One of the first seeds for Skåne’s tech cluster was planted in the early 1980s, when Ericsson – one of Sweden’s telecom giants – decided to place their R&D centre in Lund, Skåne.

This location in southern Sweden wasn’t randomly chosen – the proximity to Lund University and LTH, the Faculty of Engineering, also meant proximity to a strong and reputable research environment.

It wasn’t long before Lund and its surrounding areas became one of the leading regions for mobile technology in the world – attracting a large number of technology companies and researchers to the area.

The growing success of the telecom industry in Skåne came with its challenges though, where the shortage of talent supply and R&D investments were two of the most pressing ones.

In 2007, some of the region’s largest telecom companies (Ericsson, Sony, Telia), universities (Lund University, Malmö University), and the regional government (Region Skåne) teamed up to address these challenges in a coordinated way.

They called the initiative Mobile Heights.

In 2009, Mobile Heights became an independent member organisation.

The aim was to 1) strengthen the region’s national and global impact in the mobile communication area, 2) enhance collaboration between industry, the public sector, and universities, and 3) improve talent supply.

Mobile Heights facilitated open innovation, growth, and development in the regional mobile communications value chain through different initiatives – such as research centers, business centres, technology conferences, projects, and advisory panels.

As the member base expanded and momentum increased, Mobile Heights technological focus also broadened from “mobile” to “connectivity” and included different application areas benefitting from connectivity (such as IoT, mobile/connected health, and connected cities).

New types of organisations started to join as members – including tech startups, SMEs, and the public sector.

By 2018, Mobile Heights had more than 100 member organisations and was awarded the European Gold Cluster Label Certificate for achieving cluster excellence.

In the late 2010s, the world began seeing the rapid acceleration of digitalisation in non-tech sectors – which was further spurred by the pandemic. The technological expertise of Mobile Heights’ members became highly sought after in many new sectors.

In an effort to meet those rising needs and demands, Mobile Heights became the principal coordinator for a European Digital Innovation Hub in Sweden (DigIT Hub Sweden) and engaged Skåne’s tech community through projects and match-making initiatives.

Mobile Heights also took important steps to increase technology collaboration through national and international networks, such as Clusters of Sweden and Silicon Europe Alliance.

As Mobile Heights approached its 15th anniversary, it was evident that a new kind of cluster had emerged in the region.

The expertise and legacy of Skåne’s mobile phone and telecom industry remained – as the backbone enabling new, exciting technology developments in IoT, Embedded Systems, Image Processing, Radio Communication, Artificial Intelligence, and Cyber Security.

Our new name – OpenTech – was a step to reflect this transition. Our guiding principles, however, have remained the same: to catalyse connections that fuel world-class tech.