Johanneberg: Science of modelling a smart city

The expansion of the Johanneberg Science Park in Sweden’s second-largest city Gothenburg will make space for new hi-tech start-ups in the areas of urban development, energy, material and nanotechnology. That is in addition to the many other ambitious knowledge-economy companies that have already made a home under the science park roof and become contributors to modelling a future city.

The science park idea was born in Silicon Valley, at Stanford University in California. “The purpose of the science park in Gothenburg is to bring industry closer to science. Sharing the space and being close to each other allow students, teachers, researchers and industry to gain unique experience of building innovative businesses, and to induce regional growth”, says Sven-Erik Adolfsson, Managing Director of Chalmersfastigheter AB. The company, owned by Chalmers University of Technology, is a developer of the university campuses and the new facilities at Johanneberg Science Park.

In a knowledge economy, industry and companies need access to university campuses; physical proximity is crucial. The companies joining science parks are often small development companies with high technological ambitions.

Today, more than 3,000 Chalmers University of Technology employees and 11,000 students work and study on Chalmers two campuses in Gothenburg. The Johanneberg Science Park established as a joint venture by, among others, Chalmers and the city of Gothenburg in 2010, together with Lindholmen Science Park, is already home to hundreds of knowledge- and technology-intensive start-ups—within urban development, energy, media technology, material and nanotechnology—employing more than 1,000 people.

“Some of these small businesses are already operating on a global scale. The number of businesses is, in fact, an important success criterion for a science park”, Mr Adolfsson continues.

A SEK 42 million (EUR 15 million) loan NIB has provided to the real estate development company Chalmersfastigheter AB is co-financing the expansion of the Johanneberg Science Park. The new buildings, with a combined area of 8,000 square metres financed by the NIB loan, will have space for some 20 innovative new businesses and initiatives.

“Johanneberg is a testing ground for a number of new technologies and an innovation arena for the region of Västra Götaland and the city of Gothenburg. We hope this encourages and creates conditions for further integration of research and education into society”, says Mr Adolfsson.

“Our mission is to create an exemplary and innovative city district the whole of Gothenburg can benefit from”, he adds.

Exemplary and innovative may also imply pleasant. A pleasant neighbourhood—this is in fact how Johanneberg would like to see itself. When completed in 2015, the new science park buildings will be certified according to the Swedish green building standard for energy use, indoor environment and materials, and are expected to achieve the Green Building level ‘Gold’.

“The smallest possible carbon footprint, or modelling a future city, is a theme in the science park. Johanneberg is one of the top five ‘green’ buildings in Sweden. Sustainability provides great additional value for the city, for those who work here, and for the inhabitants”, says Mr Adolfsson.

No mistake—inhabitants. A model of sustainable housing is one of the ideas planted here. Implemented in cooperation between the science park, university and a private company, ‘HSB Living Lab’ is an urban development project in the making with actual inhabitants—students and guest researchers—to test apartments being built using smart sustainable building and energy-saving technologies. What is more, there are plans to build a housing block with a hundred zero-carbon-footprint apartments in close proximity to the science park.

Another example is ‘ElectriCity’, a sustainable transport project, launched by private business in cooperation with, among others, the Swedish Energy Agency, city of Gothenburg and region Västra Götaland. In 2015, the eight-kilometre link between the Johanneberg and Lindholmen science parks will be serviced by buses powered by electric energy from renewable sources.

Gothenburg has become a science park city. “The will to cooperate on the part of the city and society is key to the success of an arena that combines an incubator for innovative business ideas and a hub for research and education”, says Mr Adolfsson.

“New ideas are difficult to find. Our task is to cherish them, create space for them and an environment where they can thrive.”

The head of Chalmersfastigheter AB appreciates the opportunity that NIB’s long-term loan financing is providing for the development of the science park.

“It is very important that NIB shares our understanding of the development cycle in our business. We need a partner for a long-term relationship, and we are happy to find this in the package that NIB offers”, Mr Adolfsson concludes.