Areas with good conditions for establishment and investment
The Borås region has a unique position in Sweden within entrepreneurship and business development. There are already well-established e-commerce and logistics companies along with exciting start-ups, universities and research. Here you get all the conditions for investing and establishing your business. Here you can read more about the areas where the Borås region is particularly strong.
Information, communication & technology (ITC)
The Borås region has historically had a large presence of companies in the ICT industries (Information, Communication and Technology). Without these, the textile industry would not have been able to flourish. Today there is great expertise in embedded systems, infrastructure & cloud services, mobile technology, logistics and transport.
From mail order to e-commerce. Today, 4,500 companies in advanced trade operate in the Borås region. Many of them work with digital trade solutions. Among other things, there is the largest concentration of textile companies in northern Europe, as much as 54% of all textiles that come to the Nordic region pass through the Borås region. Ehandel.se's e-commerce index 2016 named Borås as Sweden's best e-commerce municipality. The index compares the size of turnover and profit, how many employees and how many stores e-commerce represents compared to population size in Sweden's 40 largest municipalities.
Tomorrow's skills are already in place. The University of Borås has already started e-commerce courses at master level, with a focus on digital business development. The university also has a professor with a research focus in this area. SIIR (Swedish Institute for Innovative Retailing) offers research resources and a unique research environment in the form of Handelslabbet, to retail companies and the surrounding community to contribute to innovative and sustainable trade.
Test beds in the Borås region
There are several test beds in the Borås region. Rise, Hällered, AstaZero, Awitar and Test Center Autoliv operate in the region and help the automotive industry to develop the technology of the future.
RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden) is an independent, state research institute that offers unique expertise and some 100 test and demonstration environments for future-proof technologies, products and services. In international collaboration with companies, academia and the public sector, RISE contributes to a competitive business community and a sustainable society. A total of 2,300 employees drive and support all types of innovation processes.
"Awitar, together with the AstaZero test facility and our upcoming testbed for electromobility, means that RISE is well equipped to be a strong innovation partner for the Swedish automotive industry in the future as well."
Increasingly complex vehicles with radar, cameras and sensors are rolling on our roads. Interference testing of vehicle electronics is becoming increasingly important and is a prerequisite for the transition to the self-driving vehicles of the future, which must be able to communicate wirelessly with each other. AWITAR (Automotive Wireless Test and Research Facility) is RISE's new world-leading test and development facility for wireless communication systems and EMC for, for example, autonomous vehicles and active safety systems. The facility has been developed in close collaboration between RISE and the Swedish automotive industry. AWITAR is characterized by high flexibility with the capacity to test both passenger cars and heavy vehicles up to 70 tons.
The Volvo facility in Hällered has a total of 15 different test tracks where they test everything that a Volvo car can face. Off-road conditions and highway driving with different types of demanding surfaces. Here, 75 well-trained and experienced test drivers work at the facility, together with staff in workshops and service stations.
The world's first full-scale test environment for the development of future road safety can be found just outside Borås. Astazero is an open, international platform for all interested parties such as vehicle manufacturers, subcontractors, authorities, road agents, universities and technical institutes and colleges. The facility has created unique environments for testing all possible scenarios in research, development and certification of future road safety systems.
An accredited laboratory within the Autoliv Group, with high competence and long experience in providing testing services of an international nature, especially to the automotive industry. It performs simulation, design and testing to support the evaluation of products and components. It also develops cost-effective test methods, designs and manufactures test equipment and fixtures. The workshop also handles the manufacture of prototypes in small quantities.
Vehicle safety & autonomous systems
The Borås region and West Sweden form a cluster of companies that drive the automotive industry forward. Here are world-leading test beds, vehicle manufacturers, subcontractors, research and universities that together create the vehicles of tomorrow. Test beds such as Rise, Hällered, AstaZero, Awitar and Test Center Autoliv operate in the region and help the automotive industry to develop the technology of the future.
Our areas of strength - from automotive to fashion
Some industries have grown particularly strong in the Borås region. There is a world-class manufacturing industry, expertise in e-commerce and logistics, unique test beds for the automotive industry and a textile industry with absolute cutting edge in circular design, textiles and fashion.
Textile
The Borås region is Europe's absolute spearhead in circular design, textiles and fashion with Science Park Borås, the Textile Fashion Center and the Swedish School of Textiles.
Automotive
The Borås region has long experience of the automotive industry and is home to several world-leading companies and subcontractors with unique test beds for future vehicle safety.
Manufacturing industry
The Borås region is home to specialists in metal and plastic manufacturing, tool manufacturing and subcontractors to the automotive industry. Here you as a company work side by side with a world-class manufacturing industry.
Trade and logistics
The Borås region has a long experience of trade, which today has developed into an expertise in e-commerce and logistics. Almost all well-known logistics companies are represented here.
Living in the Borås region
Our different municipalities are unique in themselves, you are looking for speed and fan or nature's soothing environments. The Borås region is close to everything and can take you further out into the world in under an hour via Landvetter Airport.
