Unexpected meeting between Indian Chiefs and the US ambassador on Swedish soil - and an innovation that ends up in Shanghai.

The Swedish company Plantagon International AB, the first foreign company founded by North-American Indians, was started on 29 January 2008.

Together with the Swedish consulting engineering company Sweco, a public company quoted on the stock-exchange, Plantagon is developing a vertical greenhouse which makes it possible to cultivate ecologically in the middle of large cities.

This unique cooperation between Sweden and one of the world’s oldest functioning democracies, the Iroquois Confederation, has received international acclaim.

Plantagon, with its vertical greenhouse is today one of 50 historical innovations represented on the ”Wall of Fame” in the Swedish pavilion at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.

The USA ambassador, Matthew Barzun, is one of the driving forces behind the Swedish American Green Alliance (SAGA). He has noted Plantagon’s International successes and invited to a discussion in Stockholm with some of the leaders of the Iroquois Confederation.

Plantagon International is owned to 85 per cent by North-American Indians belonging to the Onondaga Nation, one of six nations in the 1 000-year old Iroquois Confederation, and Chief Oren R. Lyons Is the chairman of the Board.

Locally, Plantagon and the vertical greenhouses are seen as way to develop the townships of the Iroquois Confederation through innovation and entrepreneurship.

”We have received a fantastic trust,” says Hans Hassle, Plantagon’s Managing Director and the initiator of this unique cooperation. ”Together with our partner SWECO, we can be involved and influence what the large townships in the North American continent may look like in the future.  Many American consulting engineering companies have tried to enter this market, but thanks to our close cooperation with the Onondaga Nation, the Swedes got there first”, Hans Hassle continues, “and the fact that we Swedes have the opportunity to be a part of such a project is almost unbelievable”.

In his position as Tadodaho, Sidney Hill is the chief of 70 000 citizens in the Iroquois Confederation He arrived in Sweden early on Tuesday morning together with three more representatives from the Onondaga Nation Council of Chiefs. ”We were very happy over the meeting with the American Ambassador, which is indeed a meeting between our nation and the American nation. The fact that the meeting took place on Swedish soil is due to the strong ties with Sweden which are already established through our work with Plantagon” said Sidney Hill. “Now our innovation has travelled from Sweden to the World Expo in Shanghai where it can be seen on the “Wall of Fame” at the Swedish Pavillion."

Facts:

In 2050, 80 percent of the world’s population will be living in towns and cities.  Already today, 80 per cent of the world’s farmland is being utilised. In order to meet this challenge, the Swedish company Plantagon, together with the consulting engineering company Sweco, has developed a vertical green house for city environments.