About the Organisation
Smart City Sweden is described as a state-funded initiative and export platform for smart and sustainable city solutions. Its headquarters are in Stockholm, and it is hosted c/o IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute at Valhallavägen 81. The platform works through six regional offices around Sweden.
Origins and Development
The text states that the story of Smart City Sweden began in 2016, with the aim of exporting solutions within environmental technology. In 2019 the project expanded to include Urban Planning, Digitalisation and Social Sustainability, alongside Mobility, Energy and Climate & Environment. Since its opening in May 2017 in Hammarby Sjöstad, a sustainable urban district in central Stockholm, it reports having welcomed over 10 000 visitors from around 100 countries.
Management and Partners
The platform was founded as a state initiative coordinated by the Swedish Energy Agency. According to the text, it is managed by IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, in close collaboration with regional business promoting organisations and private companies. It includes a group of two governmental agencies that provide expertise and knowledge of best practices within their fields.
Focus Areas
Smart City Sweden gathers best practices from Sweden within six areas:
- Energy, including smart grids, district heating and cooling, and waste-to-energy
- Climate & Environment, including biogas, ecosystem services, climate adaptation, waste management and water
- Mobility, including electrification, public transport, cycling and shared transportation
- Digitalisation, covering data collection, management and sharing
- Urban Planning, including smart and sustainable buildings, renewal of city districts and placemaking
- Social Sustainability, including healthy cities and physical activity, equality, and densification
Services for Visitors
The organisation welcomes international delegations on the decision-making level who are interested in implementing Swedish solutions in their local context. Visit programmes are tailored to the needs of each visitor. The virtual showroom offers courses, webinars, a virtual tour, films and SmartTalks, and the site includes best practices, success stories and a directory of Swedish companies.
Examples Reported in Recent News
The news section cites a pilot project in Hammarby Sjöstad in which plastic sorting increased by 44%, showing how digital tools can be used. It also reports that urban trees can play a major role in lowering outdoor temperatures, and that in 2021 stakeholders from Kampala approached the platform about a waste-to-energy solution in Uganda.
Purpose for International Cities and Investors
In its own terms, Smart City Sweden is a platform for sustainable city solutions for stakeholders from all over the world who are interested in investing in smart and sustainable city solutions from Sweden. It invites those interested in collaboration to make contact and to join it on the journey towards a more sustainable urban future.