An award-winning geo-locational tech cluster is bringing new companies and jobs to the Gävleborg region of Sweden.
- 07 January 2014
FPX expects that GIS-related economic activities will account for a considerable part of the region’s future economic growth. The methods and tools that exist within FPX offer huge opportunities to accelerate job creation and strongly contribute toward a new entrepreneurship within the service sector in north-central Sweden.
A cluster organisations known as Future Position X (FPX) focused on high-tech geo-locational software and associated products is helping to turn the city of Gävle and the surrounding Gävleborg region of north-central Sweden into a European version of Silicon Valley.
Following FPX’s success in attracting world-leading GIS companies to the region, Gävleborg has become increasingly recognised around the world as Europe’s centre of excellence for geographic information systems (GIS). The award-winning FPX cluster supports companies and organisations to innovate and develop new products and services, as well as to expand into new markets.
An ERDF-funded project to further FPX’s work in this field has seen around 200 companies a year take part in cluster activities and is estimated to have led to the creation of 15 new companies and some 300 new jobs. In addition, over 120 new services and products have been developed and launched onto national and international markets by the participating companies.
Living showroom for sustainable urban management
Part of the project involved setting up an exhibition in the city of Gävle to demonstrate how GIS software can promote more effective and sustainable urban management. The Smart City Arena, as the exhibition is known, is an opportunity to showcase the skills that exist in the region to companies thinking of setting up operations in Gävleborg.
Small to medium-sized companies and start-ups participating in the project have experienced strong growth and are expanding more quickly in terms of both turnover and employees compared with companies outside the cluster.
FPX chief executive Johan P. Bång said that the project had been particularly successful in boosting the development of new products, services and companies. The project has also helped to internationalise the cluster, through the establishment of contacts with stakeholders in Asia and Central Europe. An FPX office and incubator in Zhuhai in southern China had been established, along with project offices in Wuhan and Beijing. In addition, 24 matchmaking activities were implemented directed at boosting cooperation between companies in Gävleborg and other regions around the world with a strong interest in GIS. Between 2011 and 2013, Gävleborg played host to around 30 business delegations from China interested in the region’s GIS expertise.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Smart City Innovation Playground” is EUR 3 754 433, of which the EU’s European Regional Development Fund is contributing EUR 1 877 261 from the “North Central-Sweden” Operational Programme for the 2007 to 2013 programming period. The national contribution is EUR 903 615.