaredt, who is one of four keynote speakers for the SPARK conference.

He finds it inspiring and exciting to be giving a speech during the conference and believes that this year's theme fits in well with Husqvarna's overall sustainability strategy to achieve climate neutrality.

Read more about the SPARK conference and see the program for the conference here Opens in new window.

Read more about SPARK here

2022-04-20