The Hudiksvall Fiber Optic Valley – an innovation system for regional growth

Problem

At the end of 1997, the municipality board of Hudiksvall decided toinvestigate the possibilities of developing the region around Hudiksvall into acentre for IT. It was necessary to revitalise the region, which had the rightconditions based on the broad know-how and experience at Ericsson NetworkTechnologies (ECA) in Hudiksvall.

Description

Summary Fiber Optic Valley is an arena for growth in a region with 400 000inhabitants. Regional participants within research, trade and industry, and thepublic sector in teamwork produce, exchange and use new technology and knowledgeto create sustainable growth through processes, products and services.

Fiber Optic Valley focuses on three areas:

1. Fiber to the user: development and construction of infrastructure for highcapacity and quality information interchange;
2. E-services to homes and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs);
3. Fiber optic industrial applications.
   

Results

• 25 new companies and over 200 new jobs are already created thanks to FiberOptic Valley.
• The project comprises several R&D projects, which have received muchinternational attention.
• The European Commission has appointed Hudiksvall as a role model for theEuropean fiber optic infrastructure.
• Hudiksvall has created the most modern high school in Sweden with fiberconnection in each room making it possible to improve the quality of education.
  

EU involvement

This practice was presented at the Fourth Best Practice Conference NewHorizons in Graz, Austria on 15 November 2006. The conference aimed at promotingexchange of experience and dissemination of best practice between authoritiesinvolved in the implementation on EU Structural Funds Programmes in Europe. Itwas destined to contribute to improving quality of implementation of StructuralFunds on the basis of project presentations and visits.

Contact info

HNA, Hudiksvall’s Trade and Industry Organisation
Olle Persson

Document type

practice