The gaming industry and the industry are two separate but equally important fields that both need to attract more employees to northern Sweden. Now Automation Region and Arctic Game have formed a partnership to work together to strengthen competence supply and attractiveness in the north.
– There is a great interest from industry and automation companies to see how the gaming industry develops its solutions. We see that there is much to learn about UX, digitalization, and visualization, to name a few, says Ulf Olofsson, business developer at Automation Region in Skellefteå. We want to bring together Arctic Game with our members to work across industries and take advantage of the enormous expertise that exists here, he adds.
Arctic Game was started in 2016 based on an increased need to attract and retain the expertise that was trained in and around the region. Then there were five companies in the gaming industry – today there are over 70 companies and startups in the region which includes Skellefteå, Umeå, Boden, Luleå, and Piteå.
– Through Arctic Game, we strengthen the region’s attractiveness and create new jobs and companies in gaming. It generates many creative professions that complement all the job opportunities available in industry, says Daniel Wilén, Managing Director at Arctic Game. Through the collaboration with Automation Region, we strengthen the connection to other industries and hopefully get more opportunities for exciting innovation projects in intersections between games and other industries, he adds.
Arctic Game works both to support companies and startups through free access to, for example, XR technology and to help them with business development. To ensure the long-term competence supply in the region, they also work to contribute to the right type of education through collaborations with both vocational colleges, universities, and adult education centers.
ABOUT AUTOMATION REGION:
Automation Region creates conditions for world-class automation applications and contributes to increasing the understanding of the development within the automation area.
Automation Region consists of three parts – a non-profit association with over 150 members and partners, a limited profit distribution company, and a center for excellence at Mälardalen University.
The funding for 2021 came mostly from Sweden’s innovation agency Vinnova in the form of the Vinnväxt program. In addition, the operation is financed by membership fees and funds from public regional and national actors.
Near the end of Autumn, Arctic Game hosted Vladislav Perge and Lavinia Macovei, two Community Managers from Supercell. They are both attached to some of the Finnish mobile giant’s biggest IPs.
We welcome Pernilla Lindmark as the new regional project manager for the three-year Intersective Game project. Pernilla has previously been the local project manager for the project in Skellefteå and brings her strong commitment and ability to find new solutions to her new role.
We welcome Björn Hortell as the new local project manager for Arctic Game in Luleå. You'll find him at Luleå Science Park, where he'll be handling game projects focusing on both game companies and gamification methodologies in other industries.