Opening of Jönköping’s coolest new meeting place
Agneta Marell was one of the speakers during the day
On Friday 25 August, the grand opening of Science Park Towers in Jönköping was held. About 1,500 visitors attended the festivities and caught a glimpse of the inside of Jönköping’s newest and most innovative meeting place. The School of Engineering at Jönköping University has premises in the building and together with entrepreneurs and companies they contribute to the region’s continued success and collaborate to raise the level of entrepreneurship in Sweden’s most entrepreneurial region.
When Science Park Towers opened its doors to showcase its fresh new premises in Jönköping, about 1,500 expectant visitors came to explore the eleven floors of modern meeting rooms and offices, where the School of Engineering (JTH) also has flexible premises for different purposes.
“The unique meeting place in Science Park Towers gives us the opportunity to strengthen the co-operation between academia, industry, and the public sector. We will be better equipped to meet the challenges of the future,” said Agneta Marell, President of Jönköping University (JU), who was one of the opening speakers during the day.
In her speech, she talked about internationalization, collaboration, competence supply, and entrepreneurship, and how JU can contribute better to strengthening the region’s competitiveness with innovation and creativity. With Science Park as a bridge between academia and industry, it will be easier for students to realise their ideas and create real change.
“Last year, about 850 ideas flowed through Science Park, with 250 of those ideas coming from JU students. Almost 50 new companies are started each year in Sweden by JU students. In addition to the companies in Sweden, students also start companies in their home countries. All this is something to be really proud of,” said Agneta Marell.
The opening day featured opening speeches and a solid programme with lectures, trend scouting, AI lab, digital interactive artworks, films about sustainability, competitions, quizzes, and not least a spectacular views over Jönköping from the eleventh floor. Many visitors also swung by the newly opened restaurant Nivå. The School of Engineering (JTH) offered a future exhibition in its premises in the Science Park Towers and showed, among other things, a film about the spectacular solar car and JTH’s interactive service robot served drinks to the visitors, which was very appreciated!
Ingrid Wadskog, Managing Director and Dean at JTH
“It feels great to be part of Science Park Towers! We will have flexible premises that can be used for teaching, laboratory work, exhibitions, research, and other events. With this, we hope to create many interesting meetings and new collaborations between students, researchers, and industry,” says Ingrid Wadskog, Managing Director and Dean at JTH.
About Science Park
Science Park Jönköping AB is owned by Jönköping University (JU) and Jönköping Municipality and has the fundamental goal of creating more entrepreneurs, more growing companies, and a strong regional innovation system. Science Park Towers is the result of a vision to create the country's leading and most welcoming meeting place for sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation that really makes a difference. To create the conditions for this, the former Science Park House needed to be supplemented with larger and open spaces that could serve as a living room where business, entrepreneurs and academia can meet. The end result was a fantastic building of 13,000 square metres divided into four towers of different heights.
Background
The seed for what is now Science Park was sown via the Creative Centre project, which was started in 1998 at Jönköping International Business School (JIBS). Behind the idea were a couple of visionary business students who saw that there were more people than themselves who had business ideas they wanted to realize in the form of new companies. They also saw a need to create a new generation of entrepreneurship based on knowledge and networks around JU. Already in the first year, the project helped start some 15 new companies.
With the aim of creating a common development site for these new companies, the decision was made to add a Science Park environment in close proximity to the university. The inauguration was held in 2001 and today there are about 900 people, divided into about 120 companies, who have their offices in Science Park's creative business environment in Science Park House and Science Park Towers.
Science Park also offers support to researchers, research groups and employees at JU to ensure that the knowledge available at the university has the right conditions to enter the labour market and thus benefit society.
Read more about the students' self-built solar car
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More pictures from the grand opening of Science Park Towers:
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