These days, the automotive industry is often featured as an environmental problem. But facing radical change, the world’s car and truck makers are actually at the very heart of responsible innovation. Not by “reinventing the wheel” but by improving performance and user experience while reducing carbon footprint and materials waste.
Three of Sweden’s ten largest and most dynamic companies are Volvo Car, Volvo Trucks, and Scania, and the automotive industry is the country’s largest export industry with a 14 percent share of total goods export.
The automotive industry is mainly centered around these and other vehicle manufacturers, and their local supplier network. Globalization requires that new forms of knowledge-based partnerships and innovation processes are also developed to maintain and strengthen their business positions and performance.
invests more than 3 percent of its growth domestic product (GDP) in R&D.
FROM SEATBELTS TO EYE TRACKING
The three-point seat belt was invented by Volvo in Sweden in 1959. Subsequently, Volvo gifted it to the world by letting other car manufacturers use this seat belt without patent fees.
But the innovative spirit is by no means limited to traffic safety.
Since then, Swedish automotive manufacturers, development partners, and supplier networks have delivered a wealth of innovative solutions. In 2019 Phyron launched automated ad generation and management, now a major European success story.
Most recently, in February 2022 Autoliv, a global leader in automotive safety systems, introduced exterior airbags for Nuro autonomous vehicles.
And, just another example, Tobii’s market-leading eye tracking and attention computing solutions deliver critical value to manufacturers, automotive suppliers, and research institutes throughout the vehicle lifecycle — from research, UX/design, and production, to buyer and driver experiences.
When it comes to research and development (R&D), Sweden proves its commitment by investing, as a rule, more than 3 percent of the country’s growth domestic product (GDP) in R&D.