Mee Linden, executive director of the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce-Atlanta.

The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce-Atlanta’s influence has outgrown its current territory.

As a result of greater interaction with other parts of Georgia and increased partnerships state’s economic development agencies, the organization will officially change its name to the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce-Georgia Jan. 24 at an opening ceremony in Savannah.

“We need to change the name to mirror the business that we’re doing,” Mee Linden, the chamber’s executive director, told GlobalAtlanta.

Until the past few years, that business had largely been confined to the Georgia capital, but key growth sectors in other locations have precipitated the chamber’s move into other parts of Georgia, said Jim Blair, a chamber board member and regional director of business development at the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

By changing the name to show its broadened influence, the chamber is moving away from the traditional, city-centric way the 20 Swedish-American chambers throughout the nation refer to themselves, Mr. Blair said.

Savannah, a hub for maritime logistics and a gateway for goods and companies to the United States, has emerged as the strongest symbol of the chamber’s statewide focus.  

Not only do many Swedes liken the city’s status as a gateway to Sweden’s logistics strength in northern Europe and the Baltic countries, but also the city’s heritage and layout are more welcoming to Europeans than Atlanta's sprawling cityscape, Ms. Linden said.

Solidifying its importance in the Sweden-Georgia relationship, Savannah has been selected by the Swedish-American chamber of the U.S. to host the 2009 Entrepreneurial Days conference, a three- to four-day event focused on building business relationships between American and Swedish companies.

A Georgia delegation attended the 2007 conference in the Swedish cities of Växjö and Malmö in August.  Digitus Biometrics Inc., a Savannah-based provider of secure access control technology, was recognized as the first Georgia company to establish a presence in a Växjö incubator facility. 

Digitus’ access to Sweden was partly the product of an entrepreneurial pipeline forged principally between Georgia and Sweden by Chris Miller of the Creative Coast Alliance and Johan Gustafson, a Swedish entrepreneur. 

Mr. Miller’s organization specializes in attracting knowledge-based companies to Savannah and is encouraging an ongoing effort to create an incubator-like “landing pad” facility for companies basing in Georgia. 

The Entrepreneurial Days conference is held twice a year, once in each of the two countries.  After the spring 2008 event was set for San Diego, the chamber’s U.S. branch began courting Atlanta for the American session in 2009 to get away from larger cities like Chicago and Washington, which are generally more well-known in Sweden, Ms. Linden said.

While Ms. Linden’s Atlanta branch welcomed the idea, the Savannah Economic Development Authority offered to host it there, a prospect Ms. Linden said would have a greater impact for Georgia.

“We think we can get a lot of attendance just because it’s Savannah, and we can utilize the whole strength of Georgia,” Ms. Linden said.  “Savannah is small enough that we can make some noise.”

But the chamber is involved in other areas of the state as well.

While hosting bioenergy conferences in Atlanta, the organization began to notice that most of the attendees didn’t operate within the capital. 

The chamber is currently exploring bioenergy partnerships with the Georgia Agriculture Innovation Center in Tifton and with representatives from the forestry industry from other parts of the state.

Mr. Blair also said that Augusta is home to the American headquarters of appliance maker Electrolux Home Products Inc., best known for its vacuum cleaners, and Husqvarna Outdoor Products Inc.

Ms. Linden, a native of Sweden whose company, Impakt Inc., organizes trade shows and designs marketing and exhibit displays, said that the Swedish chamber has brought in five trade missions to Georgia in the past two years. 

Although the chamber has only sent out one trade mission to Sweden (associated with the most recent eDays conference), a Delta Air Lines Inc. nonstop flight from Atlanta to Stockholm approved in September will facilitate increased connections between the two cities, Ms. Linden said.