The county of Norrbotten is extremely large covering a fourth of the country of Sweden. Accessing this part of the country is quite easy as there are a number of airports in the region. Flight time from the capital city of the region, Luleå to the capital city of Sweden, Stockholm is just over one hour and through its location in the exciting Barent sea area, Luleå has an important role even in the future. The region’s business community and research activities are very much on an international level as many of Sweden’s traditional industries such as ore-mining, steel production, paper, pulp, hydroelectric power and forestry are represented here. Some of the major companies operational in these fields and located here are, LKAB, SSAB, Kappa, Billerud, Vattenfall and Sveaskog.
The inland region of Norrbotten, especially in the vicinity of Arvidsjaur, Arjeplog, Gällivare and Älvsbyn is where the world’s car producers test their various components, material and tyres under winter conditions. The large, wide open spaces also attract the aviation industry and are ideal for testing and training. Rail companies also use this area to train personnel in snow clearance.
Chemrec in Pitea conduct exciting research into using rest products from the pulp industry and turning it into green fuel. This type of research is attracting much international attention.
The geographical location is also of great interest to the space industry and space research. Very shortly the first space tourist will be launched from Esrange in Kiruna. This town is also home to one of Sweden’s most famous trademarks – the Ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi.
As distances in this region are on such a large scale, technology has had to be developed to compensate for this. Not least in the care sector where thanks to the internet a number of new techniques are being tested throughout the entire region.
The film industry is just the latest in a number of growing industries. More and more film teams are choosing Norrbotten as they recognise that there are not only long and light summers as well as very dark winters which all contribute to creating atmosphere and provide choices in light and contrast. (Filmpool Nord and Swedish Lapland Film Commission).
The newly constructed Defence Museum located in Boden harks back to a time when the city was the northernmost military outpost in Sweden. The most secret of the secret, the Rödberg Fort where once Sweden’s entire gold reserve was stored, is now open to visitors. Staffan Preutz’ exclusive glass frames are produced in the Polaris factory and exported to places far afield such as Tokyo, Milan, Paris and New York. The recently completed Boden Arena which holds 5,000 seats hosts many large and not so large events all year round.
The town of Älvsbyn is famous for not only producing Älvsbyhus which are module houses and transported all over Sweden as well as for Polarbröd. This bread is also transported to food shops throughout the length and breadth of the country. Delikatessfabriken produces delicacies from the region and these are now available in many food stores in Sweden.
In Haparanda is the newly built IKEA store which is responsible for initiating a construction boom. During its first year of operation the IKEA store received over 2 million visitors from the whole of the Barents region, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia
Kalix fish roe, which is often served at the “finest dinner in the world”, the Nobel Prize Award Ceremonies, is now labeled with a certificate of origin which guarantees its unique flavor.
At the beginning of February the Jokkmokk market has been held for the past 400 years. Today this market attracts visitors from all over the world, filling this little community with tens of thousands of visitors. The market provides the visitor with the unique opportunity to see genuine Sami handicrafts in traditional as well as new styles. During the market a reindeer herd will pass through the town.
The county also has three world heritages, 8 national parks and almost 200 nature reserves.
For more information about Norrbotten click on to www.norrbotten.se