Joakim Helmbrant - Networker of the Year

“I am very pleased and honoured,” says Joakim Helmbrant, coordinator for external relatitons at the University of Gävle, who recently received FindITs award “Networker of the Year. It is especially rewarding since I believe the University will play a crucial role in this field, and it is of course a great honour for me personally.”

“He is a role model”

The choice is motivated in the following words:

“Our Networker of the Year is an individual who with great openness and commitment does his very best to connect people and organisations that can be useful to one another and networking is conducive to this successful result.

With his humble and listening attitude he opens doors and contributes with insights. He is always curious about how others do things and attempts to learn from these examples. Joakim is a role model when it comes to networking.”

From infrastructure to apple orchards

Joakim Helmbrant has a degree in engineering from 1992 and started working at the University immediately after his graduation. At the turn of the siècle, he became a technology broker. He tells us that this is what he has been working with all along, taking on a brokerage role in bringing different parties together.

“I have always tried to work on a long-term basis and often begin by thinking about what my role is and what I can contribute with.”

The development of the University from an institution focused primarily on education into an institution which is also a hub for highly topical research, he finds amazing. He claims that the image people in the region have of our University has changed dramatically into what it is today.

“I have found it very interesting to participate in development projects with people with a drive and commitment to change. The circumstances vary greatly, one day it is investments in infrastructure in Gävleborg and the next it is apple orchards in Hofors,” Joakim Helmbrant says.

FindIT

To promote collaboration, the Forum for Industrial IT-solution (FindIT) gathers companies from Gävleborg and Dalarna within the steel, paper and pulp industry, as well as their suppliers. Actors within education, FoU and IT also participate.

The goal of FindIT is to strengthen the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises and companies in the region as well as to promote the development of new enterprises, products and methods.

For more information, please contact:
Joakim Helmbrant, coordinator external relations at the University of Gävle
Phone: 026-64 89 05
E-mail: joakim.helmbrant@hig.se

Britta Haag, process manager FindIT
Phone: 026 - 24 17 57. 070 - 089 96 59
E-mail: britta.haag@findit-solutions.com

Text: Douglas Öhrbom
Photo Marie Hägg