City of Lund

Welcome to Lund – City of Ideas

The spires of the Cathedral of Lund tower over a City characterized by its rich cultural and historical heritage, state-of-the-art scientific research & development, bustling business climate and investments opportunities. Lund – City of Ideas – is a place where academia, business, culture and nature thrive within bicycle distance from each other

Lund was founded in 990

Lund was founded by the Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard in 990 when he wanted a firmer grip of this part of the country (i.e. Denmark). To assure the importance of the city it was awarded mint rights for making coins and became the archbishopric for entire Scandinavia.

For the next 400 years Lund was one of Scandinavia’s most important cities. Construction of the present cathedral started in 1085 and Lund University was founded in 1666, when the province had been conquered by the Swedes.

Cutting-edge research at Lund University

Today the city of Lund, with 115,000 citizens, is very much dominated by Lund University, ranked among the world’s top 100 universities. The University has 42 000 students and more than 7 500 staff based in Lund, Helsingborg and Malmö.

The University offers one of the broadest ranges of programmes and courses in Scandinavia, based on cross-disciplinary and cutting-edge research. The compact university campus encourages networking and creates the conditions for scientific breakthroughs and innovations. The University has a clear international profile, with partner universities in over 70 countries.

Funding of more than SEK 5 billion a year goes to research at eight faculties, which gives Lund University one of Sweden’s strongest and broadest ranges of research activity. Over 30 of the research fields are world-leading, according to independent evaluations.

Ideon, Medicon Village, MAX IV and ESS

Sweden’s first and most successful research park, Ideon, is situated in Lund, as well as Medicon Village – a unique environment for life sciences; integrating research, innovation and enterprise creates the conditions for improved health and quality of life.

Two of the world’s leading materials research facilities are currently under construction in Lund: the MAX IV Laboratory (open for research June, 2016) which will be the leading synchrotron radiation facility in the world, and the European research facility ESS (expected to be fully operational in 2020), which will house the world’s most powerful neutron source. The two facilities will be of decisive importance for future scientific and industrial development in both materials science and life science.

Lund – a great idea!

In Lund there is a spirit of learning more, achieving more, and making the future even brighter.

This spirit has also resulted in a vast number of inventions over the years. Did you know that the turbohaler, the dialyser, the mobile phone, the use of ultrasound in medicine, the Tetra Pak milk carton, the ink-jet printer and many other inventions all came from Lund originally?

Internationally well-known companies in Lund include Tetra Pak, Alfa Laval, Sony Mobile Communications, Baxter, Axis, Qliktech and many more. The region is one of the most dynamic in Europe and includes Malmö and Copenhagen.