Scandinavia is one of the global hotbeds for telecommunications, ICT and applications of technologies to build advanced information societies. Stockholm has long acted as one of the leading nodes and gateways into this region, with not only significant research and business leadership, but importantly a very committed city authority working hand in hand with companies to improve the attractiveness and efficiency of Stockholm to citizens and businesses.

Stockholm has received a long list of awards for turning societal visions into practice, the recent award of becoming Europe’s Green Capital in 2010 just being one to name. The city has long invested in strategic challenges and innovations that have not only enabled greater service provision to citizens, but also to the business community, often pioneering such concepts in partnership with the high-tech cluster of Kista Science City, co-partner of this category, and home to some 501 ICT companies employing over 63,000 professionals.

Stockholm and Kista Science City jointly seek out solutions that can extend existing and offer new services to citizens and corporations in the city, making extensive use of technology to improve efficiency, accessibility and attractiveness of services. Such services can be based on a number of business models and may serve more than a single target-group in a broad range of application areas from public services, mobility, health, integration of target groups into the job market, sustainability, new forms of work and other application areas. Stockholm has long been open to consider not only technological innovation but also new business and organisational models to make full utilisation of technologies.