Situated across a series of islands on the south coast of Sweden, where Lake M‰laren meets the Baltic Sea, Stockholm has been promoted by tourist boards as `the Venice of the North.' The tag does convey its beauty, but to rest on those laurels would be to ignore the buzz of industry which also permeates this city. Though the picturesque is never far away, in cobbled Old Town districts, known as the Gamla Stan, large parts of the city are composed entirely of bold, modern architecture. Almost entirely absent of heavy industry, Stockholm is also one of the cleanest metropolises in the world. The city's cleanliness, creativity and boldness set the tone for Stockholm's business atmosphere today. Equal parts picture-book idyllic and ultra-modern, Stockholm is a vibrant cultural and business centre, and a gateway to the wider Scandinavian and Baltic markets. "It's a homogenous business region, it takes Scandinavia and its old allies the Baltic states and you're looking at a coherent region of about 30 million people," says Steen Rosenfalck, Managing Partner of European business law firm Miller Rosenfalck. Stockholm, as the capital of Sweden, is also the de facto capital of Scandinavia, home to the Swedish Stock Exchange, four national newspapers, public television and radio, many universities, and large technology companies. If you want to get a foothold in Scandinavia, Stockholm is where to start. Henrick Jalsborn is the Director of Sales for Scandinavia at IT company Acronis, which has just opened an office in Stockholm." There's a few reasons why we chose Stockholm in particular," he says. "One of the main reasons was its proximity to the other regions and countries. When you fly out from Stockholm it's only one hour to Finland, to Helsinki, to Oslo, and to Copenhagen. It's very well located in the middle of the region, basically." Location aside, as a business area Stockholm is decisive and highly specialised. A report at the Florida School of Public Policy at George Mason University named Sweden the most creative country in Europe, the country most able to attract talented workers and gain a competitive economic edge. The report focused on the three `T's of Talent, Technology, and Tolerance - regarded as good gauges of creative potential. Stockholm, Sweden's capital, certainly demonstrates all three: TALENT Though Sweden has low levels of corporate tax and has no withholding tax on dividends, the high levels of personal tax mean it is not the cheapest country to do business in. While Sweden's current government is decreasing employment tax from 1 January, the fact remains that "you don't go to Scandinavia for tax breaks, full stop," says Rosenfalck. "It can't compete with the low-cost countries … but what we do is add value." Knowing it cannot compete in cheap labour, Sweden and Stockholm have for many years specialised in high-value areas of the markets. "You come here for other reasons," says ≈sa Bergstrˆm of Stockholm Business Region Development. "Stockholm is one of the most knowledge intense and innovative regions in the world and presence in Stockholm offers access to exciting technologies, fast growing high-tech companies and a unique recruitment base of skills." Stockholm's population is highly skilled: nearly half the population hold university degrees and over 85 percent of the population is employed in the service industry. "The inhabitants of Stockholm have excellent language skills," says Bergstrˆm. "Most speak English and many speak other languages as well." Rosenfalck goes even further "Learning the language would be a waste of time in my opinion. Don't waste the markets. Make use of the language skills that are there." Stockholm is home to a wealth of academic institutions, including the Stockholm Observatory, The Royal Institute of Technology (Kungliga Tekniska Hˆgskolan, or KTH), Stockholm School of Economics, Ersta and The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences (Gymnastik- och idrottshˆgskolan, or GIH.) This has furthered the city's status as a place of academic excellence, and the research undertaken in areas such as GIH has helped bolster the city's pharmaceutical industry. Companies such as St Judes Medical and Amgen have bases in the city. TECHNOLOGY In the technology arena, Stockholm has once again been able to turn what might have been a disadvantage into an advantage: Encouraged by the small size its own economy, Sweden has had a very global outlook for many years. Large parts of the city are given over to computer and communications technology companies. Big players such as Sony Ericsson, Nokia, TeliaSonera, IBM, and Electrolux are major employers in the city. Meanwhile the engineering and Cleantech sectors have been strong points of the economy for many years, and are set to grow as the global emphasis on green technology increases. Stockholm's transport network, meanwhile, is enviably efficient, consisting of the Stockholm Metro (or Tunnelbana), as well as three suburban rail systems, three light rail systems and busses all organised by one company, the Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL), with a common ticket system between all modes of transport. "The infrastructure works spectacularly well. That's what you pay your taxes for," says Rosenfalck. In addition there is a boat service through the centre of the city, three airports feed in to Stockholm and ferries go between the city of Stockholm and other Baltic destinations. Lateness is considered the height of rudeness, and with such an impressive transport network, there will generally be no reason or excuse for it, either. "If you're five, ten, fifteen minutes late: your meeting will be gone. They will leave," says Rosenfalck. "It's understood that you plan ahead." Feeding back into the city's academic excellence, Stockholm's consumers are extremely tech-savvy and the city has long been a stronghold for R&D. Likewise, Stockholm's sophisticated consumers have long been regarded as an excellent market in which to launch new products or retail concepts. "I think Swedes in general are a lot more conservative than in the UK market in general," says Jalsborn. "I think they're happy with what they've got so it can be quite difficult to break in if you're a new brand or a new product into the market, but once you've cracked it: you'll have your place in the market. And people are very loyal in terms of what vendors and products they use." TOLERANCE Stockholm's working atmosphere represents its long culture of socialist democracy. "Egalitarianism is the most dominant social value in Sweden," says Bergstrom. "When doing business in Sweden you will notice the lack of outward signs of hierarchy and status present in many other countries… a foreigner needs to be aware of the importance of consensus when it comes to decision making." This difference may take a little while to adjust to, but the rewards are rich. "The Swedes are very result-oriented," says Bergstrom. "The manager acts more like a coach." Though smart dress is still the standard in most workplaces, and politeness is of the absolute utmost importance, most workplaces are also fairly causal in their office structures. Almost all work on a first-name basis, and a handshake is considered a bond. Socialising is left until the main business has been done, and as Swedes greatly value their work-life balance, working hours are kept to strictly, to make time for families and socialising afterwards. Sweden has very worker-friendly labour laws with strict working hours, maternity and paternity leave, and is a world-leader in gender equality. "The law system in Scandinavia is based on civil law, so it's much shorter contracts. For that reason Scandinavians instruct lawyers less frequently than they do in the UK because you can actually do it with a bit of copy and pasting from the internet. As a lawyer I don't like that of course, I want long contracts and expensive contracts," jokes Rosenfalck. "But that's a fact of life." Indeed, Stockholm's legal system is so clear and simple that a company can be up and running from scratch in three weeks. So, why not do business in Stockholm? With a highly-skilled and efficient workforce, cutting-edge technology, creative thinking and beautiful surroundings, there are rich pickings for anyone up to the challenge. But the final word in this article goes to Steen Rosenfalck: "there's good discipline, it's nearby, it's handy, it's an hour and fifty minutes away so get on a plane and visit."