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The Swedish way: How Gothenburg is shaping the future of transportation

The future is never far from the mind in Gothenburg. The city is in the midst of massive urban development programme that will nearly double its size, making room for 45,000 new inhabitants and 60,000 jobs in the city centre by 2030.

Published: 20 February 2019 06:02 CET
The Swedish way: How Gothenburg is shaping the future of transportation
Photo: Per Pixel Petersson//imagebank.sweden.se

Beyond the revitalization of the downtown riverfront area, the greater Gothenburg region comprising 18 nearby municipalities is also booming. By 2030, the Gothenburg labour market is expected to expand to 1.75 million inhabitants from the roughly 1.17 million living in the area today. 

Find out more about business opportunities in Gothenburg

While Gothenburg residents can literally see the €100 billion investment projects take shape right before their eyes, the view to the future goes far beyond the city’s borders. 

Along the northern bank of the Göta Älv river in what was not too long ago a derelict shipyard district, Lindholmen Science Park is a bustling centre of activity that promises to shape the global future of transportation, mobility and connectivity. 

There, six of Sweden’s largest and most-established firms, including household names like Volvo and Ericsson, collaborate with young startups from around the world to influence how all of us will get around in the years to come.  

The collaborations take place under the umbrella of MobilityXlab, an initiative founded in October 2017 to give emerging companies the possibility of strategic partnership with the six partners.

“We have a vision to bring future mobility closer by finding new innovations and solutions,” MobilityXlab director Katarina Brud said. “One way to do that is for large corporations to work closely with emerging companies. It’s often very difficult to change the culture within these old traditional huge companies, so we create an ecosystem that supports collaboration with the younger and more nimble startups.”

With the six large Swedish firms – Ericsson, Volvo Cars, Volvo Group, Veoneer, Zenuity and CEVT – already collaborating to MobilityXlab, some 30,000 people are in the science park every day and 13,000 work in the area. That number is expected to double in the next five years due to a great interest from all over the world to invest in the area and to a general growth linked to the urban development.

Also, Chinese automaker Geely has decided to base its European Innovation Centre in Lindholmen. Geely Innovation Centre, GIC, which will have its Swedish base in Lindholmen, is a great initiative that will help make the area more lively and attractive with places to interact such as hotels and restaurants.

The mix of global powerhouses and innovative startups has made Lindholmen “truly the place to be,” Brud said. 

“Gothenburg has an established culture of being open and collaborative. What we are trying to do is accelerate that a bit and shift toward being even more open,” she said. “The large companies that I work with understand that we have to work not only with each other but with emerging companies from around the world. I think that is very unique.”

The MobilityXlab initiative has brought over 15 startups to Lindholmen, all with their own contributions to what Brud calls “a race to the future” to shape transportation, mobility and connectivity. 

“If I had a crystal ball I could tell you what transportation will look like in the future, but I really don’t know. To me, that is what is so exciting,” Brud said. “We don’t know how you will own and use a vehicle in the future, or if we’ll even be using cars at all, so a company like Volvo needs to really think in new ways and that’s where these partnerships can really help.”

Find out more about business opportunities in Gothenburg

While many of the startups involved in MobilityXlab are Swedish firms, including several already based in Gothenburg, the initiative has also brought in companies from Canada, Germany, Silicon Valley, Israel and Finland.

For Finnish firm Valossa, which uses AI for video recognition, involvement with MobilityXlab provided a major boost. 

“MobilityXlab has greatly accelerated Valossa’s entry into new industries and groundbreaking applications for AI,” company CEO Mika Rautiainen said. “Valossa would not have had similar opportunities to meet high-level automotive industry executives without MobilityXlab involvement.”

Rautiainen said Gothenburg’s “international feel” has made the Finnish staff feel right at home. 

“We like the mixture of traditional industry and forward-looking innovations we have seen in the city so far. Swedish city infrastructure and services are world-leading and provide ample opportunities for foreign professionals to accommodate their career and personal lives in the city,” he said. 

For Brud, who grew up on an island about an hour north of Gothenburg, the city’s transformation has been a sight to behold. 

Find out more about business opportunities in Gothenburg

“Ten years ago there was not a lot of energy and movement but today it is a really exciting international melting pot. For innovation, we need diversity, trust and collaboration and that is what we have in Gothenburg,” she said. 

This article was produced by The Local Creative Studio and sponsored by Business Region Göteborg.

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READER INSIGHTS

How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who’ve been there, done that

The Swedish job market poses unique challenges for newcomers. The Local's readers share their best tips for cracking the career code.

Published: 10 April 2024 11:32 CEST
Updated: 13 April 2024 15:50 CEST
How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who've been there, done that

Network, network, network!

A statistic that often gets tossed around is that seven out of ten jobs in Sweden are obtained through personal connections, and there’s no doubt that a good network is crucial to your job hunt, making the labour market extra challenging for newcomers to the country.

In fact, networking was the main tip mentioned by The Local’s readers.

“The job market is quite hot in Sweden, and talent is in short supply. People hiring do not have a lot of time to find the right talent, and tips from friends, colleagues and former colleagues are the way to first, find out organisations are hiring, and secondly, get your CV on the short list,” said Kyle, a Canadian reader who works in innovation management in Gothenburg.

