On 12 September 2001, Telematics Valley was formed as an interest organization following a workshop exploring how to advance this field. It started with 26 members and today in 2008 it has grown to over 50 company members.
Telematics Valley started as, and continues to be, a networking organization open to anyone active in telematics and also a platform for the global promotion of West Sweden as a unique telematics cluster.

What makes West Sweden unique?

For almost three decades, Gothenburg has been in the forefront in developing and exploiting the opportunities for mobile data commuinications. One of the earliest actors in the world to examine such possibilities was Televerket who back in 1980 diversified into mobile data through Mobitex, a public packet switched mobile data communication system launched in 1986. Volvo Transportation System constructed a digital taxi communication system (Taxi80) launched in 1982.

A number of public telematics projects have also been carried out in Gothenburg. Prometheus was a EU research program launched in 1986 by the European automobile industry with 14 of the larger car companies in Europe joining together with approximately 40 research institutions and public authorities. The objective was to work together to promote safer and more efficient traffic flows by developing an information system that could be built into cars.

 

 

To accomplish the field studies and to conduct experiments, Test Site West Sweden was set up in Gothenburg in 1992 and managed by the Swedish National Road Administration. The purpose of the project (later renamed ARENA) was to make traffic work better through new technology on driveways, also to investigate how traffic could be enhanced through information technology by doing field tests. The field tests were carried out in close cooperation with the industry sector and they contributed to several new telematics firms and increased close cooperation between the public and private sectors.

Such development work in telematics in the region has led to the large amount of companies and people with telematics experience and the high competences that we have today. It has also given the region international attention, making it renown throughout the world as a telematics competence cluster.

Innovating for the future

In recent years, a significant number of companies focused on wireless communications and the mobile Internet have sprung up in Sweden. Ericsson plays a significant role in this by offering a broad base for start-ups, being a potential customer and providing a recruitment base for new staff. In West Sweden, SAAB and Volvo play a similar role for the numerous wireless start-ups focusing on the vehicle industry.
It is estimated that there are well over 100 companies working within the telematics sector in Sweden with a majority of those operating in West Sweden. They are of great diversity, and together they can perform all the central activities necessary to build an end-to-end telematics system.