In its 10th year at Mipim, the city of Lund in Sweden attended in a bid to promote its science and research facilities and the surrounding residential space. Lund mayor Anders Almgren said the city – the 11th largest in Sweden – is aiming to be a major player in Europe and the world for material sciences through the establishment of the European Spallation Source, a multi-disciplinary scientific research centre, which upon completion will “harness the world’s most powerful neutron source”, according to the University of Lund. 

“We have this fantastic opportunity now with the European Spallatian Source, the largest and most powerful material sciences facility in the world, which will be finished in two years,” said Mr Almgren. The investment of about €1.5bn is co-financed by 17 European countries, and will make the facility the largest investment in science infrastructure in Europe in almost 40 years. Despite competition from cities in Germany, Hungary and the UK, Lund was chosen to host and build the facility. 

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And just a short distance away from the European Spallation Source will be MAX IV, a synchrotron radiation facility serving as an extension to the existing national electron accelerator laboratory, MAX-lab. “These two facilities will make Lund very central in the world for material sciences,” said Mr Almgren. “We have a long tradition for science meeting business, we have the first and most successful science park in the Scandinavian countries, and we have a long tradition of making scientific results into products that people actually want to buy. So that is a focus for the future.” 

Lund was recently named among fDi Magazine’s European Cities and Regions of the Future for 2016/17. In addition to science and research, the southern Swedish city promoted its connectivity, both digital and physical, a category in which it ranked second in Europe for small cities. It hopes to attract investment into the areas surrounding its new scientific facilities, promoting opportunities for real estate investor. “What we are promoting now is the very land area and city district where these two science facilities are situated. That will have a lot of possibilities for offices, residential space and more,” said Mr Almgren.   

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