National centre for transport efficiency in Gothenburg

Sweden has a leading position in transport efficiency. To reinforce this position a national centre for sustainable transports will be built at Lindholmen in Gothenburg. Closer is a new Swedish arena where the industry's and academia's active participation will be critical for success. VINNOVA has decided to support the effort with four million SEK the first year. In addition, there is already an active support by the Swedish Transport Administration, Region Västra Götaland, industry and academia.

- Closer will bring together researchers, industry and government to initiate larger collaborative projects. It will be a national node for running projects such as Green Corridors and to develop sustainable solutions for goods and passenger transports, says Jerker Sjögren, project leader for Closer at Lindholmen Science Park. We already have partners such as Schenker, Volvo and Scania. From the academy, Chalmers have been actively involved from the start; other leading universities in Sweden will be invited to cooperate during 2012.

The challenge for Closer is to form an organization for research, development and innovation at the highest international level. Therefore, different players will work together to strengthen the entire innovation chain, from problem identification, research, development, demonstration to implementation.