FDI Report
Putting Gävleborg On the Map
Te GIS capital of Europe continues to grow I
n a rapidly changing world, with new global challenges and opportunities, geospa- tial data and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) will help companies and or- ganisations to navigate to a better future. GIS is becoming an increasingly important everyday tool for companies to understand their processes, reduce en- vironmental impacts and increase business performance. Gävle and the Gävleborg re- gion, in Sweden, has developed into the GIS capital of Europe over the past 15 years, with a world-leading GIS industry and research competence.
The Swedish mapping, cadastral and land reg- istration authority has its headquarters in Gävle, and the region has developed into a center for geospatial research and education in recent years. Companies such as ESRI, Metria and Swedesurvey have headquarters in Gävle, and this concentration of GIS knowledge and ex- pertise has led regional authorities, municipal organisations and companies to become com- petent GIS-users to successfully improve their operations and processes. The cluster organisation, Future Position X, has played a vital role in establishing Gävleborg as a GIS center. Future Position X was launched in 2006 and is a non-governmental, non-profit cluster organisation, which acts as an independ- ent arena for research and development in the Geographic Information Technology (GIT) In- dustry and the Smart City concept. The cluster supports innovative companies and organisa- tions to research and develop new products and solutions, and to expand into new markets. Over 200 companies and organisations collaborate within the cluster and the Future Position X headquarters, labs and incubator are based at the Gävle Technology Park. Future Position X also has a strong presence in China, with project of- fices in Beijing and Wuhan, and a market office and incubator in Zhuhai City. Future Position X
114
received Gold Certification from the European Cluster Excellence Initiative (ECEI) in 2012 for its outstanding work, and won the European Cluster Manager of the Year award in 2010. Gävleborg’s GIS expertise combined with Future Position X’s active promotion of inno- vation and internationalisation has resulted in a huge growth in the region’s GIS industry. In the past 4 years, more than 20 new companies have been created and over 120 new services launched by cluster participants. The creation of an innovative environment has been fundamen- tal in attracting many world-leading GIS com- panies to establish themselves in Gävleborg. In 2011, ESRI Inc established their sixth global development center at the University of Gävle. ESRI is owned by S-group AB, which is one of the largest GIS companies in Europe and opened their new headquarters in Gävle earlier this year.
Another recent example of Gävleborg’s at- tractiveness for the geospatial industry is the es- tablishment of Geomatikk’s Swedish headquarters. Geomatikk is a leading company in the use of GIS for managing underground in- frastructure, such as power cables. The company is growing rapidly in Sweden and is recruiting over 40 new staff in Gävle during the fall of 2012. “Gävleborg’s smart specialisation in the
field of Geographic information, the Future po- sition X cluster organisation and the warm wel- come from the city was the reason for us to set up our Swedish headquarters in Gävle,” explains Petter Holmberg, CEO Geomatikk AB. There are already many Chinese companies
and organisations visiting Gävleborg to learn about the use of GIS to create Smart cities. To meet this demand, Future Position X is estab- lishing an interactive demonstration project in Gävle that exhibits how GIS can promote more effective and sustainable urban management. “Every day we work to strengthen our posi- tion as Europe’s GIS capital and to continue to attract companies, researchers and students to
New European Economy
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124