+Katrineholm — Zheng Joo

Reimagined a fragmented municipality with the Silicon Forest pilot to create a self-sustaining ecosystem built for lasting harmony between people and nature

CLIENT+Katrineholm, Sweden

YEAR
2025

SERVICE
Research, Strategy, Business Transformation, Innovation, Creative Direction

+Katrineholm, a non-profit destination management company funded by the Swedish Ministry of Agriculture and supported by EU regional development programs. We were tasked with strengthening digital innovation across rural Västra Sörmland’s hospitality and green sectors. The brief called for small-scale, human-centred digital pilots to promote sustainability and free human capacity, guided by the principle of “unburden.”

SOLUTION

Instead of creating isolated digital pilots, we proposed the Silicon Forest — a ten-year roadmap that reimagines Västra Sörmland as a self-sustaining, scalable ecosystem connecting people, businesses, and nature through three phases. The Conversational Digital Toolkit pilot marks the first phase of this vision, helping rural SMEs collaboratively adopt digital tools and build readiness for the broader ecosystem.

ROLE

Guiding the project’s strategic direction, synthesising research insights, and identifying gaps that led to reframing the problem. I then led ideation and, in collaboration with the entire team, co-developed a business roadmap and prototypes.

Built with Yuti Huang, Nata Margiani, Joshua Nicholson, and Jaydatta Nikalje. Completed in three weeks.

Approach

Symptoms vs. Root causes

Early market research (left) revealed a tension with the client’s brief. Below is a compilation of them:

From this understanding, we formed an early hypothesis where the real challenge wasn’t simply a lack of digital adoption, but a disconnected regional system. Later fieldwork and local interviews confirmed our assumption: what seemed like isolated issues in rural sectors were actually symptoms of a deeper fragmentation.

Our discovery process includes Market Research (Quantitative Data & Trend Report), Ethnographic & Field Studies (Local Visit and Interviews), and SMEs businesses' operational analysis

Systems Thinking as methodology

We realised that creating yet another digital pilot for individual sectors wouldn’t solve the deeper structural disconnect. What was needed wasn’t more innovation in isolation, but a way to see how people, businesses, and environments interact as part of a living whole.

I introduced Systems Thinking as the core methodology to move beyond siloed solutions and instead, explore the relationships, feedback loops, and patterns that shape the region’s behaviour. This approach guided how we framed insights and designed interventions.

Guiding our synthesis with Mental Models and Ecosystem Mapping to inform our strategy

Problem reframing Ideation

As a result, we shifted from the initial brief to:

How Might We Connect people, businesses and resources through an integrated ecosystem that enables self-sustained innovation?
We also included our client in the reframing process. This approach enables the client to grasp our intentions early and helps us focus on identifying the root cause, much like building a rocket aimed at landing on the right planet.

Our ideation can now centre around it: designing long-term systemic models rather than short-term solutions or standalone digital tools.

Reframed problem, Ideation sessions, sketches and tools, Mapping out SMEs capabilities and limitations

Outcome

A growth narrative

Our response was Silicon Forest, a 10-year roadmap that reimagines the region as a self-sustaining, scalable ecosystem connecting people, businesses, and nature.

Instead of siloed, fast-paced digital fixes limited only to agriculture or tourism, it leverages existing local resources across all sectors at the right pace and time.

We use metaphorical storytelling to bring those insights and solutions to life in a more compelling manner.

The foundation of the insights lies in the Possitopia Approach, which isn’t about chasing fast growth or copying big cities, but about building a future where industries, people, and nature flourish together.

Pilot & Impact

Our first step, the Conversational Digital Toolkit pilot, launches the model’s initial phase (Horizon 1) by enabling rural SMEs to adopt digital tools collaboratively through human connection and build readiness for the wider ecosystem vision.

This isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach; instead, it's customised to suit the specific needs of our local businesses, residents, and initiatives. Appointed Local Champions will be essential in actualising this toolkit. As trusted local members, they will serve as guides, facilitators, and problem-solvers, ensuring everyone receives the support they need on their digital journey.

The Silicon Forest Transformation Model is currently being applied for government funding and will commence next year with Tillvaxtverket for implementation and scaling.

Reflection

Through this project, I gained a deeper understanding of the complexities within municipal systems—and how innovation can be ineffective if the core issues aren’t clearly defined first. The final outcome offers +Katrineholm a strategic model and implementation funnel to channel digital innovation efforts more efficiently and sustainably.

As the pilot moves forward, several questions remain central to my curiosity:

The region’s food industry is a unique strength. How might we leverage that within this roadmap?
How can we simplify the model to ensure ease of implementation across all three horizons?
With clearer direction and aligned resources, can we now enable sector-specific innovation more effectively?