Picture of people doing research

Research and development in the Gothenburg region

Gothenburg is the Scandinavian powerhouse of innovation. Heavy corporate 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 third in the world in terms of R&D expenditure in relation to its GDP.

  • 33 %

    of Sweden's business R&D expenditure

  • € 4 bn

    is invested in private R&D each year

  • # 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, CEVT, SKF, Preem, Noyron, 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. 

 

Watch video: Why Gothenburg is a hotspot for innovation

  • Engineering is the most common profession in the city of Gothenburg

    Tightly followed by IT architect and system developer. A gap follows to the third most common occupation in Gothenburg, which is store staff. This skill profile is unusual in big cities.

  • Gothenburg has one of the world's best industry collaborators

    Among Western universities Chalmers University of Technology is showing the highest share of scientific industry collaboration of all: 16 % of its scientific papers are co-published with industry. 

  • A leader in quantum technology

    Wallenberg Centre for Quantum Technology (WACQT) is run from Gothenburg, Sweden’s large bid on building a quantum computer. Watch out: A new industrial revolution is around the corner.

  • First-class research centres 

    The line of top research centres in Gothenburg is astounding. There are fundamental research treasures such as Onsala Space Observatory, the clean room facility Myfab Chalmers and Atmosphere-Climate-Ecosystems (ACE). There are centres for more applied research such as 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. Another is the national centre for commercialization of regenerative medicine, CCRM Nordic, now being established in Mölndal. Just to mention a few.

  • Venture creation from science 

    Chalmers Ventures and GU Ventures combine exiting ideas from research, with potential for global impact, with handpicked entrepreneurial teams. Together they have invested in over 250 startups, to develop their ventures into viable businesses.

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