Your Majesty,
Your Royal Highnesses,
Your Excellences,
Ladies and Gentlemen

Welcome to the Royal Palace. As patron of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, it is a pleasure and an honour to host today’s seminar here in the Bernadotte library.

These walls are, literally, lined with history. The library contains the Royal book collection, about 100 000 volumes that have belonged to my ancestors.

Of course, we are not here today to talk about history. On the contrary, the subject of today’s seminar is very much the future; how Swedish solutions can contribute to a more sustainable development.

However: in order to understand the world today, and to make accurate predictions about tomorrow, I believe it is important that we know our past.

2019 marks the one hundred year anniversary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. Look at the history of Swedish engineering, and you will see a history of outstanding individuals and ideas; of constant innovation and development. A history to be proud of – and a strong foundation to build on for the future.

Let me say how glad I am to see members of the Diplomatic Corps here today. Indeed, one of Swedish industry’s success factors has been its openness to the world; to people, knowledge and ideas from the outside.

And, of course, this exchange goes both ways: Today, Sweden is known around the world for green and innovative solutions in fields such as energy, infrastructure and building.

In this seminar, I look forward to hearing more about such solutions, and how they can contribute to a positive and sustainable development globally.

Once again, to all of you, a warm welcome!