Kista - The Wireless Silicon Valley in Sweden

While on a business trip this week in Sweden for one of our customers, I was also able to stop by in Kista (pronounced: Schista), which is labeled as the Wireless Silicon Valley. Not long ago Guy Kawasaki provoked the non Silicon Valley tech startup community with a post titled “How to kick Silicon Valley’s Butt“.

Now I only by chance heard - just before the trip to Sweden - that Kista is giving itself this name. Probably European VCs know it well (I assume) but I doubt many VCs in the US have ever heard of it.

I was told Kista started with two blue chip companies who had set up their manufacturing facilities here: IBM and Ericsson. The latter still has an R&D group in Kista where they continue to develop the company’s biggest cash cow, a BTS. Kista’s tallest building is - after the bubble burst - fully occupied again, thanks to some Chinese company. ZTE moved into this highriser. I would think that this place will continue to grow and maybe one day be able to make a name by itself - even in the US.

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