“If you are going for a major employer like Volvo, network gets you in the door, as HR does not have much to do with hiring… the hiring managers do all of it and have no time, due to the insane number of consensus meetings. If you are looking for smaller organisations, they have even less time to find people, and networking is their primary way to find talent,” he added.

NETWORKING IN SWEDEN:

Some of the networking tips readers mentioned were going to job fairs, getting an internship to help you establish connections in your preferred field, joining clubs (this could be anything from your local gardening association to meetups for coders, but focus on clubs that may be popular among people working in your chosen field), and drawing on your organic network of friends, neighbours and others.

Don’t neglect the groundwork

The saying “dress for the job you want, not the job you have” is getting worn out (and people may look at you funny if you turn up to interviews in a Batman suit), but there’s truth to the notion of making sure you know what you want – and preparing for it.

In other words, don’t wait for a job ad to appear before you start to customise your CV and figure out what skill set you need. Create your CV now so that you’re ready to tweak it to your dream job – you could even have a general look at job ads in your field to see what requirements are needed. And don’t forget to spruce up your LinkedIn profile so that it fits with your career goals.

“I believe that several factors contribute to successfully landing a desirable job in Sweden. It’s essential to prepare to meet the requirements beyond just having a university degree. Many individuals realise these requirements only after completing their studies when they start searching for a job, which can be too late,” said Adnan Aslam from Pakistan, who works as a food inspector.

“I recommend identifying the job advertisements for positions you aspire to hold in the future and then preparing for those requirements during your studies. For me, acquiring a basic level of proficiency in the Swedish language and obtaining a Swedish driving licence were crucial. I pursued these goals during my studies and was able to secure a desirable job before graduating,” he added.

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Felipe Cabral even has a GPT assistant trained on his own CVs and old cover letters, and said the set-up only takes ten minutes if you already have your documents. “With that in place, you can give instructions like: Read this job description and create a tailored version of my CV and letter for it. (…) Remember to always review and ask it not to create data aside from your documents.”

Be flexible and ready to adapt

Moving to a new place inevitably means having to learn not just the practicalities such as how to write a CV or which websites to use to look for job openings, but also learning how to navigate a new culture with all its unspoken expectations.

Swedish workplaces are generally less hierarchical than many other countries, but that doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want whenever you want without anyone raising an eyebrow. Swedes are usually direct, but be careful of being too abrasive or boastful: raising your voice, even during a spirited argument, or banging your own drum to show off your skills may not go down well.

“Talk, deliberate, complain like a Swede and you’ll come across like you know what the job entails, so your trustworthiness increases,” said an Indian data analyst who preferred to remain anonymous.

“Office politics are just as strong in Sweden as anywhere else. The flat hierarchy is deceiving as social hierarchy is enforced quite a bit in that lack of formal hierarchy. Take your time in learning these dynamics wherever you work before revealing your talent and capabilities. Expect those internal politics to happen, and they won’t hurt so much when they do,” said Kyle, the Canadian reader in Gothenburg.

This article about Swedish office politics may be useful.

Stay true to yourself

Adapting to your surroundings is one thing. Completely changing who you are is another.

For one thing, your happiness is as important as your career progression, and for another, your foreignness need not be an impediment: it’s also a skill that sets you apart from the rest. It means you have unique experience, and also, in the right setting, provides an opportunity to sometimes violate those social rules we mentioned above, because people assume you will, anyway.

“Trust is key. Build trust in your network, work with integrity. It’s OK to violate jantelagen if you are maintaining integrity. Sometimes your outsider and more honest/open opinion will burn bridges, especially those that may feel threatened by talent. But it will build trust with other colleagues who see it as brave and more trustworthy to work with,” said Kyle from Canada.

Hunker down for the long haul

We don’t want to scare you, because there are plenty of examples of people who quickly find their dream job in Sweden and settle into their new workplace, enjoying perks such as long summer holidays, generous parental leave and the famous work-life balance.

But if you do find it tougher than you expected: know that you’re not alone.

Several readers who responded to the survey said they were still trying to find a job in Sweden.

“I found jobs all over Europe but not here. They say they have a lack of experienced senior engineers but the don’t seem to be doing much to solve this,” said a Brazilian in Gothenburg.

A reader from Bangladesh said she was “at a loss” as to how to make a career change from her current AI role in Stockholm, despite many years of experience as an IT project manager.

“Over the past 18 months, I’ve submitted over 600 applications to various organisations. Unfortunately, despite being overqualified for some positions, I’ve faced rejections at every turn, from both large and small companies. The job market here, especially for foreign-born women, feels overwhelmingly challenging,” she said, adding that the struggle had impacted her mental health.

The Local has on several occasions reported on foreign residents’ struggle to get a foot on the Swedish job ladder, with many facing hurdles such as employers’ unfamiliarity with international degrees, discrimination, or a lack of network that can provide paths into a company.

So during the job hunt, don’t forget to care for yourself. Share your concerns with fellow job-seekers, ask for help and join networking groups – this is good not just for creating new contacts, but also in terms of your social well-being and meeting people who are in a similar situation.

And finally, as one British reader in Stockholm advised, keep looking: “Be open-minded with the opportunities that present themselves. It isn’t an easy market to enter and doesn’t feel inclusive.” But he added, “don’t give up”.

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