Anna Lundgren is currently working for the Stockholm county council. She is also doing a PhD on Openness in metropolitan regions at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Anna has an extensive experience from working in stakeholder processes in regional planning and international benchmarking.
Openness is generally a word with many positive connotations. As a result of the information and knowledge society open and openness have even become a buzzwords; open source, open data, open education, open innovation, open health, open government …. However, although we think we know what we mean by open and openness, it is rarely outspoken. Sometimes when we talk of openness we actually mean transparency and openness to information. At other times we might mean diversity and openness to people. In my research I explore how we understand and discuss openness in metropolitan regions.
Stockholm life is a collaboration where I would say openness in many respects has a key role to play, both to it’s stakeholders and to the collaboration itself.
Openness as in open trade and open information to reduce transaction costs for firms are essential for the Stockholm life science business sector to develop. The acquisition and implementation of new knowledge in life sciences is dependent on the openness that comes with sharing of data, research results and new methods. And much of our society and institutions rely on the democratic principles of transparency and freedom of thought and expression.
But also to the collaboration and the stakeholder process of Stockholm life, I would say, openness as in sharing of information, openness to new ideas and openness to people are key principles to foster and further develop. So despite the buzz, let’s attend to these key principles of openness.
