“It´s important that those of us involved in the collaboration develop new technologies that can be tested in city environments with the exposure and marketing this brings, which is in turn important for forthcoming export initiatives. This is entirely in line with how we look on business-driven environmental development," says Maria Strömberg.

The initiative is taking place under the auspices of Challenge-driven Innovation in which Vinnova has identified four major societal challenges. Based on these Vinnova wants academia, business and society to collaborate in creating new projects and finding new solutions. This is something Closer has worked with from the very beginning as part of the creative collaboration environment at Lindholmen Science Park.

“The decision is a good recommendation for Lindholmen Science Park as a meeting place and its strength and ability to create successful collaborative projects," says Jerker Sjögren, Program Manager at Closer in a press release.

In addition to Business Region Göteborg, Chalmers University of Technology, the City of Gothenburg, Volvo, Region Västra Götaland, West Sweden Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Schenker are all Closer collaborative partners. They have collectively accepted the challenge “Sustainable attractive cities."

Three projects will share the SEK 2,225,000, The GOSMART and SENDSMART projects will create and demonstrate solutions for both passenger and freight transportation for the new Gothenburg that is growing up thanks to the West Swedish Package. The goal is to create a better everyday world for citizens and companies alike and to hold up Gothenburg as a model in sustainable transportation.

The third project will take place within the EU Green Corridor initiative with the objective of creating sustainable solutions that strengthen logistics industry competitiveness.