About the region
Smart City Sweden South-East is a region characterized by a strong industry and a high concentration of IT companies, as well as three universities. With a strong foundation in academia, business and the public sector, the region is well supported for advanced innovation.
Smart City Sweden South-East is one of few regions in Sweden that have companies that produces all kinds of alternative fossil-free fuels: ethanol, biogas and biodiesel. A success factor is the establishment of systems for collecting and treating different types of organic residual products. These systems enable the production of bioenergy, soil products and the return of nutrients to agriculture.
There is a well-developed system for digestion and production of biogas, as well as infrastructure for the distribution of gas. Since all local buses are driven on biogas, there is a high demand for biogas as a fuel.
Liquid biogas enables the distribution of biogas to sites with no production of biogas. Examples of locations with a high presence of know-how and technology are in these areas are the liquid biogas in Kalmar County and Linköping, the ethanol cluster in Norrköping and Linköping University; Sweden’s strongest research center for biogas, and the Biogas Research Center (BRC). BRC works to create a strong national competence base in industrial and social research and the development of biogas solutions. The emphasis is on process and technology development, supplemented by systems and social research.
The region is one of the few examples in the world where industrial symbiosis has been implemented on a large scale with renewable energy sources as a driving force. A strong cluster has been formed, with participants from different areas of recycling and waste management, where innovative solutions for different residual flows from one participant are used as a resource at another. This is Norrköping Eco-Industrial Park, where companies such as E.ON, Lantmännen Agroetanol and Svensk Biogas are operating in symbiosis.
In 2013, the city of Växjö launched a strategy to become Europe’s first modern wooden town. In 2015, the goal was that 25 % of all new houses built by the municipality would be built of wood. In 2020, this share well be increased to 50 %. A great example of a sustainable wooden housing area is Välle Bridges, which is one of Sweden’s largest districts of wooden houses. It is also a research project, where Linné University, the Wood Industry and the Forest corporate group Södra are collaborating.
Welcome to visit Smart City Sweden South-East to learn more and find sustainable city solutions!
