Harry van der Veen of Nuiteq. "Seriously, let's open up a little bit more for local businesses."
Back in 2006, before the launch of Apple’s iPhone, Harry van der Veen had already engineered a prototype of a collaborative multi-user multitouch display.
At the age of 24. He then went on to found Nuiteq in Skellefteå, a company that is now a leader in education technology.
Those achievements are enough to carve his name into Skellefteå history, but there’s another side to Harry too, and that’s his enthusiasm for spreading the word about Skellefteå, whether that be through interviews like this, or on social media. He loves the place, but it's not blind love - he's not uncritical of Skellefteå, especially at this time of rapid growth. But more on that later.
When I ask him about his initial impression of Skellefteå, when he moved here to study at the technical university in 2006, a smile bounces onto his face.
– I’m from the Netherlands and you soon get bored with flat landscapes, so when I moved up to Skellefteå to study, the mountains, lakes and sheer amount of wild nature was mindboggling. I loved it immediately. And all that snow was amazing for someone who rarely saw it in the Netherlands. The nature here still amazes me - it’s truly lovely.
But there were immediate frustrations.
– It shocked me that in summer, everything pretty much closes down. It’s so hard to do any business, or even have some blinds installed at home. That was hugely frustrating, and a major difference from life in the Netherlands.
It made sense, though, after a while.
– Of course we have snow here for six months, so when you have a short window of nice weather, you really want to try to enjoy it as much as possible. So I get it now.
Harry was, and still is, impressed with the entrepreneurial spirit of many Skellefteå companies, but is less enamoured of the approach of the municipality.
Harry van der Veen of Nuiteq. "The nature here still amazes me - it’s truly lovely."
– Local government organizations don't really give a fair chance to local businesses. It's like, ‘oh, let's hire an agency from Stockholm’. Why not look at what we can do locally? Why look for a solution in China, if you have one here in Skellefteå? And I've also heard these frustrations from other local entrepreneurs, especially non-Swedish ones, who’ve tried to work with the municipality. Seriously, let's open up a little bit more for local businesses.
Harry is excited but not unconcerned by Skellefteå’s current growth.
– I'm a big foodie guy. So obviously, with the city growing, it's amazing to see all kinds of new restaurants popping up. There's a lot of innovation happening and lots of people coming here. And that is great.
It’s at this point of our chat that I feel a big ‘but’ coming.
– However, there are challenges with growing cities as well: they also attract people who do not have good intentions. I’m frustrated by the kind of crimes happening that didn’t seem to happen 10 years ago. It seems like we have several major crimes, like murders, happening in the north every year now, when it was previously only one or two a year.
How do you think we should deal with increased crime?
Harry van der Veen of Nuiteq. "Punishments are too lenient, and prison sentences are too short, so they don’t really prevent people that have bad intentions from committing crime."
– I think the key is punishing people hard when they commit crime. Punishments are too lenient, and prison sentences are too short, so they don’t really prevent people who have bad intentions from committing crime. I think it’s really important, so I’m trying to be a little bit more vocal on social media about it, in the hope that people in power maybe do something about it, because if we keep our mouths shut it’ll just get worse. We have to try to keep our voices being heard.
Given his status as a veteran immigrant to Skellefteå, Harry is also vocal about the best way for newcomers to settle into Skellefteå life.
– Get really involved with the Skellefteå expat community on Facebook. It’s a fantastic resource. We have a lot of different nationalities, and we have organised events. It's a great way to get to know people, and you also get to learn from their struggles and their experiences.
Skellefteå is a great place to live, but we all have to make it even better.