Through a week of immersion, the Brazilian Startups in Sweden 2025 mission provided valuable learning experiences and opportunities for connections between startups and corporations.
The Brazilian Startups in Sweden 2025 mission, organized by CISB in parternship with Saab AB and CNPq, took place from 19 to 23 of May. The event featured a select group of Brazilian startups, who experienced an immersion in the Swedish innovation ecosystem, connected with major corporations, and significantly expanded their networking in the country.
“If I had to pay for this mission, I would — because it was worth every penny,” says Alexandre Pergoraro, CEO of Kronoos. He shares that the experience gave him greater clarity on how the Swedish ecosystem operates and its advancements in science, technology, and mindset. Eduardo Neger, Technical Director at DroneControl, agrees: “It was a unique experience which, due to the broad range of stakeholders we met, allowed us to reflect further on our operations and competitiveness.” He states that through this experience, he gained a broader perspective on Sweden’s innovation ecosystem.
The technical visit to Saab AB was the highlight of the trip for Rogério Ruivo, CTO of Dobslit. He shares that the experience enabled him to start clearly identifying real demands and, as a result, structure a collaboration proposal strongly aligned with the company’s needs, describing this as a “key moment between Brazilian innovation and Swedish demand.” For Franco Machado, CEO of Mogai, the high point of the trip was the new contacts with potential future business opportunities. He says he managed to make valuable connections with SICK and three startups during the visits in Linköping and Gothenburg. Similarly, Alexandre highlights the opportunity to visit the important sites and present his startup to top-level professionals.
“I gained a broader perspective on the competent Swedish innovation ecosystem and the inevitable (and perhaps painful) comparasion with its Brazilian counterpart”, Eduardo shares. As a next step, he aims to better understand the applicability of his products and services in other markets, specifically the European one, in order to adapt his portfolio. The mission provided him with a new outlook on his role in the energy sector, which he hadn´t previously explored.
Regarding the benefits resulted by the mission, Franco states that one of them was the understanding of Sweden as a market with development potential, due to its receptiveness and the insights he gained about the local market. For Alexandre, one of the main takeaways from the immersion week was his connection with Hitachi and Volvo, where he sees the possibility of future developments in Brazil.
If he had to give advice to a company interested in starting bussiness in Sweden, Franco would recommend applying to the CISB Innovaion Call for Projects, which includes a program that funds startups visits to Sweden. Similarly, Eduardo would advise companies to “seek out organizations with deep knowledge of the market”, as well as its best practices and how the Swedish innovation ecosystem operates. He highlights the support of CISB as essential in this approach.
