Research and development in the Gothenburg region
Gothenburg is the Scandinavian powerhouse of innovation. Heavy corporate research and development (R&D) investments here cause the Västra Götaland region to account for over a third of Sweden's total business expenditure in research and development. R&D intensity is by far the highest in Sweden – a country that ranks fifth in the world in terms of R&D expenditure in relation to its GDP.
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35 %
of Sweden's business R&D expenditure
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€ 4 bn
is invested in private R&D each year
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# 1
industry collaborator among Western universities: Chalmers University of Technology
Business R&D in many sectors
Why is that? The business community in Gothenburg has successfully, over a long period of time, turned scientific progress into world-leading innovations. Products with significant intellectual content, exported to the global market. Climate change and disruptive progress, like AI, are now triggering large investments in areas such as mobility, tech, life science and sustainable transition.
Spearheaded by Volvo Group, Astra Zeneca and Volvo Cars you find research intense companies in all sectors, of all sizes. Ericsson, Geely, Zeekr, SKF, Preem, Nouryon, Essity, Stena, Saab and Getinge are some of them.
Strong supply of highly skilled people
Enablers for this knowledge-based economy are Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg. They combine excellent science and arts with outstanding collaborative capabilities and venture creation, especially in deep tech. These institutions attract international talent and drive an impressive supply of qualified competence.
The share of engineers and employees with a science education is much higher among the workforce in the Gothenburg region compared to other metropolitan regions in Sweden. Additionally, RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden) is headquartered in the centre of Lindholmen Science Park, Sweden’s largest and most successful arena for open innovation.
Masters of collaboration
Knowledge and solutions are never far away in Gothenburg. That is why more and more international companies establish here: to leverage the effect of own investments. Our open business climate and long tradition of co-creation is unique. Collaborations between the business community, academia and public bodies have been driving the remarkable developments we've witnessed over the past few years. These will continue. What we see now is sector convergence, for instance at AI Sweden. Actors from different industries meet at our science parks, hubs and wide range of testbeds, often in real life environment. To innovate together. Co-create.
Did you know this about R&D in Gothenburg?
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Engineering is the most common profession in the city of Gothenburg
Engineering is the most common profession in Gothenburg, closely followed by IT architects and system developers. There is a significant gap to the third most common occupation, which is store staff. This skill profile is unusual for big cities.
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Gothenburg has one of the world's best industry collaborators
Among Western universities Chalmers University of Technology has the highest share of scientific industry collaboration: 16% of its scientific papers are co-published with industry.
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A leader in quantum technology
Wallenberg Centre for Quantum Technology (WACQT), based in Gothenburg, is Sweden’s major initiative to build a quantum computer. Watch out: A new industrial revolution is around the corner.
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First-class research centres
Gothenburg boasts an impressive array of top research centres. These include fundamental research treasures such as Onsala Space Observatory, the clean room facility Myfab Chalmers and Atmosphere-Climate-Ecosystems (ACE). Applied research centres include the Digital Twin Cities Centre, the acclaimed Safer – Vehicle and traffic safety centre and the advanced medical imaging and intervention center, BoIC, at Sahlgrenska University Hospital. Additionally, the national centre for commercialization of regenerative medicine, CCRM Nordic, is being established in Mölndal
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Venture creation from science
Chalmers Ventures and GU Ventures combine exciting ideas from research with potential for global impact, pairing them with handpicked entrepreneurial teams. Together, they have invested in over 250 startups, developing these ventures into viable businesses.
Get in touch
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Marcus ScoliègeHead of Foreign Direct InvestmentsContact me about: Establish and invest, Inward investment, Logistics
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Per ÖsterströmDirector Clusters & Innovation