Company Press Releases

The Swedish Trade Council launches SymbioCity Scenarios, a scenario-based simulation developed by BTS Group

Stockholm, Sweden - BTS Group AB (publ), the world's leading learning and development company within the segment of business simulations and discovery-based learning is proud to announce a strategic partnership with The Swedish Trade Council. The partnership was formed in order for BTS to assist the Trade Council with the development of the methods, pedagogy and technology for the SymbioCity Scenario Simulation.

In 2006 The Swedish Trade Council received an assignment from the Swedish government to create a communication platform for marketing Swedish environmental technology (Green Tech) internationally. SymbioCity is the result of this assignment. , The concept and trademark "SymbioCity" was launched in 2008 in order to share best-practice and knowledge of the Swedish approach to sustainability.

The key to success of the SymbioCity concept is to offer a more scalable model, which may be adapted to the different development levels of cities and towns as well as to different planning situations. Another key to success is to deliver value - getting more for less.

To deliver this, The Swedish Trade Council together with The Delegation for Sustainable Cities, commissioned BTS Group to develop a relatively short simulation (approximately 20 minutes) which , communicated the SymbioCity concept to a variety of target groups in an efficient and engaging way. However, the first priority is to communicate it internationally to city council members, politicians and other important people with influence over environmental decisions in the local community.

"Everywhere in the world where we present Swedish Green Tech companies and the SymbioCity concept, we are becoming increasingly aware of how the focus is mainly on isolated problems, rather than an integrated, holistic approach to urban development." says Anders Hallesjö, Executive Director of Strategic Growth Industries at The Swedish Trade Council. "The overall objective of the Scenario-based simulation is to increase awareness and interest for the approach that the Swedish companies and government have to urban development , where Swedish companies are leading the way. We already have a number of successful companies that can deliver products, knowledge and services in this important environmental area. Finally, the important message we are trying to get across is that there are substantial synergies to be gained in planning and coordinating these projects in the right way," concludes Anders Hallersjö.

"We are proud that we have been chosen by the Swedish Trade Council and entrusted with such an important and wide-reaching initiative," says Henrik Ekelund, President and CEO of BTS Group AB. "This is strong evidence of our ability to deliver top quality projects based on state-of-the-art technology and our deep capability in areas of strategic alignment."

For more information about SymbioCity please visit: www.symbiocity.org

To experience the simulation please visit: www.symbiocityscenarios.com

For more information, please contact;

Jonny Nylund

The Swedish Trade Council
Phone: +46 8 588 661 55
E-mail: jonny.nylund@swedishtrade.se

Thomas Ahlerup

BTS Group AB
Phone: +46 8 5870 7002
E-mail: thomas.ahlerup@bts.com

About SymbioCity and The Swedish Trade Council

The Swedish Trade Council is a resource for all Swedish companies wishing to boost their business development. We have extensive experience in international business development and are present in nearly 60 countries with 530 employees. The Swedish Trade Council is jointly owned by the Government and the business sector. Its turnover is over SEK 600 million.

The SymbioCity Scenario Simulation was primarily developed in close cooperation with The Sustainable City Delegation, The Swedish Energy agency, ISA, The Swedish Road Administration, Vinnova, Formas, SIDA, The Swedsih Environmental Protection Agency, The Swedish National Heritage Board and The National Board of Housing, Building and Planning.

About BTS

BTS is the global leader in accelerating strategic alignment and execution, innovating how organizations learn, change and improve. BTS adds value to its clients through three practice areas: Strategic Alignment& Business Acumen, Leadership & Sales Force Transformation. The unique BTS process offers fast strategic alignment and rapid capability building through: Business Simulations and experiential solutions, In-depth customization to what is relevant and actionable on the job, a results focused approach that comprehensively and efficiently secures and measures business impact.

BTS has over 300 professionals serving more than 400 clients including 40 of the US Fortune 100 companies and 25 of the Global Fortune 100 largest corporations in the world. In 2008 BTS recorded revenues of SEK 548 millions.

Recent selected BTS clients include Accenture, Ericsson, Kimberly-Clark, Nokia, Sony, Toyota, Unilever and Xerox. BTS serves its clients from Stockholm, Helsinki, Oslo, London, Madrid, Bilbao, Brussels, Johannesburg, Bangkok, Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney, Melbourne, Mexico City, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Stamford, New York, Chicago and Scottsdale.

BTS is a public company listed on the Swedish Stock Exchange and trades under the symbol BTS B.

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